The Most Important Teacher

I was recently asked to talk about the importance of reading at a Bundles for Babies program conducted by the Airman and Family Readiness Center. In case you're unfamiliar with this program, it gives parents-to-be tips on parenting along with helpful local resources.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and although I won't contest that claim, I will also stress that the most important teacher your child will have is you. Yes, YOU, the parent. It may not be obvious, but your baby is learning from you long before he or she starts speaking. A child's mind is like a sponge absorbing all that's around, and when it comes to reading, there's no such thing as too early.

When you read to your baby on your lap, your baby is listening to sounds, to language. He or she is learning how to communicate with the words that you speak. Reading to your child is also a bonding experience, something the two of you can do together. Time spent reading together helps your child associate reading with love and as an enjoyable activity to anticipate. Once your child is talking, you can discuss what you read together and teach different things through examples shown in a book.

It may seem like a lot of pressure (and it is), but reading to your child is setting him or her up for later in life. Reading encourages empathy, promotes an attention span, expands the imagination, and develops reasoning abilities. All these qualities will help in elementary school through college and beyond. School teachers, librarians, coaches, and others will provide support and do their part, but as the parent, you are the foremost teacher in your child's life now and in the years to come.

Wishing you and your child wonderful times reading from the perch.

Making Changes

How do you feel about change? Do you embrace it, ready to do something new and different? Or do you resist it, preferring the old and familiar?

The library is currently going through its biggest change in years--switching over to a new software system that handles all our library business. As you can imagine, we're a bit ambivalent about this. It means giving up a system to which we've become accustomed and learning a new, unfamiliar system. As a patron, you will also notice changes with our catalog and due dates for library items, among other changes.

We've all had to deal with change in our lives at one point or another, whether it's starting a new school, moving to a new town, or switching jobs. Some changes are easier than others, but there are books available to help us adapt:

• Small Move, Big Change by Caroline Arnold  Shows you how to make a big change in your life by focusing on smaller achievements, the "microresolutions" that add up to that big change.
• Life is In the Transitions by Bruce Feiler  Offers suggestions on how to give up an old mindset and find new strategies to cope with change.
• Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg  Demonstrates how change can be easy and even fun when done in small steps (various exercises are included).
• Switch by Chip and Dan Heath  Through examples, shows how we can unite our rational mind (the part wanting change) with our emotional mind (the part resisting change) to make a transformation.
• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson  Gives insight into how to deal with change using a short parable about 4 mice looking for "cheese" (what they want in life) by going through a "maze" (where they look for what they want). 

Sometimes change comes smoothly and sometimes it doesn't. If the change in our software system comes with a few bumps along the way, please bear with us as we're still adjusting. And of course, should you have questions, whether it's about our new system or anything else, feel free to ask us.

Wishing you positive future changes from the perch.