Library Story Time Etiquette for Parents and Caregivers
Library Story Time is an interactive, educational theater experience. Unlike television viewing or live sports events, the behavior of the audience affects the quality of the performance: YOU can make or break the performance for everyone, including your child.
With this in mind, please read and follow these guidelines for behavior at Story Time. Most of these guidelines also apply to any other live performance you attend.
- Registration is required for most programs. Sign up online to assure spaces for your child and yourself, as we may not admit more people than the Fire Code allows. If you have trouble registering, or if you have no internet access, please call the Library during business hours and we will be happy to help you sign up. Registration requests left on voice mail may not be intercepted in time to register your child. If you cannot attend for any reason, please cancel your registration to make room for someone else.
- Arrive 15 minutes or more before Story Time begins. You and your child will then have time to park, take a breath, have a drink, use the rest room, and be ready to start when it’s time to enter Story Time. No one will be admitted after the opening songs, to provide an uninterrupted experience for those who arrived on time.
- Any child coming to Story Time must be accompanied by an adult.
- Put away your cell phone and turn off your pager, unless you are part of an emergency response team. Your child observes your actions. If you are using your phone during the program, he or she will see that nothing happening in the room is as important as that phone.
- BE SAFE. Be attentive to your child’s behavior to ensure his or her safety and the safety of others.
- Put away any toys you may have brought with you. Children will pick up any toy they see in the room, no matter whose it is.
- Any food you bring for your child must be kept in its container if your child does not eat it, to protect the health of children with food allergies. Take partially eaten food and empty wrappers and containers with you.
- PARTICIPATE! Your child will get much more value from the experience when you sing, dance, stretch, and listen with him or her.
- DO NOT TALK TO OTHER ADULTS when the storyteller is speaking. Modeling this courteous behavior will show your child that one should respect other members of the audience, as well as the presenter. Remember when someone talked during a movie you attended? Don’t be that person.
- Refrain from correcting the behavior of children or adults who are not under your care. Please model helpful behavior for others by interacting positively with your own child.
- If your child becomes loudly upset, please gently escort him or her out of the room to calm down. The Children’s Library has a Quiet Room where you can rest a moment while your child becomes less agitated. We will welcome you back, we promise! The same goes for a quick trip to the rest room.
- If you and your child need to leave Story Time for any reason, please do so in a calm, quiet (if possible) and courteous manner so that those remaining can continue to enjoy the program.
We hope you will enjoy this precious time with your child.
Did You Know???
A whisper is 30 decibels (the unit of measure for sound). A normal conversation is 60-65 decibels. A vacuum cleaner is 66 decibels. Four people talking is 66 decibels, JUST AS LOUD AS A VACUUM CLEANER! We all think we’re being quiet, but when we all talk at the same time, we’re not.
[Source: www.acousticalsolutions.com/noise-level-chart]
Special Needs
If your child has special needs that require an accommodation, please speak to the Library presenter or the Youth Services Manager ahead of time. We can make allowances and exceptions for needs of this kind, and often can add or alter some of the activity content to make it more inclusive for your child, but only if we are informed beforehand. You are your child’s best advocate: please remember to speak up for him or her. Thank you.