outside cat wiki | PUBYACComp / On Siblings At Storytime browse

We allow siblings to attend programs and have few problems with it. We advertise for ages 2-3 and 3-5 for different days, but we don't register or ask the ages or those who attend, so we get whoever we get. During the introduction to the storytimes, we will sometimes remind parents to remove children of any ages who are having meltdowns so they don't disturb the rest of the group and our 15-20 minute storytime.

If our program is one in which the parent participates with the child, I would never think of asking the parent to find child care arrangements for a sibling, whether it's an infant or an older child. Our toddler program is only 20 minutes and most of the babies sleep through it! Older siblings are thrilled to answer the questions I pose for the toddlers - usually the parent will encourage the older ones to let the 2 year olds have a chance to answer. For many families, if the infant or sibling isn't allowed to come in with them, they won't come at all. I think we need to be as accomodating for families as we can. Our program room is small, but I'd rather have it filled with families than reading to just a few who can come "solo".

We do not have restrictions on siblings in our story times. We only register the child who the correct age and stop when we get to 20. The only restrictions that we have is that we ask the parents to park their strollers outside the story time room due the room size.

We are flexible and allow parents/guardians to bring the other children. Most parents do not have or cannot afford a babysitter for 1 child while taking the other one to a program. We give the ground rules when we start, if you have the heebie jeebies they go to the play area in sight of the storytime area and play. If they have the screamin meme's we ask the parent to take them downstairs until they calm down.

We have always allowed siblings. In our area babysitters are few and far between and very, very expensive. My children are grown now, but I know that if I had not been permitted to bring the other child, there would not have been any program for the one for whom it was intended unless the other one was in school. If parents come to ours, they bring the others. For children age 3 and up, parents have the option of staying in the story hour room or just staying in the library, and if they stay they bring the little ones (or the older ones if it's a baby or toddler program).

Since there is a parent/caregiver in attendance with the toddler, older and younger siblings are welcome. I understand how difficult it would be for many of our families to attend toddler story times at all if we were very strict on the age requirement. Some of the older siblings really get into it too and can model actions and behaviors for the little ones. It's worked out well here.

Children of all ages are welcome to all five of our weekly storytimes.

For reasons too innumerable to list, we've done it this way for 25 years, very successfully; we're unlikely to change.

         --Shushing is not a crime.

I can't imagine turning away a sibling, either younger or older. I would never do it. I feel for the Mom who was turned away, and I wouldn't expect her back. Can't say I blame here.

There's one program we do where we have to know how many kids will be there. We sign everyone up even if they're not in the target age. Babies are too young to participate, but they have ears.

We've changed our policy as of late to allow siblings to attend all our parent-child programs. At the time of registration when parents ask if they can bring a sibling we do mention that it is an interactive program for parent and child and the program is geared for that particular age.

If the child is older they may be bored, if younger they may have trouble sitting through it. Although, lucky us, boredom and disruption haven't been a problem, most of the kids are just happy to be in story time.

We limit those programs to 15 (parent-child sets) so if we get a full class with siblings we can have over 30. Although with kids, invariably someone is sick, or it is too cold out, or families are out of town, etc. etc., so the groups are generally manageable in the 25 - 30 range.

I prefer a smaller group but I also want the customer not to feel like we are penalizing them for having more than one child.....This way everyone is happy and on registration day we are lined up out the door!

I always allow siblings into my storytimes. Each week, I do a lapsit for kids up to 18 months, a toddler time for kids 18 months to 3 years, and a preschool storytime, and in every case I never worry about siblings. If asked, I cheerfully tell parents that they are welcome to bring siblings, but to please be aware that the activities may not be right for the siblings' age group. So I ask if the sibling gets fussy or bored to please be respectful of the other kids trying to have a good time. I find that parents are usually great about handling their kids in storytime. Every once in a while I have to deal with a little chaos, but I think this would be the case regardless of how many rules I tried to enforce. In general, I try to be as flexible as I possibly can be. It makes it easier for the parents, and frankly less stressful for me! I'd hate having to tell people to leave storytime because of a sibling or because they were underage!

