Encouragement for Working Moms

As my due date comes closer and closer, I've been struggling with the thought of returning to work once my maternity leave ends. I love my job, and I'm a little afraid to walk away for three months while we embark on this incredibly new chapter in life. However, the idea of leaving my little one for 8-9 hours each day is already giving me anxiety. I have never envisioned myself as a stay-at-home mom, but I'm already feeling guilt about returning to work.

What's up with that?

I recently came across two blog posts that have been so encouraging about "working mom guilt."

Grace for the working mother and her guilt by Lisa-Jo Baker. I forget how I came across this post, but it really struck a chord with me. I am not a bad mother because I'm returning to work outside of the home. I'm doing what is necessary for our family: providing an income to feed, clothe, and keep our little one secure. "Gritty, committed, and determined to do what is necessary."

Working mom guilt by The MOB Society. I had originally posted Lisa-Jo's on my personal Facebook page, which led a dear friend to direct me to this post. It is very similar in tone and encouragement, but it went a little further to speak to me. I had never thought of this perspective on being a working mom: "It is not God’s will for women to stay home with their children any more than it is God’s will for women to work outside the home — what is God’s will is that in everything, without grumbling or complaining, we do it all for Him."

At the end of the day, I want our daughter to know that Mommy and Daddy do what we do for her and our family. And if that means both of us have to work, so be it. Husband and I have discussed the potential for one of us to stay home for a bit, and while the opportunity isn't off the table, it's more than likely that we'll both continue to work. But only time and God will tell us what is best, and I will continue to lean on faith to guide us through these new waters.

Bookend Decorating [Library Programming]

My library has a very small teen area. There isn't a whole lot of space to work with, just lots of shelves with awesome books. I drool when I see beautifully designed teen spaces with comfortable furniture, the latest technology, and teenagers actually utilizing the space. In an effort to make our teen area have a more teen feel to it, I started to search for "quick fixes" that could improve the space using materials we already had (read: cheap!).

I stumbled upon this post from Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian's blog (which has now migrated to A Mom's Spare Time). Bookend decorating? Oh, yes! We had plenty of bookends, magazines, and craft supplies to get creative with! This was a totally doable program based on our budget ($0), time, and resources.

Here's what I did for this program:

I publicized the program for all teenagers to attend. I encouraged teens to bring any art supplies they might want to use for decorating (except glitter - I have a no glitter policy for my craft programs). I collected teen magazines and any other cool-looking magazines that teens might like to find inspiration from. And, of course, I gathered an assortment of bookends that we could use to decorate with (and I got permission from my manager to "deface" the bookends). 

Other materials to have on hand include glue, scissors, paint, permanent markers, Mod Podge, and anything else you can think of that would turn boring bookends into bookends with sass. Also, have plenty of space for teens to spread out while they work. 

Once their creations are made, I left them out to dry overnight. When they were set, I trimmed the edges so nothing hung over and added a layer of Mod Podge to seal everything. Here are some of the bookends that were created during the program (click to enlarge).

I invited the teens back to replace the boring bookends with their newly designed ones. This gave them a sense of ownership of the teen area, and the bookends added some much needed personality to our teen area. I definitely recommend this for any youth librarian who is looking for a fun, low- to no-cost program for teens. 

LEGO Club at the Library [Library Programming]

LEGO clubs have been sprouting up at libraries in recent years. They are great programs to attract children of all ages and they are easy to set up. Honestly, it doesn't get much better than that for library staff.

As LEGO clubs became more popular, I entertained the idea of getting one started at my library. After discussion with my manager about logistics and budget, I set to work on getting the word out that we were going to start a LEGO club. The first thing I did was create in-house advertising to solicit donations of LEGOs. Have you looked at the cost of LEGOs? Definitely not library-budget friendly! 

