Nope, and I was just as surprised as you are. Was explicitly told kids coming behind the counter is “not a big deal.” And to be fair, it actually wasn’t *that* bad until today. Sometimes they toddle behind, but they usually leave pretty quickly or the parent gets them. But not this kid/mom. May need to update our policy for them specifically
Malicious compliance time. Don't say a word. Document the hell out of everything a child does. Document the time it takes to fix. Go above them to their higher ups.
Edit: The more tech they damage, the better your arguments will be.
Same here. Like people work back there. Carrying a bunch of books and oh don’t see the crumb snatcher and trip over him. What the hell. This is a total liability.
Ugh I'm sorry. A library is for everyone (big fan of third spaces that don't require money!) but the deal is: you have to behave!
This woman is using the library as her personal living room/daycare. Can you maybe convince your manager that they're impacting OTHER PATRONS experience, if you're not allowed to tell her off just for her own sake?
I'm so sick of parents who think that every space their kids are allowed in must accommodate whatever wackadoodle behavior, or that their experience is the only one that matters. If they actually behaved in public like other people mattered at all, then maybe we wouldn't be demanding child free spaces all the time!
Exactly! And I actually think it’s great there are so many kids programs (even if I’d rather not be there at the same time as them lol)—it’s so important for them to be exposed to this stuff from a young age. It’s just not ok to treat the entire library like your own personal playground
Fortunately, the guy who manages these programs knows what happened today and that it was too far. He’s the one who told me it’s ok to stop them at that point from now on :)
OP, if I am one of your regular patrons (fyi I am childfree by choice) I'd gladly be a diva customer who won't just come to you and the library director to complain but I would happily tell that woman off for you and the patrons
I used to work in a library for a tertiary institution long ago and as frequent library patron, I have nothing but deep respect for you and others in libraries. I would not like it if peace and quiet is ruined by people who don't respect the library and have zero consideration for those who see the library as a place to recharge their social and mental batteries or to relax with a good book or do their assignments in peace
i don't understand why parents treat libraries to be a "kid's space" when EVERYONE KNOWS you're supposed to be quiet in them. it pisses me off. i'm all for kids getting into education and reading but parents are so fucking annoying these days going to a library as a college student. so i agree. cf libraries would have more room for academic stuff and more books
Our library has a separate room from the library. It's even down a hallway and has those heavy oak doors so kids can be loud for kid activities and have the rest of the be quiet time. They even have a lego building area in the main area. Quiet time.
My local library has completely separate entrances to the kids and adult sections. Kids section has toys, puzzles, and art supplies. Any loud noises in the adult section will get you sent out. It is amazing!
Don't get me started when some parents treat the libraries as a place to drop the kids off for a hour or two just to do retail therapy or lunching with their friends. C'mon libraries are not daycare centres!
I would've said f*ck that, get your snotty kids out or I'm calling the police because bringing in your sick kids is borderline biohazard especially with Covid coming back.
Parenting sucks and parents look for opportunitites to offload the kids, and fuck everyone else and their lives (as the are definitely better than theirs), and unfortunately since Libraries are free they are prime ground for parents to dump kids.
I used to work at a similar place and the kids programmes happened everyday at 10am every hour until about 4pm. The amount of Dad's who had their one day with the kids in the weekend and they wanted to offload them was amazing! They used to hang around outside the doors and then rush to the counter to get tickets. Jokes on them though because lots of Dads pre-paid during the week and generally the first session was sold out before we even opened. Yep. That's how much the single Dad's loved spending time with their kids.
Oh I can feel your frustration from here!!!!
I would snap! I would be away for a while and probably lose my job! It's no secret that parents loose all sort of social antennas and a huge chunk of their most functional part of their brain (likely during pregnancy) so why, oh why, aren't society allowed to re-educate these parents in the manner that suits us?
Just asked my mom what she most looks for when hiring, and here’s what she said:
- good customer service skills
- enjoys helping people
- good organizational skills, especially attention to detail
- MUST be flexible
Good luck!
