Protecting Books From Baby

Have pen, will scribble.  That’s the universal truth when it comes to babies. Regardless of what kind of parent you are, your cultural background, methods of disciplining and no matter how irresistibly cute your baby is.

Scribbling, tearing and crumpling pages of books seems to help them learn to…well…coordinate their hands and eyes, I guess. But, try explaining that to the person you borrowed the book from. ( Jr used page 254 of your book to work on his motor skills. I’m sure you don’t mind.)

Every parent knows. When you tell babies not to do something, the chances that they will most certainly do it multiply instantly. So, good luck with that polite, but firm, “No scribbling on the book Danny!” thing you’ve been practicing.

So, how do you protect books from your baby? Especially if they belong to someone else, say the library for example?

Here’s what works for us.

On any given day, we have at least half a dozen kids’ books at home that belong to the library. But, thankfully, so far, M hasn’t destroyed any of them(beyond recognition, at least). Somehow, we manage to return all library books in fairly good condition. (Sadly, I can’t say the same for the books that belong to us.) So, here’s what we do :

1. From early on, I involved her in the process of checking out books at the library. I would tell her as soon as we were outside, that these weren’t ours, but that we needed to take care of them for the library for a few days.

2. When we got home, we would put the library books on a separate shelf or table or part of the house. So she always knew that the library books were different from her own books.

3. Every time we read a book we had borrowed, I would mention that we were going to read a book we had borrowed from the library. Later, I started asking her, ” Is this book yours or the library’s?” She would usually know.

4. I let her drop the books in the return box at the library so she understands the process. By the time she turned 2, she knew the routine.

5. I enforced a rule early on that she could write on a piece of paper only if it was blank, not if it already had something printed on it. I tricked her into listening by saying, ” Look, this page already has something written on it, so there’s no room for you to write. Let’s find a new blank sheet.” I am surprised at how effective this method has been. Until today, she hasn’t had the temptation to scribble on the pages of a book. She always asks for a sheet of blank paper or her scribble pad. ( Of course, I let her write on the blank side of old bills and junk mail, but first, I tell her, that there’s room to write only on one side and not on the other. So she knows never to write over printed material. )

6. We’ve had our share of accidental tears and spills. But every single time, we “fixed” it immediately. I would ask her to get the sticky tape and we would tape the torn page back together or wipe off the stain. She began to understand that we had to be extra careful around books, especially when they belonged to the library or someone else.

How do you manage to keep books safe in the hands of your baby or toddler?