Nightmare at/of the Library

I just had a very unpleasant experience at the library.

Let me qualify myself: I love the library. I enjoy spending my hardly-free time there browsing the books, pouncing on ones which I have been looking for sometime, and this includes children's books for my kids. I even enjoy bringing the kids (the two younger ones, Ethan doesn't seem as delighted with the library as his siblings now that he's at this age) there, to some extent. In fact, I go to the library so often that I feel like a frequent visitor who has exhausted all the goodwill of her host.

The library I go to often is of course the one near where I live, situated in a shopping centre and quite small comparatively. And it is also the place where I get the most 'shhs' from the librarians. Maybe because of its layout, it is almost unwelcoming to little children. Jethro runs about there, and chats up anyone who's in the (un)fortunate position of being close by him. But at least he is sometimes lured by the computers and spends considerable time there (hence quiet and not running). I sometimes have to pull him away so other kids can be given a chance to do more decent things with the terminals. Heidi not only runs wild but shouts and whoops. And she doesn't listen to "Don't run about!" and "Don't be so loud!" from nice-enough librarians and me (when I can tear myself away from the book-searching to restrain them).

Tonight, the three of us went there again, while Ethan and Jianming were at the swimming pool and Jethro and Heidi have colds and couldn't join them. It was mayhem right from the start. The library was really quiet at that time of the day - until we descended upon it. The few kids there were confined to the children's section and seemed to behave most angelically compared to mine. Heidi and Jethro ran into the libray, while I browsed the books at the entrance. The librarian repeatedly told Heidi to be quiet and not run about, to no avail. I tried to, but I couldn't keep tab of her all the time if I were to get some books borrowed and leave quickly. It was not too bad in the children's section. But we had to get out into the forbidding adults' section to the borrowing stations eventually. What choice did I have but to drag them along? And as I was involved in borrowing books, I couldn't make them sit down and shut up for even a second. Finally, from the PA system, the usual message about asking the kids to be quiet and not run about and the parents to take charge of their kids boomed out loud and clear. It was so OBVIOUS. We were the only badly behaved persons there. And it did not end there. Just as I was finishing, a stern man with a name tag came up to Jethro and Heidi and said something to them. He turned to look at me, and if looks could kill, his would. Well, I hope mine did too. I am sure we hated each other's guts then. I couldn't help but blurted out 'Stupid man! Wait till he has kids of his own!' in the lift, for he looks young (and arrogant with youth). That was what got me at that time, that stern and hateful man, whose appearance seemed so pointless as I was already borrowing books then and in fact, was ready to leave just as he finished his little lecture. However, upon reaching home, I thought about the PA announcement and the humiliation of it finally hit home. How could you do such a thing?! Just to get me embarrassed! It's not as if I did not try! If banning us (or at least the kids) was the aim, they have certainly succeeded. I am a failure as a mother. I could not keep my kids quiet and reading and walking silently. I cannot bring them there any more. Shame on me.

How to enjoy a library book from now on? Till now when I read a book, I will remember with indignation and feel that the library is no longer the great institution that I respected. It has become so unforgiving, and so unaccommodating of children, who are its future hope; whom it is supposed to cultivate, as young as possible, to be readers and regular patrons of books. I hope this experience is not a general one, and in keeping them away from this particular library (till they are older), we may yet continue to feel the welcome of other libraries. Yes, kids must learn the proper behaviour in library, but kids are still kids, and I refuse to believe they should be discouraged from libraries just because they act like kids who have found a wonderland when they enter the library.