It’s National Library Week (But My Love for This Place is Eternal)

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national library weekApril 9 – 16, 2017 is National Library Week, and I am so happy to express my gratitude for one of the best parenting resources available to me. I could share with you my entire library love story (not to worry, I won’t). I could show you every adorable picture I took of my kids and their friends at our home away from home. My point would only be to show that it is a place to love and there is something for everyone at the library.

When I first moved to Westchester….

I knew no one.  When I moved to Ossining from the City in July of 2011, I wasn’t familiar with the area, other than what internet research I had done and what we had explored with our realtor. We spent a great deal of time commuting from Ossining to the City for just about everything: doctor’s appointments, taekwondo, summer camp, and so on. We kept this up for months. Our transition was gradual.

In January of 2012, we decided that the commute for taekwondo in the evenings was too much and started visiting the Ossining Public Library in the afternoon and in the evenings (for our 1st and 2nd graders). Our first programs were Family Fun Night and the Lego Brick Builders Club. By the end of January, I started taking my 3 month old to Baby Laptime in the mornings with the late Sally Read Dow, who had a library of nursery rhymes most of us moms had never even heard of. Shortly after, I started venturing out regularly to my neighboring libraries in Briarcliff Manor and Croton.

And from there, I was united with a community of storytime moms that will surely be lifelong friends.

We are no longer are strangers to Ossining. My kids are active and involved, and love to hang out with their friends. But still, the library is a very special place for us.

We are so at home with the library staff:  Our librarians have watched my kids grow and helped them learn. They marvel along with me as my children master new skills and develop new interests.  At times, they are the masterminds of motivation that my kids cannot say “no” to.  

Tuesday, April 11th is National Library Workers Day.  Click here to nominate your Favorite Library Worker as a Star to get some of the recognition they deserve.

Get the most out of your library: Subscribe to their newsletter, follow their social media. Don’t miss out on the events that you or your kids would love.  There are so many amazing programs: storytimes, book clubs, craft clubs, cooking clubs, and game nights are some of our favorites. I am also always looking out for meet the author/ illustrator book signing events as well. So far we have met Jerry Pinkney, R.J. Palacio, and Pat Schories.

R.J. Palacio at the Croton Free Library

Just hang out at the library: Let your kids explore the play area.  Let your teens hang out at the library after school with friends to do homework, get on the computers, visit the cafe and vending machines.  Just make it a normal place for them to be. There is a great chance that they will be persuaded to join in on some on the teen programs offered.

There are also many adult events going on at the library.

Click here for the Westchester Library System’s Directory to find your local library.

Support your local library: Let’s continue to equip our libraries so they can continue to serve us so well.

  • You can donate books to your local library when collection is open and visit book sales.
  • Pick up some library apparel for sale at the circulation desk.
  • Westchester Library System also has a way for you to raise money for your library while doing your regular shopping on Amazon. Check out their Amazon Smile link here.
  • You can also volunteer or make a donation to their Friends of the Library Group.

And don’t forget that it is also National Library Week at your child’s school!

 

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Leah
Leah lived in New York City for most of her life and moved to Westchester County in 2011 to blend and extend her family with an adorable high school Math teacher she met on Match.com. After 7 years of staying home and working part-time, she is back to the full time grind, commuting to the Bronx daily in her minivan a.k.a. trusty mommy wagon (this city girl’s first and only car). This full-time working, part-time blogging mother-of-4 seems to have it all together to the observer. In fact, part of this illusion is truly having the most amazingly resilient children a mother could ask for. Leah is an overthinking, jam pack the agenda, let loose when no one’s watching, be kind to your neighbor, sanity don’t fail me now kind of soul and she loves being a part of Westchester County Moms Blog. She strives to keep her kids super busy with a wide variety and good balance of academic, social, and athletic activities while desperately managing her home and budget.

1 COMMENT

  1. I’ve never been in the Ossining Library but have driven by it many times. It’s a beautiful building!! I love my local library. I’d be so poor without our library since my family and I are such big readers!

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