Library Day

Before I begin this post I need to clarify something. While I complain and joke about my children's behavior, especially Kairi's, in all actuality my kids are fairly well-behaved in public. So much so that I frequently get "how do you do it?"s and "you must be an amazing mother"s and "you need to help my daughter/son with her/his children"s and "I adore your children -- they mind you so well!"s. Seriously, I don't go out in public without hearing at least one of those once or twice. I hear it at church, at Walmart, at the commissary, on base, everywhere. I don't have any super impressive tips. I have some theories, but I also know that no one strategy works for every kid. I'm just thankful that my theories work with MY kids. Regardless, my kids behave in public. I expect it. Maybe I even take it for granted. That being said, I need to tell you about our library day today.


I decided that instead of buying books, I would just check them out of the library. It will be so much cheaper that way. So I packed up the kids and took them. I brought toys for them to play with while I looked at books. I was going to have them pick out books to read. We talked about how we use quiet inside voices at the library to not bother other people. We got out of the truck and headed inside. Alex walked in between Kairi and I holding hands. We were a "quiet train" as we walked inside.

We got me a new library card (as Kairi helped to lose my old one), and then headed off to look at books. I had specific authors in mind and went straight to their sections. First 2 books I grabbed both kids were fine. Kairi spun in slow circles next to me singing her abc's while Alex gently ran his hands over the spins of each book saying "ooooh ooooh". Our train got louder as we moved to the next section. By the third section, I broke out the toys. I set them on a bench and offered them the small sampling of toys I had. I turned to grab my book, when they dropped a toy. I told Kairi to get down, pick it up, and then sit back on the bench. She did so, and then her grin showed up. She and Alex spent the next 3 minutes throwing their toys and running after them. The whole while I tried to quietly INSIST that they behave. They got worse. And worse. I tried to distract them. They got worse. I disciplined them. No response. I finally picked them up and moved them -- we went to the kids' room. Our "quiet train" was now a loud noisy street race.

All the librarians oooed and awwwed over them. That was not helping my case. Kairi and Alex truly seem to believe that if people think that they're angels that they can get away with murder. Nothing I said made an impact. I gave each a book and tried to sit on the reading mat to read their books to them. Neither child would hold still long enough to do so. I tried to let them read to themselves, but they kept running over to the box to grab a new book, while throwing the old book on the ground behind them. The librarians laughed and told me that I could clean it when they were done, but this behavior was NOT acceptable. I kept being told that they were just being kids ... but to me this is NOT how MY kids behave. I packed them up. We headed to the self-checkout.

Alex refused to allow Kairi to touch him as we walked across the library. Kairi wanted me to hold her, but I was holding 12 books, 4 of mine and 8 of theirs, and trying to hold Alex's hand. We made it to the self-checkout center. I put each child on the floor next to me and told them that if they had any hope of going to church, that they would be silent and still. Of course they weren't. But they weren't running in circles or throwing toys or screaming anymore. Well, Kairi cried a few times. Each time loudly announcing "Mommy, you scawee. You mad at Kai-wee. You make Kaiwee crwy. So scawee." Dozens of people were trying to stifle their laughter -- a few didn't succeed. It encouraged her. She got louder. But we did make it out of there.

A kind lady walked behind Kairi on our way out the door to make sure she didn't bolt on me. I got the kids in the car, she went on her way, and I drove around for 10 minutes making the kids be quiet before I was willing to head to church.


You know, they probably really weren't as bad as they felt in my head. They still got compliments. They still were laughed at and awwwed over. But they drove me insane. I was thinking about taking them to story time tomorrow, but I'm just not sure now. We'll have to see......