I totally agree with you that it's time to allow siblings into your baby and toddler story times. I can't imagine doing it any other way. Actually, I can't imagine the parents in my community putting up with not being allowed to bring siblings. It's hard to find babysitters, especially during the day. I would feel uncomfortable expecting parents to find and possibly pay for a sitter for one child in order to bring their other child to story time. I try to make things as easy for the parents as I can, and it sounds like you're the same. I would let the siblings in. If the group gets huge, add another session. I know that's not as easy as it sounds but it might be necessary. This is an interesting issue, because my problem has been the reverse - parents with a baby and a two-year-old bringing the two-year-old into Baby Lap Time. In a Baby Lap Time situation, with moms trying to interact with the baby, a few of the two-year-olds run around the room. Years ago, I used to ask those moms to please take their older child out, but I know that this does more harm than good. The noise and chaos bothered me; now I can't let it bother me anymore. Nowadays, only the parents/caregivers of the kids with the most extreme behavior are asked to leave. I tell everyone in the group in advance that if a child of any age disturbs the other children, they should be taken out, "but just remember, relax; we're here to have fun."

With kids this age, I do a lot of singing with my ukulele, which seems to charm all the under 3s, and do lots of movement activities that total at least as much time as I spend reading books. And I can get pretty loud if I need to. I will talk to the adults before or after a book or a song, one minute max, to suggest ways of building pre-literacy skills at home. But I wouldn't take the focus off the babies and toddlers for any longer than this. --W

I run a 'Toddler Lapsit', for infants to three year-olds. The average age is probably 18-24 months. I had started out with a Toddler Time (2-3

year-olds) 10 years ago, and noticed that a lot of the two year-olds tended to have a infant sibling, so just extended the age range.

I notice that now; I'll have a little one come in at 10 months or so, and a year later, there's a baby brother or sister! I think you have to let them in -- what are you going to do, tell the mom (or caregiver), "No, only singleton children!"

I run 4 lapsits; I kept adding them because they kept getting bigger! I do two each on Tues & Wed. They range from about 20 (kids & adults) to 40 in each session.

Be inclusive! Or run lots of sessions so every age group can get in.

We always allow siblings (younger or older) to attend preschool storytimes as long as they do not become a distraction. We make an announcement at the beginning of the storytime like "Welcome to Drop In Storytime. This storytime is for kids ages 2-5, but siblings are welcome as long as they do not cause a distraction." Generally parents are good about taking a break with kids who are having a meltdown or being distracting to others. This does sometimes result in having a very young crowd for our drop-in storytimes, but we try to roll with the punches as much as we can.

We allow parents to bring their babies and younger sibs to our preschool [age 3-5] drop-in story times.

We explain that the stories and activities are selected for the advertised age group but that younger interested sibs are welcome to attend. Is it more difficult for the program giver- oftentimes yes, but it makes for much happier patrons. 60 people at a program is not uncommon.

We also still offer registered programs for the specified age child without the parent or sibs - that way we know we are still offering age-appropriate programs...

I think you are correct that the "norm" today is all ages all the time. Whether I agree with this personally seems irrelevant at this point. Good luck with your programs and your decisions.

I solved it with older siblings in Babytime by giving the older siblings a doll or stuffed animal and they did everything with that toy that mamma was doing with baby. When I have younger ones in the older time was always trickier, but I usually had a stack of quiet toys and board books available. And talking to the parent is key, expalining the concepts we were trying to accomplish, what made the time age-approproaite etc.

At our branch we let parents bring siblings of program participants with the caveat that the sibling being brought along understands that the program is for the signed up sib. Boy, that sounds convoluted! The shorthand here is "yeah, you can bring a younger/older sib, but they have to know it's not their program". (Oh, and we do registration for all our programs so we can make some attempt at crowd control. Otherwise it would be mayhem.)

We allow older and younger billings to attend all of our storytimes, babies at preschool time and preschoolers at babytime.

We always welcome sibs at storytimes - we understand that babysitters are few and far between. We also warn the parents that the storytime will be developmentally appropriate for the posted age and that younger children may not enjoy it as much. If a younger sib or any child becomes a problem, we simply ask that they leave the room until the child is under control.