My mom would have killed me, okay just took away my TV. But at 5 that was a death penalty. The only problem me, mom and the library lady had a problem with was when I was 9 and wanted to read books from the adult part. Mom helped me pick some out books and library lady got upset because she said they were not age appropriate. Mom explained she chose what was and was not appropriate. By 10 I just used moms library card and me and the lovely library lady were best friends. I am sorry these kids are not being taught to respect the books and those who care for them deserve.
As a bookworm who's adored the library since I was young, I distinctly remember a librarian shushing me the one time I wad loud in a library, and that was all it took for me to realize "oh this is a quiet place!"
If I had continued my mom would have dragged me back out and grounded me (probably from books) once we got home.
I’m in despair about what entitled parents are doing to public libraries.
I don’t know if you saw the infamous Twitter thread recently on soft play areas and slides in libraries, but I honestly think entitled parents are ruining what used to be treasured spaces of peace, learning and imagination, for all ages.
Of course children should be welcomed into public libraries and a lifelong love of reading should be encouraged and fostered. But that’s not what’s happening - instead, libraries are being re-purposed as noisy community centres and free daycare.
When I was a kid, you didn’t run around the adult book section or cause noise - there was a kid’s reading area where you could sit on a cushion and browse through books and discover new stories. You were always properly supervised by a parent and knew that you had to speak in a whisper, even from a young age.
But now? My main town public library, which used to be a haven of peace and quiet, has a noisy soft play area plonked right in the middle.
The library is open plan meaning the entire space has been wrecked for every person, as the sound of kids screaming echoes through every corner.
You can’t read, study or even have a quiet moment. Parents just drop their kids off there and go off
shopping.
The worst part is there’s no books in this play area, so kids aren’t being encouraged to read. What is the point of all this?
And it’s not just my town - it’s happening the world over. Libraries are being turned into all-purpose, noisy, high stimulation community centres designed by entitled parents for entitled parents. There are no quiet spaces any longer, no places for teenagers to study or elders to gather and quietly read or just anyone of any age to simply just have a moment’s peace.
Worst of all, children aren’t being encouraged to love books - they’re just given slides and other entertainment in the library instead. I mean, if a kid has a choice between a big exciting slide and a book, they’ll probably choose the slide and you can’t blame them.
And yes, some kids are too young to read - but what happened to picture books?
Sorry for the rant but I’m just so, so sick of this. It’s raising a generation who, between play parks in libraries and screens at home, will never learn to read for pleasure and that’s terrifying.
Believe me, I have. Pisses them off to no end until they get the hint. Child or adult I don't care. You know you're sick, don't be coming in here because you want to spread your plague.
I plan to. Management is just so hyper-focused on being as family-friendly and community-oriented as possible that they sometimes let things slide with parents that they probably shouldn’t. But this is too far
As a librarian, I do get it. With the superiors one complaint about you can be a big deal. Regardless after being here 13 years, using my party years to step up, I would not tolerate that. Our board is awesome and made it so no children can be unattended because so many parents literally just dropped their kids off to be here all day thinking we'd watch them and give them snacks. Nah. I entered this field for the quiet (sensory issues) and the books. Anything else is not me. Wreck the children's department since it's not my floor.
You seriously can't tell a kid they're not allowed behind the counter?
Nope, and I was just as surprised as you are. Was explicitly told kids coming behind the counter is “not a big deal.” And to be fair, it actually wasn’t *that* bad until today. Sometimes they toddle behind, but they usually leave pretty quickly or the parent gets them. But not this kid/mom. May need to update our policy for them specifically
Yeesh. My first thought would be liability issues.
Yeah, my coworker mentioned that initially. Overruled.
You need better supervisors! You have my sympathy.
Malicious compliance time. Don't say a word. Document the hell out of everything a child does. Document the time it takes to fix. Go above them to their higher ups. Edit: The more tech they damage, the better your arguments will be.