I started the donation campaign in May, right before Summer Reading. Donations slowly trickled in; we'd get a small box here and there, and a few patrons even donated money to purchase LEGOs. The best place I found to use the monetary donations was Ebay - especially for LEGO bases. As summer continued on, the donations steadily increased. I don't have much storage space in our library, and the few months of solicitation racked up enough donations to max out what space I had allocated for our LEGO collection. But I wasn't complaining. From monetary donations, I spent about $75 to enhance our collection through Ebay. Our collection right now includes thousands and thousands of LEGO pieces, the majority through donations from patrons.

TIP: If you're able to, get in contact with someone who sorts through donations at local thrift stores (especially those that run on volunteer efforts). A patron who volunteers at a thrift store near us got word about us looking for LEGO donations, and whenever someone donated LEGOs to the thrift store, she set them aside for the library. Come to find out, the thrift stores in our area won't put donated LEGOs out to sell because the LEGOs are considered a choking hazard. 

Once I gathered all our donations and assessed what we had to work with, I set a date to hold our first meeting of our LEGO club. Once the date rolled around, it was simple to get everything set up. Here was my set up:

Tables and LEGOs equal fun!

The big totes on the floor hold DUPLO-size blocks for little patrons to participate. I put up rules around the room for the children to follow (I borrowed the rules from the Canaan Town Library). I set out various LEGOs at each table in shoe boxes. And that's it! When the children came in, they grabbed at spot at a table and started working on their masterpieces. Many would roam from table to table to borrow pieces and see what the other kids were making. I let everyone build for 50 minutes before asking everyone to help clean up. Once their creations were finished, each participant filled out a slip with their name, age, and title of their creation. I took what each child made, paired it with the respective slip, and placed the creations on display in the main part of the library for all to see. This is an excellent way to get extra publicity for the program. 

We had 20 participants for our first meeting, which is awesome! There were several children I had never seen before at a library program and I love that! I feel like I get into a rut sometimes with programming and starting the LEGO club really inspired me to seek out new ideas. Another thing I love about the ease of hosting a LEGO program is that while I'm on maternity leave, any staff member can run this program. When you're a one-person show in the youth department, that's a big positive. 

Does your library have a LEGO club? Tell me about it!

Black Light Party for Teens [Library Programming]

I can't express how grateful I am to the numerous librarians out there who blog about books and programs that they host. The wealth of information in the blogosphere for all types of librarians is incredible. I've been in my position as a youth services coordinator for three years now, and there are so many bloggers who have inspired me to try new things!

While I don't discuss much about my job, I have wanted to contribute something to the Internet to help out others. I've had programs that rocked and others that have been major fails. I've learned to not take the failures to heart because you have to try new things all the time. If it doesn't work, so what? You learn what you can from the failures and just move on. 

A colleague of mine had hosted a black light party for teenagers at her library, and she recommended that I give it a shot at my library. Getting teenagers into the library is like herding cats (at least, it feels like that to me sometimes). I love teenagers because they are passionate about whatever they set their minds to. I loved the library when I was a teen, but I never participated in any teen-focused events that were hosted. So when I was first hired for my job, I was terrified of working with teenagers. 

How in the world can I interact with this age group and provide good programming for them?

Three years in, I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on what teens in my community are looking for and what will bring them into the library. I'm so happy I took the recommendation of my colleague and host a black light party... it was a smashing success!

Neon paint art!

If you're looking to host a black light party for teenagers, here are the absolute essential materials you need:

• Black light bulbs - I used nine bulbs plus a large black light a teen brought with her. Use what you need for the space you have, but you'll want good coverage. (And don't forget lamps, of course.)
• Something to block out light if the room you're using has windows - We used black trash bags and they worked perfectly.
• Neon paint - Don't buy glow-in-the-dark stuff. It just doesn't translate as well as neon paint does. I provided T-shirt paint and regular paint for whatever creative endeavors the teens embarked on.
• Glow sticks and bracelets - These just add a fun element to the party.
• Tonic water - If you're providing refreshments, tonic water glows under black light. I had plain tonic water and lemonade made with tonic water available. The teens thought it was really cool.

Twister under the black lights.

The party in full swing!