, I have Baby Storytimes, Toddler Storytimes, Preschool Storytimes and Family Storytimes as well as other school age programs and book clubs. The Baby Storytime is the only one where I request that it just be the parent/ caregiver and the child. And if that happens I gently suggest that they come to a storytime for the older sibling after the Baby Storytime. They usually understand that too many siblings is a distraction for the babies.

I think whenever we can, we need to be accepting and welcoming to our families. After all how many families can bring just one child to a program at a time?

Let's say YES to our families whenever we can.

I am a "Hard Sell" on this point. Age appropriate programming is just that, age appropriate. Stay the line. If necessary include a "Family Time"

program, to appease the roaring crowd. We have one of our weekly programs for those families that have multiple children to bring to the library.

Then we are FIRM on the NO SIBLINGS RULE.

We've gone to all drop-in story times at our suburban library this year. The toddler groups are supposed to be 18 months to 3 years old with a caregiver, and the preschool groups are supposed to be 3-5 with or without a caregiver. Both groups routinely have parents, grandparents, siblings older and younger, babies, etc. It took some getting used to, but I like it now. I still aim the story time to the age it's "supposed" to be for, but anyone is free to come. Babies are only a problem when they cry, and the parent is expected to take them out when that happens. The size of our toddler group did get to be a problem (with all the strollers, etc) so I now do two sessions of the same story time (10:00 and 10:45 a.m.) We end up with about 30 total in each session, which works in the room.

  We have storytimes for babies, one year olds, two year olds and 3-6

year olds. We do not allow siblings in the 3-6 year old storytime because we suggest that the parents remain in the library but not in the storytime room.

  However, in the other 3 we allow siblings both younger and older,

because the parent are always with these groups. We do have the usual rules, like if someone is upset or not behaving we ask them to leave the storytime room and come back in when the child is ready. One should not have to get a baby sitter just to bring your children to storytime.

We feel that it is important to provide an environment which supports families. Thus, siblings are always welcome at our storytimes! Attendance has increased in some cases and adjustments have been made. We decided it was best to add programs to meet the needs of our patrons. Ticketing and pre-registration did not seem like positive options since these methods limit opportunities. It is important that all families in the community have a chance to enjoy storytime. I hope that this information is helpful.

Here is how I word my invitation to register for storytime. __________________________________________________

What to expect... Storytimes include music, movement, books, crafts, poetry, nursery rhymes, ample opportunity for adult/child bonding, love, laughter and fun, fun, fun! In the midst of all this fun, children will be developing pre-literacy skills, as well as a love of language. Ideally, caregivers attend with one child. For those with other siblings in tow, special considerations will be made. ________________________________________________________________________ _______________

It seems to imply that there is an expectation that the non-registered children not be a distraction or a disruption to the group. I have never turned anyone away because they could not get a sitter for other children in their family. My view is we are here to serve the families of our communities and most of those families have more than one child. I typically just include the "extra" kids in whatever we are doing and find that sometimes they are great helpers, especially if they are older. I am also very proactive in terms of keeping lines of communication going with caregivers about their children's behavior in and out of storytime. They LOVE to talk about their kids with me.

Hi--

We lifted our ban on additional siblings attending a few years back, and so far, there have been no problems. I agree with you--I think it's difficult for moms to find care for their other children during the program.

I saw your question on pubyac and wanted to let you know that we do allow parents to bring younger siblings to storytimes. Sometimes we even allow older siblings in if it is an off-school-day and they would like to join us. I find the babies love all of the singing and hoopla and the older ones love to join is as well. The older siblings can be great "mentors", if you will, and they love to be of help when handing out scarves, bells, etc. We just let the parents know that the storytime they are in is geared toward the toddler age or baby age, etc. Some days storytimes are very full, but I find that if you try to accommodate parents and help them out, they will bend over backwards to help you make your programs successful.

We pride ourselves on the fact that we allow siblings in our story times (and on the fact that we don't require registration). Sometimes our story times do get large, but we just go with the flow, and our families are so appreciative that they do, too. No one has ever complained.

I just don't understand what parents are expected to do with siblings. Does anyone really pay for child care to attend story time? I could certainly never have been able to do so.