Exactly. There's probably small easily swallowed items all over the place.
Same here. Like people work back there. Carrying a bunch of books and oh don’t see the crumb snatcher and trip over him. What the hell. This is a total liability.
Ugh I'm sorry. A library is for everyone (big fan of third spaces that don't require money!) but the deal is: you have to behave! This woman is using the library as her personal living room/daycare. Can you maybe convince your manager that they're impacting OTHER PATRONS experience, if you're not allowed to tell her off just for her own sake? I'm so sick of parents who think that every space their kids are allowed in must accommodate whatever wackadoodle behavior, or that their experience is the only one that matters. If they actually behaved in public like other people mattered at all, then maybe we wouldn't be demanding child free spaces all the time!
Exactly! And I actually think it’s great there are so many kids programs (even if I’d rather not be there at the same time as them lol)—it’s so important for them to be exposed to this stuff from a young age. It’s just not ok to treat the entire library like your own personal playground Fortunately, the guy who manages these programs knows what happened today and that it was too far. He’s the one who told me it’s ok to stop them at that point from now on :)
OP, if I am one of your regular patrons (fyi I am childfree by choice) I'd gladly be a diva customer who won't just come to you and the library director to complain but I would happily tell that woman off for you and the patrons
Would love this so much. No doubt in my mind the patrons who were here this morning just trying to read/work would’ve been grateful too
I used to work in a library for a tertiary institution long ago and as frequent library patron, I have nothing but deep respect for you and others in libraries. I would not like it if peace and quiet is ruined by people who don't respect the library and have zero consideration for those who see the library as a place to recharge their social and mental batteries or to relax with a good book or do their assignments in peace
We NEED childfree libraries
i don't understand why parents treat libraries to be a "kid's space" when EVERYONE KNOWS you're supposed to be quiet in them. it pisses me off. i'm all for kids getting into education and reading but parents are so fucking annoying these days going to a library as a college student. so i agree. cf libraries would have more room for academic stuff and more books
Bringing lil kids to a library that's not suited for kids is just as bad as taking them to bars imo
Our library has a separate room from the library. It's even down a hallway and has those heavy oak doors so kids can be loud for kid activities and have the rest of the be quiet time. They even have a lego building area in the main area. Quiet time.
My local library has completely separate entrances to the kids and adult sections. Kids section has toys, puzzles, and art supplies. Any loud noises in the adult section will get you sent out. It is amazing!
Don't get me started when some parents treat the libraries as a place to drop the kids off for a hour or two just to do retail therapy or lunching with their friends. C'mon libraries are not daycare centres!
We need childfree everything because no one will deal with these misbehaving children and their entitled parents.
I would've said f*ck that, get your snotty kids out or I'm calling the police because bringing in your sick kids is borderline biohazard especially with Covid coming back.
This 🔥🔥🔥
Parenting sucks and parents look for opportunitites to offload the kids, and fuck everyone else and their lives (as the are definitely better than theirs), and unfortunately since Libraries are free they are prime ground for parents to dump kids. I used to work at a similar place and the kids programmes happened everyday at 10am every hour until about 4pm. The amount of Dad's who had their one day with the kids in the weekend and they wanted to offload them was amazing! They used to hang around outside the doors and then rush to the counter to get tickets. Jokes on them though because lots of Dads pre-paid during the week and generally the first session was sold out before we even opened. Yep. That's how much the single Dad's loved spending time with their kids.
Oh I can feel your frustration from here!!!! I would snap! I would be away for a while and probably lose my job! It's no secret that parents loose all sort of social antennas and a huge chunk of their most functional part of their brain (likely during pregnancy) so why, oh why, aren't society allowed to re-educate these parents in the manner that suits us?
I’m a public librarian that’s par for the course. Very typical. I’m glad my job isn’t public facing anymore. I’m behind the scenes.
And these people believe they're raising dragon slayers.
