Manage the KIDS?

In all the years I've been doing storytimes, I haven't had nearly the amount of trouble with kids that I've had with the adults that come into storytime with them.  This doesn't mean I don't want them in there, just that I wish they would use some common sense.
Problem #1: Cell phones.  They forget to turn their cell phones off. The cell phone rings during storytime and the adult steps over the children on the way out, talking all the way.  Solution: Start each storytime with the Cell Phone Song:
    I went to the storytime with my mom,
    But she left
    Her cell phone on.
    The cell phone rang
    And she took the call.
    Now we're not allowed back in at all.*
And have the kids pretend to take out their cell phones, turn them off, and put them back in their pockets while glaring meaningfully at the adults.

I also have a sign that used to be posted on the wall (but now that we're in a new library, we can't put anything up until it gets all grungy and lived-in again).  The idea was that if the cell phone rang, the tiger would come out and eat the phone ... and anyone holding it.

These aren't the exact signs - but you get the idea.

Problem #2: Adults talking during storytime, daycare providers/teachers doing their work, or texting.  Rather than shame authority figures in front of their charges, I have a sign I hold up that has the "No cell phones" on one side and the "Please model good listening." on the other.  I may need to flash both.  I do mostly pre-school storytimes, so they can't read and the adults get the message.  If they don't get the message, some day, some day, I may just resort to public shaming.

The best storytime experiences I have had were with groups that had adults who participated.

* This song has more verses that involve restaurants and airlines and gets progressively vitriolic.  I hate cell phones.  Even though I own one, I rarely turn it on. Be in the moment, people!

Took Six Months Off Of My Life!

But maybe with the proper warning, it won't harm your life expectancy.
Jott is supposed to make your life easier. Missy can tell you that I need help when it comes to texting/text messaging/SMSing/TMing. She watched me try to contact Bob on my cell phone in the car on the way back from SCLA and is probably still laughing.
Laugh no more, Missy! A text message from me is just a cell phone call away! Well, at least now that I've set it all up ...
What Jott does is allow you to speak your message and then it uses some space-age technology to transcribe that (better than the closed captioning on tv news shows, I hope) and send it to the cell phone and/or e-mail address of your choosing.
So now when I want to contact Bob, all I do is pick up my cell phone, turn it on (because it's never on), squeeze the voice command button, say "Name Dial," then "Jott," and then when Jott answers, say "Bob" and then give my message in my clear, Mid-Atlantic accent. Jott tells me "Got it!" and I can snap that puppy closed. In a minute or so, Bob's cell will ring and he will have a nicely typed text message with punctuation (thanks for the tip on doing that by hand, Sarah and Missy) and everything. A back-up e-mail goes to his account.
Bren listened to me say naughty words as I was setting up the account. I wanted to be able to Jott to my Twitter account as well (because one can) and I couldn't see how to do it. It was very frustrating only because I'm a poo-poo head. The "add" link was on the left, but in very tiny letters. Well, all those letters look tiny to me these days. Why don't they make the buttons on cell phones bigger? Why don't those young whipper-snappers speak up? Ahem. Sorry.

shelfmonkeys