At our party, I provided arts and crafts, coloring pages (teens LOVED them!) with neon markers, the paints, snacks, and the game Twister. Most of the teens came wearing neon colors, which looked awesome under the lights. We decorated the room with neon balloons and neon paper crafts. I spent about $60 for the entire party (materials and snacks). We had 13 attendees, which is a really great number for my library. The teens I talked to afterwards said they had a great time and would want to do it again. That right there is what I consider success!

Summer Personal Finance

I would guess that there are about three of you who are currently reading this blog who are familiar with a previous blog I kept about personal finances and weight loss. While I no longer maintain that blog, I am still struggling with these two areas of my life. Keeping that blog was an educational experience. The things I learned during that time have made for a good foundation to make progress. I wish I could report about huge strides in both those areas, but alas, I'm still making baby steps.

Richie is working his way up the employment totem pole of high school education. When a teacher retires, there's little chance a new one is hired. When a budget is slashed, you just make do. He has an excellent position at the high school he's employed at, but one tiny drawback: he's a contract employee. What does that mean? If there's no school, there's no income.

Does this make us nervous? Yes. A little scared? Heck yes.

Source: PT Money

We recently learned that his contract will be renewed next school year, and his boss told him that he would renew the contract for as long as Richie wants the position. His boss knows that Richie is looking for another position that is more long-term, has benefits, and utilizes the training he has, yet with this knowledge, his boss is still comfortable with renewing his contract. This is a huge blessing and weight off our shoulders. But once the school year ends, that's it. There's no second income until school begins in August.

So what do we do? We've sketched out a game plan to get us through the lean times coming up.

1. We are praying. This job was an answered prayer. We'll continue to pray for financial peace over the summer.

2. I have been paying a little extra on our bills each month so in case we come up short this summer, some of the regular bills won't be as high. I have also added a little extra cushioning to savings in case something comes up.

3. We received many gift cards this past Christmas. Generally, we spend them faster than teenagers. However, Richie mentioned putting them aside and using them over the summer. So that's what we're doing with those. Brilliant!

4. To bring in extra income, Richie will be housesitting and petsitting for families we have done this for in the past. He has also spread the word through his school that he's available to do this, and he has a few more interested families. I also have a few items I'm going to list on Craigslist to hopefully unload.

5. We will only be eating out after church on Sundays. This will be our most difficult step, but we are both committed to sticking this out. We chose Sundays because it's our tradition now and we really enjoy it.

Of course, we'll be doing some of the other basics. I'll still be bringing my lunch to work. We use coupons and shop sales for groceries. We try to wait as long as possible to turn on the air conditioner to save on electricity. We made mistakes last summer, and I'm confident we have learned from those mistakes and will be smarter this year.

What are your absolutely tried-and-true, crazy or not crazy, ways you save money in lean times?

Mental Health Day Itinerary

Because I had scheduled my "mental health day" weeks in advance, I asked close friends and family what I should do with my free time. The general consensus told me not to do work of any kind: job work, school work, house work... no work.

I talked to Richie about what my day off should be like, and he told me to do whatever the heck I wanted to do. Because of my Type A personality, I tried to map out a plan for that day. Sick, right? The night before though, I decided to throw any ideas of a plan out of my head and just go with the flow.

Here's what I did on that day:

7 a.m.: Hit the snooze button because while I thought getting up at 7 would be a good idea, my bed convinced me otherwise.

7:50 a.m.: Get up because cats are annoying and want breakfast. Make a huge cup of coffee, open the blinds in the living room, and sit and sip coffee while waking up.

8-11 a.m.: I ate breakfast, read a few chapters in one book, read two juvenile books, went for a 1.5 mile walk while listening to a church sermon I missed.

11-11:50 a.m.: Marinated in a hot bath with a magazine.

12 p.m.: Made lunch - Caesar salad, bowl of strawberries, pita with hummus.

12:30-2 p.m.: Watched The Giant Mechnical Man on Netflix. Loved it!

2-3 p.m: Browse through Netflix, begin to get restless, realize that I'm bored and need to do something remotely productive.