I do a two-year-old storytime, and I let the caregivers bring in both younger and older siblings. I have never had a problem. Usually the toddler sits alongside the mother and the baby is in a car seat or the lap, sometimes the toddler plays with toys while listening to me. I actually debated the wisdom of having toys available to play with much more than I debated allowing siblings! As long as the caregiver knows that s/he is in charge of making sure all children they bring to the program aren't being disruptive, I don't see why they shouldn't come.

(PS, The toddlers playing with the toys really are listening, and sometimes chime in on the repetitive parts of stories even more than the ones who are sitting quietly in their caregiver's laps)

For a long time we have allowed siblings to attend storytimes where I worked for the past 24 years. Sometimes I have found that the baby was more focused on what I was doing than the toddler. Parents do more things as a family these days than ever before, so allowing them to bring siblings is a plus for your program. If parents ask, you can always remind them that the material will be aimed at particular age child, but that they are welcome to bring older or younger children. I think inclusion goes a long way in benefiting our literacy goals.

I don't like to turn people away because they have a younger/older child. I just tell the parents that the program is intended for a certain age, the other kids are welcome to come but they may not get as much out of it or if they are older may not enjoy it as much. I have never had a problem with siblings attending and the older ones seem to like helping the younger ones.

We had the same problem so a couple of years ago we started offering toddler (1-3) and Preschool (3 and Up) drop-in storytimes where we allow siblings with the understanding that the program content is geared toward the intended age group. This has been extremely popular with the younger group and we see an average of 65 attendees. However, when we originally started offering this class we dropped our sign-up, no siblings two-year-old class. I have brought that back because some parents felt the toddler class was just too big and chaotic for their younger ones. While I understand the difficulty for parents with more than one child (I have three myself) I can't completely dismiss the benefit of one-on-one sharing and participation that goes with a program where siblings aren't allowed. This is the second semester we've again offered the two-year-old program and it has filled in half a day - so in our case it seems to pay to try to accommodate different situations if we can.

We began an evening group called "Infants and Toddlers Together" because of this problem. It is very popular.

For our programs where caregivers are required to attend siblings can come as well.

Yes, in recent years we've relaxed the one-on-one rule in toddler/baby programs. As you stated, if everyone brought siblings the group would be very large, which would take away the focus on the child that the program is meant for. Also, in the case of older siblings, the older kids have a tendency to take over the program. So in years past we asked parents to find other accomodations for the other siblings, so that the parent could focus on the child that was actually signed up for the program.

But in the last few years we started allowing other siblings. The thinking is that we'd rather have the child in the program than not attend because mom couldn't find child care for siblings. I know the parents are appreciative that we allow this, though those early reasons for not doing so are still valid - some of our programs end up with 8-9 extra kids in the room, which makes for a crowded room.

We are very flexible with this. Our story times are advertised as family story times. If a family has children that fit in different story time categories, we let them choose which works best for them. There is a library in the area that offers all their story times from birth through 5 years.

Yes its time and overdue time. We are very flexible here and encourage the whole family to attend and enjoy together. That said,the leader of the group needs to know to how and when to ask any care-giver to take out a child that is disrupting the whole group whether it's a younger sib or whoever.

At your branches, if some moms are already bringing younger children to a group then other moms should be allowed to as well. I think all your libraries need to be on the same page.

If the problem is crowding then limit group size by registration. Be fair and consistent in whatever rules you have at all branches.

I do storytimes for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, and I have always allowed siblings. You're right -- sometimes it does make the groups pretty big, but what would those moms do if they couldn't bring their other children? I think they'd probably not come at all. I wouldn't want to see that happen. And if a younger child is especially restless, they can always be taken from the room until they're settled down.

Maybe you could just look at it as prepping those younger kids for their own storytimes. They already know what storytime is about how to behave (well, pretty much...) when they start coming to their own storytime group. I see the same families for several years as each of their children progress from baby or toddler time to preschool storytimes.

