Looking for Peter Pan

How many bedtime stories have you read lately? If you have kids or grandchildren, I bet that you have read at least three stories this week.

My son's favourite character is Mercer Mayer's Little Critter. He is really hooked on this series. We have read them so many times that he knows them by heart.

While we were discussing about discovering new characters that he might like, I thought of Peter Pan.
Since the version of Peter Pan's adventures book we had was not having more than two illustrations, we decided to try our luck at the local library.

From the moment we stepped into the library, my son completely forgot why he went there. He got distracted by the amount of games and toys available.

While he was having fun playing, I searched for the story that got us there in the first place.

I even found a pirate ship toy that we used as a prop while reading the story.

Needless to add that we had lots of fun of the library.

I loved it because we had found the same books both in English and in French, which made it easier for us to practice his French.

As I was looking at him playing, I thought that we are really fortunate to have such a library close by.

You don't realize what a blessing this is until you don't have it.

Wherever we travelled, we always visited the local libraries, to get new books, meet other mommies or simply to hang out.

Seeing the abundance of toys, games and books in here, reminded me of some of libraries abroad, which barely had books for children, probably because of the lack of funds.

Some of them had a small play or reading area for children but nothing compared to this.

Keep in mind this is only a small library!

The ground floor is all dedicated to children and it has five aisles with bookshelves on both sides, a play area and a reading area.

If me, as an adult I love it, you can only imagine how attractive it may be to a child.

Cultivating an interest in books for a child is so easy when you have access to such resources.

How many kids in the world wouldn't love to go hang out at the library if they could?

Unfortunately what we consider a norm in North America may be only a dream for someone in a different country.

We all know that education starts at home. The earlier you start reading to your child and encourage his interest in books, you have a higher chance of turning him into a life-long reader.

Whever I hear a parent saying his child doesn't like to read, I cannot help myself from thinking that the child was not encouraged or stimulated enough. All children are curious by nature.

Sometimes simply having books, magazines, newspapers, comics around is all that it takes to spark his curiosity.

When they are young, children love to imitate adults behaviour. Thus why not lead by example? If your child sees you reading, he may want to read for himself!