First Library Book

Proud mama post coming up. Beware.

You guys! My toddler just checked out his first library book!

I’ve taken him to the library before, and he loves to pick a book off the shelf and then go sit in their reading nooks and have me read it to him. But I’ve never let him check one out before. I’ve been worried he would get too attached to it and get upset when it was time to give it back. But he’s almost four, and he’s starting to learn about sharing. So I decided to give it a go.

Well, of course, when I asked what kind of book he wanted to get he said a book about Thomas. I’m not quite sure how our children’s section is organized, so we checked the board books. So here’s my almost-four-year-old with a beaten up version of a very 1980s Thomas the Train ABC book featuring classics like “F is for Fat Conductor” and “Q is for queue”. NOT the book I would have picked for him, lol.

He was such a great patron. He helped with the self-check-out, and carried it himself. Then he made me read it to him every single night. It was adorable. By the time we took it back four days later he basically had it memorized. And he did great returning it too. He kept asking “why”, and you could tell he wanted to keep it, but in the end he put it in the drop box on his own.

But then he immediately asked if we could go back in and check it out again. *sigh*

This was such a great learning opportunity regarding sharing and taking turns. We talked about how the book belongs to the library, but they share it with us so we can have a turn. Then we take it back so someone else can have a turn! And I made sure to check out and return a book to set a good example for him. While I’m not sure he understood that next time we’ll get a different book, I’m looking forward to taking him to the library with me next time I have a book. What a cool thing for us to share together!

Parents, at what age did your kid get their first library book? What book was it?