Sunday, February 27, 2011

"The Most Important Piece of Plastic You'll Ever Own"

Going to the library is a weekly event around here.

(Okay, so it's not been a weekly event around here for the last of January and first of February. Between cold weather and sickness, we haven't made it to our local library every week, but we're getting back on track!)

Since our oldest was three, we have taken him to the library. We started with preschool story times and summer reading program events, and he loved them. Add to that the surprise of checking out books, and he has been hooked ever since!  There is something simply magical about borrowing books. Searching up one row and down another for just the right selections is a treat that we all enjoy. (Plus, I slip a few in there as surprises to find when we get home and snuggle on the couch to read his stack. This serves a few purposes- a fun surprise and to direct him to books I'd like for him to read.)

For a few weeks, I'd been entertaining the idea of him getting his own library card. Having just turned five and being halfway through his kindergarten curriculum, I thought it was time.

As I filled out the necessary paperwork, he chatted excitedly about this new grown-up thing he's being given, and later, the process of finding just the right books has taken on a new and more special meaning. The books (albeit only 2 this first time) will be checked out on his bright, shiny new card.

As he showed yet another librarian his new, white, shiny piece of plastic, she said, "That is the most important piece of plastic you'll ever own."

How right she is.

This is a big step for my little boy on his way to being a man. A library card seems like such a little thing, but it's far more than 'just' a library card. He's learning how to read, but, still, even more than that, he's learning the importance of having a good name, building a reputation of integrity- by taking care of what he's been given and returning it at or before the appointed time.

All this learned in the ownership of a library card- the most important piece of plastic he'll ever own.

No comments:

Post a Comment