A popular program at the Prince George Public Library is giving grandparents and children a chance to get to know each other through books and reading.
The free drop-in program happens every Tuesday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Three grandparents read books to the children for an hour.
"The rational for starting it quite a few years ago was that a lot of little ones in Prince George don't have grandparents here and some grandparents don't have their grandchildren here so it's a nice intergenerational connection," said Ruth Buehler, the program co-ordinator.
It gives the children a chance to have some bonding time with another age group, and for the grandparents it gives them a chance to read to little children - even if they aren't their grandchildren.
"I've always worked with children. When my children were young, I was always involved with children's theatre and a myriad of other things. I've always loved kids and worked with kids," said Lutrecia Ihlo-MacDonell, one of the volunteer grandmothers.
The North Carolina native has six grandchildren and one great-grandchild living across the United States and she doesn't get to see them as often as she would like. So she loves the opportunity that the kids at the library give her.
"The idea of having the kids to read too, I just love the idea of books and children I think it's so important. The more you read to a child, the more language they pickup and the more wonder they will be able to see in the world," said Ihlo-MacDonell.
Ihlo-MacDonnell doesn't mind rereading the same book more than once and she especially loves reading pop-up books to the kids.
One of her own children used to demand books be read twice to her before going to sleep, so Ihlo-MacDonnell recorded herself on cassette tape for her daughter to listen too while falling asleep too.
"At this point we have some regulars and so the groups are pretty small which is nice because they get one-on-one time with the kids," said Buehler.
The program has been running for more than 10 years and is still proving to be successful. Currently there are two volunteer grandmothers and one volunteer grandfather.