Aside from the no work rule, I imposed one more rule on my day: No gadgets. Yes, I did watch some TV, but I made a conscious effort to use my phone only for text messages (and I only texted Richie). I didn't touch my computer until 3 p.m. and I broke the rule out of boredom and wanted to read blogs and the news. While I succumbed to my computer, I never logged in to my e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter (except for one tweet that morning that said I wouldn't be around that day... did you catch that?).

I'm a little disgusted that I got bored by 3 p.m. I have never been the type to just stay home. I like being out and about, whether at work or just running errands. I think it's sad that I couldn't entertain myself the entire day without the help of my computer, but so be it.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent catching up on reading, making the effort to prepare something for dinner (i.e. not heating something up or making a sandwich), and getting into bed at a reasonable hour. This day was exactly what I needed to recharge and hone in my focus on what fills up my "everydays."

As an adult, do you take "mental health days"? What do you do/not do on those days?

Mental Health Day

This is part 2 of my previous post.

When I went back to work once most of the plague left me, I hit the ground running on all that I needed to accomplish. I had three days left in the work week to get things accomplished before the weekend. I had a commitment that following Monday that would require my time away from my desk, which made it all the more crucial to make those three days count. To throw things off a little more, I was scheduled to be away from work that Tuesday, too.

Why wasn't I there that Tuesday? I took a mental health day.

One of the things my boss told me during my performance review is that I should take time off when necessary. I earn vacation and sick time each month, and I hardly use any of it. The sick time isn't such a big deal because it never "expires." However, at the end of a fiscal year, however many vacation hours an employee has over 160 is lost. In 2012, I had 161 hours at the end of June, so I left one hour early one day so I wouldn't lose that hour. I'm having the same "problem" this year.

I scheduled time off during Richie's spring break because we have family coming to visit, so that will take up a good chunk of time. However, looking at the accrued time and seeing what I will earn by the end of June still has me over 160 hours. Thus, I planned a mental health day to use up an extra eight hours. I put in for that day off weeks before I had that plague, and I did feel guilty for missing two days of work, then missing another one as a planned vacation day.

And then the guilt subsided because it is increasingly clear to me that if I don't take care of myself, my work suffers.

I take pride in my work. I don't cut corners and I don't joke around when it comes to my work responsibilities. But burning out isn't going to get me to where I want to be in my career. I'm thrilled to have a boss who recognizes my hard work, and I'm even more thankful that she has encouraged me to take time off for myself.

This won't be a habit it. During my mental health day, I was reminded that I'm not a lady of leisure.

Guilt Over a Sick Day

A couple of weeks ago I was plagued with a cold. I joked with my family that I had contracted the bubonic plague, that's how awful I felt. I stayed home as much as possible so as not to potentially sicken anyone else and to give my body time to recover. I was out of work for two days, and I'm pretty sure I slept for a good 20 hours during that time off. The cold lingered for about a week, and before I knew it, I was back to feeling normal.

But you know what happened during those two days off? Guilt.

I was one of those strange children who didn't want to miss school. I never faked sick. I felt guilty for missing school. In high school, the only time I missed was for "mental health days." My parents agreed to let me have a "mental health day" a couple of times each year to rest as long as I kept my grades up. I'm pretty sure that they allowed this because I would run myself down. I didn't stop: classes, part-time job, internship, extracurriculars. I just had to keep going.

So I missed two days of work from being sick... and I felt guilty for missing work. There were two days of no productivity. Two days of backed up e-mails, to-do lists not getting accomplished, projects that needed attention. And where was I? In bed or on the couch beating myself up for being sick.

Of course, during that time, I also didn't work on school work. A seperate vicious cycle of panic rushed through me as I thought about everything that needed to get done for school that just wasn't getting attention. Instead, I was focusing on myself, getting myself better so I could hit the ground running on all that needed to be done done done. And I felt guilty for being home and not at least getting school work done.

Am I the only person who feels guilty for missing a day of work because of sickness?

There's a part two to this coming in a few days. Stay tuned.

Center for Puppetry Arts

A work function that includes travel? That fits in my schedule beautifully!

