Sometimes all a parent can ask for is time; time for themselves, time to go out and enjoy a night without “Bluey” and chicken nuggets. A night where the living room floor doesn’t become an obstacle course, and peace and quiet doesn’t seem that far out of reach. Luckily, the Nederland Community Library has just the event to help give young parents that much-needed time.

Friday, February 9, 2024, was Parents’ Night Out at the library. Starting at 5 p.m., parents who registered ahead of time would drop off their kindergarten - 5th grade age children, and until 8 p.m. those children had their run of the library.

Tubs of Legos were sprawled across the floor. Endless crayons, colored pencils, and markers were strewn all over the table, along with pizzas from Crosscut. Minecraft was loaded on the computers, and Ice Age blared on the big-screen TV. For the 15 rambunctious kids who attended, it was the perfect night in at the library.

Peace, Love, and Cake provided Valentine’s Day cookie decorating kits, giving each kid four sugar cookies to “paint” with colored royal icing. Every cookie featured a different themed image, printed with edible ink on edible paper, then adhered to the white icing “canvas” on the cookies.

The kids were encouraged to decorate some cookies and save them to give to their parents or friends, but for most of the kids the delicious sugar cookies proved to be too enticing to share.

As the kids ran and screamed amongst the stacks, enjoying the special adventure of having the library all to themselves, their parents were given the chance to go out for a nice dinner, or a movie not Rated G, or to just enjoy a few hours of solace at home. It’s a priceless service that the library offers, and another reason why the Nederland Community Library is an invaluable resource.

For this and many more events and programs aimed specifically for parents and children, keep an eye out on the library’s event calendar at: https://nederland.colibraries.org.