The kids and I started going to the library weekly (sometimes more) around the first of the year. The first two times we went were very frustrating with the two little ones, but after being told they could not have Nintendo, computer, television, or movies until they behaved at the library they were little angels the next week. The first few weeks were all about the kids and helping them find books and have a little time at the computer station. I tried to go look for books for me, but their attention span in the aisles of “mom and dad books” was not much longer than it took to scan the titles of two books. I grabbed books off of the “recommended” display by the checkout terminals a time or two because they were quick to grab on the way out and I figured someone must have liked them if they were there. We now have a system where we take the kid’s bag of selected books (usually between 10–14…I know, I have no idea how we keep track of them all) and they sit in the aisle of my choice for a few minutes while I browse. More often than not I don’t check out a book that I have found browsing, but I am a natural born “browser” and I still enjoy it. I reserve books online that have been recommended on blogs I read or I search Amazon on different topics and find books that I can put on hold to pick up the next time we go to the library. It has turned into one of the things we most look forward to each week and I have read more books in the past six months than I read for at least three years prior to that.
Whims 