Source

I had the opportunity to attend a workshop and tour of the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta recently for work. (Seriously, have I mentioned how awesome it is to be a youth librarian?) When you walk into the museum, the first puppet you see is Big Bird. During our downtime, we were encouraged to wander through the museum. Currently, there are many Jim Henson creations on display. My personal favorites? The fraggles and doozers!

We were allowed to take photographs. However, the Center does not generally allow photography in the museum exhibits. I'd love to share some of my photos, but I'm not much of a rule-breaker. Check out the Center's website (linked above) or Google Images for a peek into the museum. It's very kid-friendly, but there are programs for adults, too.

And if anyone from the Center happens across this blog, thanks for doing what you do!

Librarian v. Google

Whenever I need a pick-me-up after a hard-knock kind of day at work, I read this:

“Librarians are there:
To help, aid, assist. To teach, collate, enthuse. To catalogue, index, arrange, organise. To find, discover, promote, display. To interest, intrigue, amuse and amaze. To instill wonder. To help children, adults, old people, the underprivileged, the rich, the poor, those with voices and those without. To protect resources, to archive them, to store them, to save them for the future. To provide differing viewpoints, to engender thought, conversation, research, fun. To provide the best answer possible, to match the answer to the enquirer, to provide just enough information without overwhelming the user, but enough to always help. To better a local community, a company, a school, a college, an organisation, a country, the world.

Google is there:
To make money.”
- Phil Bradley

I love Google. No, I adore Google. Gmail, Drive, Reader, Calendar, Blogger (obviously) - if Google makes it, I probably use it. I use Google at work to find answers on the quick or to get started on research.

But there is no replacement for your friendly, local librarian. (At least, I hope your local librarian is friendly.) If it has been a long time since you have visited your local library, stop by sometime. Browse the books, check out a DVD, attend a program. I promise you, there is something for everyone at your public library.

Performance Review

Scene: I’m sitting at my desk in the youth area and suddenly got very cold. I realized one of the entryway doors was left open, thus a draft from the main entrance was coming in. I shut the door and walked back into our workroom to get something to drink and attempt to warm up. My boss and one of my coworkers are in the workroom.

Me: “I’m freezing! Is anyone else cold?”

Coworker: “I am.”

Boss: “Come into my office. It’s warm in there.”

I take my boss’s suggestion and follow her back to her office. I believe her, because she doesn’t have her sweater on. And it is noticeably warmer in there when I cross the threshold.

Boss: “Take a seat and shut the door. We’ll do your performance review while you’re here.”

Hook. Line. Sinker.

Thirty minutes later, I emerged with a good review and warmed hands.

When Pigs Fly, Miracles Happen

A young lady named Danielle* came up to me one afternoon while I was working the circulation desk to see if I could print out different coloring sheets for my coloring table. She wasn't too jazzed about the winter-themed pages that were currently stocked in the coloring basket, and many of my regular children know that I will print out whatever they want if they ask nicely. I had never talked to Danielle before, so I was impressed with her forwardness to ask me for something different.

However, she didn't give me something specific to work with. After a few questions and ideas, she told me she liked pigs and flowers. I told her I could make that happen and said I would bring her the coloring pages once I printed them out. She thanked me and returned to the coloring table.

I found this page of pigs, along with a few other pages I thought would be fun. I printed up a batch and hand-delivered them to Danielle, who was looking through a picture book. I sat down the page of pigs and asked her if she liked it, and I'm telling you, you could feel the happiness radiating off of her.

Danielle then shared her story with me. As she told me her story, I got goosebumps from her optimism and zeal.

Danielle is around 18 years old and confined in a wheelchair. She was in a car accident that she shouldn't have survived. Her doctors told her mother that she would most likely not recover her basic capabilities. Her mother's response? "When pigs fly, miracles happens." Danielle was tickled by the coloring page because it looked like flying pigs. She told me that ever since she was released from the hospital, she sees pigs all the time. And what were the odds I would find her a coloring page with pigs that look like they were flying?

