by Steven Engelfried<\/p>\n
I should have known better.\u00a0 <\/span>I did <\/em>know better.\u00a0 <\/span>I just got caught up in the moment, and said the four words you should never, ever say when sharing stories with a group of four year olds:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHow old are you?\u201d\u009d\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t actually use those precise words, but the result was still instant chaos.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I was visiting a Head Start class to share stories and library information in what I hoped was a fun way.\u00a0 <\/span>First I asked them to raise their hand if they\u2019ve been to a library before.\u00a0 <\/span>To be exact, I said \u201cif you\u2019ve ever been to a library before, please raise your hand.\u201d\u009d\u00a0 <\/span>Because I knew that if you do it the opposite way and say \u201cplease raise your hand if you been to a library before,\u201d\u009d you\u2019re sure to get ten raised hands before you even get to the \u201cif\u201d\u009d in the sentence.\u00a0 <\/span>When you\u2019re four, raising your hand is something you want to do at every opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n So with that hurdle cleared, I showed them what a library card looks like.\u00a0 <\/span>Actually it was my frog puppet who showed them, and only after first bringing out a little fish puppet by mistake (\u201ckids, can you check out books with a fish?\u201d\u009d, followed by a chorus of \u201cno\u2019s,\u201d\u009d which is about as fun as raising your hand when four) and then, after a mock-scolding from me, Frog brings out a banana (even funnier than the fish), before finally locating an actual card.\u00a0 <\/span>So things are going pretty well.\u00a0 <\/span>My punch lines are getting laughs.\u00a0 <\/span>The kids are responding to questions, but not getting out of control.\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n All I need to do now is to get them excited about getting their own <\/em>card, but not too excited, since they may not be old enough yet in the eyes of the grownups in their house.\u00a0 <\/span>I tell them that a library card is free, and that there\u2019s an application that can be filled out by their mom or dad or \u201cwhoever takes care of them\u201d\u009d (which I add every time, from past experience).\u00a0 <\/span>And then for some unfathomable reason I say that \u201csome families decide to get kids a card when they\u2019re 8 or 10, but some might decide that 4 or 5 is old enough.\u201d\u009d\u00a0 <\/span>And just like that, I\u2019ve lost them.\u00a0 <\/span>All they care about now is telling me a) how old they are; b) how old they used to be; c) how old they will be soon; and\/or d) how old their brother\/sister\/dog\/cat is\/was\/will be. \u00a0<\/span>Which would all be very interesting, because I really do enjoy talking to four year olds; just not twenty at once.\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n Last time I made this slip I thought fast and quickly drew Frog out of the bag again.\u00a0 <\/span>(I know I rely too frequently on puppets to save me, but they often come through.\u00a0 <\/span>I have a sheep with googly eyes that I\u2019m convinced could talk me out of a speeding ticket or an IRS audit).\u00a0 <\/span>In this case, Frog\u2019s help was short-lived.\u00a0 <\/span>He drew their attention (he\u2019s good at that), and when I asked them all to be very quiet so Frog could tell us how old he<\/em> was, there was silence and anticipation, so I thought I had escaped.\u00a0 <\/span>The problem was, Frog eventually had to state his age, and as soon as he did (\u201ctwo,\u201d\u009d in case you were wondering), the cacophony of \u201cI\u2019m four,\u201d\u009d \u201cMy brother\u2019s two,\u201d\u009d etc. kicked in all over again.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So on this more recent occasion, I kept Frog in the bag, and just waited until everyone settled down and I could find a moment to start my last story (\u201cThe Wide-Mouthed Frog\u201d\u009d with puppets, a sure winner), and all was fine.\u00a0 <\/span>My lesson was learned, and for the following weeks I\u2019ve been careful to use \u201colder kids\u201d\u009d and \u201cyounger kids\u201d\u009d and steer clear of actual ages.\u00a0 <\/span>Now if I can just find a way to get through I\u2019m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean<\/em> without one child (followed by several others) bursting to tell us all how he saw that <\/em>undersea animal on SpongeBob\u2026<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …then for some unfathomable reason I say that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153some families decide to get kids a card when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 8 or 10, but some might decide that 4 or 5 is old enough.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And just like that, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lost them. All they care about now is telling me a) how old they are; b) how old they used to be; c) how old they will be soon; and\/or d) how old their brother\/sister\/dog\/cat is\/was\/will be. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slice-of-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}