I have always allowed babies into the lapsit storytime, though it can get very tight. It is not an ideal situation, but often the only workable one. The problem we have had is with older siblings in the baby or lapsit storytime. My assistant, who I am fortunate enough to have part time, has worked that out by having crafts for the older ones to work at while Mom is in with the baby or toddler. That has been a great help, as we have several siblings who want all of Mom's attention. This makes things easier for all of us. I joke that one of my faithfuls started coming to storytime before she was born, then to toddler story time with her sister, then on her own. Now she is in regular story time. Don't know if this helps.

I allow siblings (both older and younger) in my story time for 2 1/2-3 1/2-year-olds. It doesn't seem reasonable to require a parent/caregiver to have to make arrangements for the other child to attend a half-hour program.

We have the same policy in all of our story times where the child is required to attend with a grown-up, and I think our policy has always been that way. Hope that helps!

We've always included siblings in storytimes. I usually find that the siblings get something out of the program, even if it's not geared for their age group, and I haven't found them to be a nuisance. Occasionally a mother will have difficulty getting her elder child to stay without her while she removes the fussing baby. They usually end up removing both children.

I don't have an issue with younger (or older ones, for that matter) siblings coming to my toddler time which is geared for ages 1-3 and an accompanying adult. I would rather have them there than in the story time for 3-6 year olds. In fact, if there is a range of ages, I prefer them at toddler time.

In fact I don't worry about the age of attendees. I announce the intended age and if the children are some other age the adults they are with have to deal with them being bored or bewildered. If Grandma, Mommy, or whomever can only work a certain day's storytime into the family's schedule, it's better for them to come then with children of the "wrong age" than not bring the children at all. Most of our patrons like this roll-with-the-punches approach.

We set up a separate program named "Calling All Kids" specifically for siblings. It takes place one day a week as do all the others and it seems to answer that need for the parents.

     I allow siblings in my Infant and Toddler Storytimes. Being a mom

of a little one I completely understand how hard it is for parents to find sitters for one child when they bring another to storytime. I only ask the parents to please remove the sibling if they are disruptive in any way. I have only had to do this once, when an older brother was a little too rough around the infants. The mom understood. Personally, I love to see big brothers and sisters helping their younger siblings do Itsy Bitsy Spider!

We allow extra siblings to come to storytime. What the librarian who conducts our Babies and Books programs (designed for infants up to 18 months) usually tells people who ask about bringing older siblings along is that the older sibling could bring a doll, so the older sibling could kind of play along like a mom and do the baby stuff with the doll (so if everyone's lifting up their babies or tickling them or something), the older sibling could do that with a baby doll (or a teddy bear, etc. that they're using as their "baby").

She also allows parents to bring their babies to the toddler storytime (age 18 months to 3 years). With those, the infant is usually just being held by mom or sitting in a carrier. Our only real request on that is if the baby starts getting fussy, the mom needs to take them out of the room until they settle down instead of totally disrupting the whole group.

For our preschool storytime (age 3 to 5 years), the kids normally come into the storytime room by themselves so there's no issue with siblings. At the end of the program, we have craft time. For craft time, the parents normally come into the room, and quite a few of them will bring younger siblings in with them. Depending on how many craft supplies we have, how complicated the craft is, etc., the younger siblings may or may not join in. Sometimes moms will take craft materials with them to do at home (for the younger kid or for both if they don't think the little one can sit still long enough to wait for their sibling to complete the craft).

One thing we have done about the large attendance for our storytimes is to add additional sections. For the infants, we have two sessions one day a week. For the toddlers (which have the largest attendance), we have two sessions two days a week. For the preschoolers, we have one session two days a week. So, we have 2 infant sessions a week, 4 toddler sessions a week, and 2 preschool sessions a week.

We allow any age child to accompany the storytime age appropriate child.

As long as the children sit (don't walk around) and are quiet, they are welcome. We don't preregister. We take anyone who shows up. This might not be possible in a larger city. Our storytimes range from 15 to 35 usually. Once Toddler Time was 53 children and 27 adults! We managed to keep the group involved.

One of the ideas I heard of recently is a library that has extra teddy bears at the lapsit storytime program - older siblings are given a 'baby' to participate in the lapsit program 'just like mummy..."

apparently it works quite well for them.