Danielle has recovered most of her speech capabilities. She has good function of her arms. And she was able to tell me her story, give me a hug, and ask her caretaker to bring her to the library more often. Danielle is a miracle. After she shared her story with me, I walked away changed. Because it's not every day you meet a miracle.

*Name has been changed.

Find Your Calling

Recent awesome happenings at work:

- A developmentally disabled young man who is a regular attendee to my afternoon storytime sessions brought in valentines for every child who attended a storytime before Valentine's Day. Even if he didn’t know them, he gave them a valentine. Can I tell you how fast my heart melted?

- My last lapsit storytime session happened to land on a little man’s birthday. He turned three that day. I asked him if he wanted the group to sing “Happy Birthday” to him, and he replied eagerly with, “Yes, please!” Much dancing and giggling ensued.

- I helped a 6-year-old find books on China recently for a school report. A week later, he brought his report to the library to share with me and walked me through each assignment included.

My prayer for each and every person who reads this is that you are doing work that fulfills you. I feel incredibly blessed to have fallen in love with my work and earn an income from it. Find your calling. Life's too short to waste time being miserable in your day job.

Reading Out Loud

My library hosts a reading therapy dog who children sign up to read to. It’s a really great program for boosting reading confidence and skills in children. Our volunteer called out sick this week, and I rushed to call parents to notify them. I was hoping to catch many parents before leaving to come to the library, but alas, I did not.

A first grader who was signed up for her very first time to read to the dog came in, and I was able to get her signed up for a future session. Mom was very understanding, and then asked me if I would allow her daughter to read to me.

I couldn’t say no.

This little lady read a Keiko Kasza book to me, and she did a wonderful job! It is so rare for me to listen to a child read out loud to me. I love reading to groups of children, but it was such an awesome experience to have a child read to me. Afterwards, Mom said that she is hoping her daughter’s confidence in reading will improve by reading out loud more. I hope her reading experience was as enriching for her as it was to me.

Take the time to listen to a child read. It will mean the whole world to them, and I’m pretty sure it could mean the whole world to you.

Princesses

I hosted a royalty-themed story time last week. One of the books I read was Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated. Before I begin reading, I like to engage the audience in light conversation. I asked if there were any princes in the room. No answer. Then I asked if there were any princesses in the room.

A little boy looks at his sister, and with a sarcastic delivery replies, "Yes."

Have I mentioned I love my job?

Recent Reads: Picture Books

One of the perks of my job is that I get to read children's books. I read every book I consider for story times and try my best to keep up on what's appearing on our new shelves. Let me tell you: There are fantastic new releases for children coming out all the time. Here are a few I recently read and loved.

Abe Lincoln's Dream by Lane Smith

A fun read featuring honest Abe and presidential pooches.

 

Hello! Hello! by Matthew Cordell

Excellent book about unplugging from technology.

 

The Box by Axel Janssens

Did you ever get creative with a cardbox box as a child? Check out this boy's adventures.

The next time you visit your public library, check out a picture book or two. Reading through a new book or a classic from your childhood is a fun and free way to make you smile.

(All titles mentioned aboved were borrowed from my public library. I receive absolutely no compensation for talking about these books.)

My Desk at Work

Where the librarian magic happens...

This was my desk yesterday morning. I am a youth librarian. I absolutely adore my job. I get to color and glue stuff, read children's books, and generally be a big kid. I also love working with adults - helping them to use a computer, finding books, or demonstrating how to use a microfiche reader (yep, we still use 'em) to search newspaper archives. Being a librarian is just plain fun.

I don't like chaos. However, I like to think that the chaos above is evidence of my love for my job. This chaos doesn't bother me. I can't leave dishes in my sink, there is no way clean laundry lingers in a basket, and we vacuum our apartment every day (that's cat parenting for you). But a messy desk at work? No problem. It means I'm in the zone.

For the record, I have my desk spotless by the time I leave for the day. I also straighten up periodically throughout the day. The above example was taken during an extreme moment of chaos: creating storytime crafts and catching up on work after the holidays. It was also a slow morning, for which I was ever so thankful to take advantage of.