Caregivers & Parents

The library is your partner in helping develop children who love learning!  

5 Tips that promote early literacy:

Talk

• Talking helps children to understand words and what they mean. 
• Talk with your child as you go through your daily activities.  Ask and encourage questions.
• Talk with children in the language that you know best.  Babies and small children's growing brains can easily learn more than one language.

Sing

• Singing helps children hear the sounds that make up words.
• Sing, dance, and clap along to the rhythm.  It helps children identify syllables.
• Sing nursery rhymes, funny songs, and any songs you like.  In any language.

Read

• Read a little with your child every day.  Let them see you reading things you like as well.
• It's okay for children to make up their own words to go along with the pictures.  Point to the letters and words as you read.
• Remember that words are everywhere: magazines, cereal boxes, and street signs.  Show these to your child as well.

Write

• Children learn writing skills by scribbling and drawing.
• Have paper and crayons available for your child to use.
• Let your child see you writing notes, letters, and lists.

Play

• ​​​​​​​Children learn through play!!​​​​​​​
• Playing together helps children practice languages.
• Keep books near toys so that children can easily reach them.

Raising a Reader

How to select the perfect book!

Anti-Racist Parenting

• Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism A town hall for kids and families created by CNN and Sesame Street.
• The Conscious Kid - Promotes access to children's books that feature "underrepresented and oppressed groups." Follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
• Cornell University Anti-Racism Resources for the AAPI Community
• EmbraceRace - Articles, webinars, and other resources for parents and educators who seek to "nurture resilience in children of color, nurture inclusive, empathetic children of all stripes, and raise kids who think critically about racial inequity."
• How White Parents Can Talk To Their Kids About Race | NPR
• Talking Race with Young Children. National Public Radio article and podcast.
• Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup from Pretty Good
• Parenting in Support of Black Lives: How to Build a Just Future for Kids | Commonwealth Club

Parenting Support Collection

Coming Soon, find a special set of books and resources in the YS department just for caregivers and parents.

Podcasts

• Activist, You - A podcast for kids and their families that focuses on social justice
• Fare of the Free Child - A podcast centering on the unschooling and the Self-Directed Education movement for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
• Mom & Dad are Fighting - A podcast with helpful advice for parenting toddlers, kids, and teens. 
• Motherhood in Black & White - A podcast featuring two Gen-X moms, one Black and one White, who discuss parenting, pop culture, and more.
• Your Parenting Mojo - A podcast featuring respectful, research-based parenting ideas to help kids thrive.
• We Are Family - A podcast celebrating diverse families of all shapes and sizes
• Wow In The World - A podcast of stories about the latest news in science, technology, and innovation. Stories that give kids hope, agency and make us all say "WOW"!

Welcome Baby/Bienvenido Bebe 

Join us for an extra special storytime experience where we introduce you and your new little one to the library.  Visit our calendar of events for the next date!