All Aboard the Library Train

One of the things i wanted to do since Miss A started school was go in and help. I don’t remember if my mum came in to help when I was at school, but I vaguely remember the feeling of pride when she came on a school trip once.

It also transpires that asking a four year old what they’ve done at school that day is like asking a fish where it swam on the first day of it’s life. “I can’t remember”, “my brain isn't working” and “just played” worked for me for about 30 seconds.

So securing weekly babysitter for Miss I, CRB/DBS/Whatever it’s called this week all done, I was set. The teacher asked me to do the weekly library session, which was great as there’s only so much Biff, Chip and Floppy I can take if I’m honest.

[This is a completely unrelated image, but obviously I can't take pictures of the library train and thought a picture of a regular train would be fairly dull. This is my favourite Library train driver, obvs.]

The first few weeks I found my feet with the kids and there was a few lessons learned:

1. Four year olds don’t listen the majority of the time

2. It doesn’t matter if you can’t carry the book, it’s still the best one.

3. Managing 10 is much easier than managing 5 (?!?!)

4. If you ask them to be a train, they walk in a nice line.

So more about number 4.

After 3 weeks of shouting in a vain attempt to get them to stop at the gate/not push each other down the steps / not run off in general, I stumbled upon a unique trick.

1. Appoint a ‘train driver’

2. Say “all aboard the library train”

3. Watch as they all line up and walk nicely to the next station (said gate, top of the steps etc)

Yes, i do do the odd “choo-choo”, but that’s just half the fun, right?

#School #Mum #Library #MissA #Babysitter #MissI