By Estelle Chatenoud
The word alumni took on a new meaning when 225 babies visited the Ottawa Public Library to mark the first reunion of participants in the 1, 2, 3 Read With Me program last week. The babies and their parents, who had all signed up with the project since it began in January 2000, took part in the bilingual celebrations.
While babies cooed and giggled, Rick Chiarelli, chair of the Ottawa Public Library Board, explained that public health nurses have been distributing library book bags to parents for each birth in the region since the project started. The bags provide information about the advantages of reading early to babies as well as information on library locations and a certificate redeemable for a free book.
Nurses bring most of these bags directly to homes while others are sent by mail.
As a result, 25 per cent of parents who have received the canvas bags have registered with the library. Once parents are registered, they are informed of the events and workshop groups for children of all ages.
The goal of the infant literacy program, sponsored by the provincial government’s Ontario Early Years program, the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association and the federal government, is to give newborns a key to their future success.
Barbara Herd, the library’s division manager, explains that the earlier you stimulate a baby’s brain, the more you increase their learning potential.
As a result, they are able to develop good social skills and are more likely to succeed at school.
Barbara Clubb, a city librarian, said that, “According to international statistics, 22 per cent of Canadians are illiterate or have a low literacy level.” The program also combats this problem.
Debbie Mercier has two children aged seven months and two years. She says she wouldn’t have been so involved in early reading without this program, and now her children love books. “The program gives me the opportunities to renew the books I read to my children and to go back to the library regularly. ”
Feedback shows that while the program seems to extend children’s competencies, it’s bringing many grateful parents back to reading as well.