Having Guts and Back to School Anxiety
Jennifer Inglis, Library Director
I know that I’m not alone in feeling a high degree of anxiety as my daughter gets settled into her remote schooling. We’ve all been struggling with so many different things, and the one thing that brings me joy is spending time with friends, colleagues, and family. Unfortunately we can’t do that in person, and that makes me sad. Wondering when we get to do it again is affecting my mood, as well. My daughter is six, and did the remote school thing in the spring, but crisis education was so much different from what we’re handling now. My city is fully remote, and so that means 6 hours or so of zoom calls, videos, online learning, ebooks, and a schedule that requires someone to sit with her to help with the transitions. I know that Lynnfield families are dealing with a similar concern, especially this month.
Just typing all of that made my heart race, and for the next month, the Lynnfield Public Library is having a Community Read around a graphic novel called Guts by Raina Telgemeier. This is a story about a girl whose stomach hurts, and it turns out that she’s suffering from some anxiety. It’s a book meant for kids, but it’s a quick read for adults, and we selected this book, and this time, to try to help families have conversations about what it means to be nervous, to have pains in the belly, to wonder about the future. Lauren Fox, our Head of Youth Services, read the beginning of Guts and the video is on Facebook if you want to get a head start, and we have a series of virtual events and take home crafts that are meant to be helpful, fun, or relaxing. One of the events is a Comics workshop for teens, and for younger kids, we picked a picture book to go along with the theme: The Worry Box by Suzanne Chiew. Please pick up a copy of either book, read it with your family, and join us for the variety of activities scheduled to help deal with this common health issue. Many thanks to A Healthy Lynnfield and the Friends of the Lynnfield Library for their support with this community-wide program.
We know that there is a lot going on right now, and we hope that the Lynnfield Public Library has been able to provide some help through appointments for computer access, increased access to digital books, movies, and resources, and our very popular Sidewalk Service for physical collections. We’re here to answer reference questions, provide help getting to our online resources, and make recommendations. We’re here from 9-7 Monday through Thursday, 9-5 on Friday, and 9-1 on Saturday. Please call at 781-334-5411 or email us at lfd@noblenet.org for assistance. Our website is www.lynnfieldlibrary.org and you can find all of our online resources there, and a calendar of upcoming events. We can’t wait to see you at Sidewalk Service, online, or on the phone. Take care, and stay healthy.