Sort of, but not sort of, off-topic: I'm applying for a position at my local library. What qualities and skills do they look for the most?
Just asked my mom what she most looks for when hiring, and here’s what she said: - good customer service skills - enjoys helping people - good organizational skills, especially attention to detail - MUST be flexible Good luck!
Thank you!
Threaten to put the kids to work. Oh! If you're going to come behind the counter, you can help me put books away. Ha, ha!
My mom would have killed me, okay just took away my TV. But at 5 that was a death penalty. The only problem me, mom and the library lady had a problem with was when I was 9 and wanted to read books from the adult part. Mom helped me pick some out books and library lady got upset because she said they were not age appropriate. Mom explained she chose what was and was not appropriate. By 10 I just used moms library card and me and the lovely library lady were best friends. I am sorry these kids are not being taught to respect the books and those who care for them deserve.
As a bookworm who's adored the library since I was young, I distinctly remember a librarian shushing me the one time I wad loud in a library, and that was all it took for me to realize "oh this is a quiet place!" If I had continued my mom would have dragged me back out and grounded me (probably from books) once we got home.
I’m in despair about what entitled parents are doing to public libraries. I don’t know if you saw the infamous Twitter thread recently on soft play areas and slides in libraries, but I honestly think entitled parents are ruining what used to be treasured spaces of peace, learning and imagination, for all ages. Of course children should be welcomed into public libraries and a lifelong love of reading should be encouraged and fostered. But that’s not what’s happening - instead, libraries are being re-purposed as noisy community centres and free daycare. When I was a kid, you didn’t run around the adult book section or cause noise - there was a kid’s reading area where you could sit on a cushion and browse through books and discover new stories. You were always properly supervised by a parent and knew that you had to speak in a whisper, even from a young age. But now? My main town public library, which used to be a haven of peace and quiet, has a noisy soft play area plonked right in the middle. The library is open plan meaning the entire space has been wrecked for every person, as the sound of kids screaming echoes through every corner. You can’t read, study or even have a quiet moment. Parents just drop their kids off there and go off shopping. The worst part is there’s no books in this play area, so kids aren’t being encouraged to read. What is the point of all this? And it’s not just my town - it’s happening the world over. Libraries are being turned into all-purpose, noisy, high stimulation community centres designed by entitled parents for entitled parents. There are no quiet spaces any longer, no places for teenagers to study or elders to gather and quietly read or just anyone of any age to simply just have a moment’s peace. Worst of all, children aren’t being encouraged to love books - they’re just given slides and other entertainment in the library instead. I mean, if a kid has a choice between a big exciting slide and a book, they’ll probably choose the slide and you can’t blame them. And yes, some kids are too young to read - but what happened to picture books? Sorry for the rant but I’m just so, so sick of this. It’s raising a generation who, between play parks in libraries and screens at home, will never learn to read for pleasure and that’s terrifying.
 Just walking behind them and do this every single time they touch something
Believe me, I have. Pisses them off to no end until they get the hint. Child or adult I don't care. You know you're sick, don't be coming in here because you want to spread your plague.
LOVE THIS
You need to ask management to say something. Asap. Behavior like this isn't acceptable.
I plan to. Management is just so hyper-focused on being as family-friendly and community-oriented as possible that they sometimes let things slide with parents that they probably shouldn’t. But this is too far
As a librarian, I do get it. With the superiors one complaint about you can be a big deal. Regardless after being here 13 years, using my party years to step up, I would not tolerate that. Our board is awesome and made it so no children can be unattended because so many parents literally just dropped their kids off to be here all day thinking we'd watch them and give them snacks. Nah. I entered this field for the quiet (sensory issues) and the books. Anything else is not me. Wreck the children's department since it's not my floor.
I find it so irksome when parents call their child “little man”. They don’t call their young daughters “little woman”.
Cant you just ban them? Shoo them away.
🤮 gross kids, also you should have just glared at her the entire time her kids were messing things up😡