Raising Kind Kids: Q&A with Author Melinda Wenner Moyer By Kim Hickok Probably all parents can agree that they want their kids to grow up to be good, kind people. In her book, “How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes: Science-based strategies for better parenting – from tots to teens,” (Headline Home, 2021) award-winning science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer shares the most relevant scientific research on how to raise kids who are kind. Recently, we spoke with Moyer to learn more about her book and what she learned while writing it. Here’s what she had to say. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.) Your background is in…
-
-
Sarah Greathouse
New Job Means More Time with Family by Carmen Clark Sarah Greathouse has always been a party planner. In 6th grade, her teacher gave everyone a certificate for their strengths, and Sarah was Organizational Guru, always volunteering to take on the class party. Despite not being into clubs or groups or cliques in high school, Sarah found a home in leadership, where they planned all the high school events, including prom. Sarah was about to enter a teaching credentialing program when she was hired to work at a local resort, where she fell into the wedding coordination world. When she got laid off due to the crash of 2008, she…
-
Craft Corner Games
Bored With Your Board Games? Make Your Own! By Crooked Beauty If you are interested in creating a game from scratch, there are templates you can download here: printabletemplates.com/graphics/board-game/Crooked Beauty will be hosting a board game-making class Sunday, November 6th. Go to crookedbeautyart.com for more details. One thing I’ve realized is that between school and home, kids have a lot of rules they have to follow…so when they get the chance to be in charge, wow do they love it!Maybe you don’t have time to make a board game from scratch, but you can use parts and pieces of the games you do have to make a new one.…
-
Got Shrimp?
Santa Cruz Company Replaces Styrofoam with Shellfish By Jeanette Prather As a mother of children, every time I think about what we’ve done to this planet and the plastics in the ocean, I just wish we could’ve had Cruz Foam about 20 years ago Innovative IngredientsAn innovative Santa Cruz-based company–with backing from two big Hollywood stars– is replacing Styrofoam packing peanuts with the waste from shellfish to create an organic foam that’s durable, light and actually good for the environment. Realizing that Styrofoam doesn’t decompose for 500 years, Cruz Foam founders came up with a formula that decomposes in two months and still protects packages. The mix uses a biopolymer–DNA,…
-
Huggy Wuggy
He Hugs You to Death Is Huggy Wuggy too Scary for Kids? by brad Kava It was supposed to be a cultural trip to San Francisco, and it was, until we passed some flea market booths near the wharf. There, Parker saw what became his obsession—a Huggy Wuggy backpack. Normally, I monitor what he watches, but this one escaped me. It sounded so innocent, and so what if Huggy Wuggy looked a bit monstrous—the Muppets are also monsters of a sort. “You know he’s a serial killer,” Parker asked after we’d negotiated our way around several booths that were loaded with the blue character backpack and found one for $15.…
-
Paying for College
Free Money for College by Susan Tatsui-D’Arcy This year, the budget includes $170 million for children entering 1st grade (2022-2023).Every year, the state will open an account for any child born after July 1, 2022, regardless of income or school child will eventually attend, and has set aside $15.3 million for these newborn accounts. California children born on or after July 1, 2022 will qualify to receive up to $100 for newborns and up to $1500 for low-income students. CalKids is a state-funded college savings program designed to encourage all students to consider higher education by giving them a small, long-term college savings account. Research shows that children, and their…
-
College Prep
By Mikayla Shults Last month I asked seniors how they were preparing for college. I assumed most students would be in the same boat- writing essays and applying for scholarships. For some reason, I thought I was the only senior choosing to take a different path and go to Cabrillo. The results were pleasantly surprising! It turns out many people are taking advantage of community college, and if they aren’t, plans for next year are not 100% clear. A few of the people I spoke to have worked extra hard since last year and know exactly what education and career suits them. One person went to Cabrillo for the last…
-
Mental Health
Back to School Mental Health Tips by Nicole M. Young, MSW Sometimes, kids just need parents and other adults to listen without judging or trying to solve their problems. For some kids, the new school year is an exciting time — seeing old friends, making new ones, showing off cool clothes, joining sports or clubs, or enjoying new classes and teachers. For other kids, the transition between summer and school sparks difficult feelings, like fear, anxiety, or depression. And for many, it’s all of that and everything in between.This monthly column provides tips for anyone who’s raising children, based on the world-renowned Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, available to…
-
After School Conversations
Editor’s Note By brad kava It doesn’t seem right to start school before Labor Day, or as many in Santa Cruz know it, weeks before Burning Man. (As a college teacher, I can always tell the ones who miss the first week of school claiming to have been at a funeral or stuck overseas on some secret mission by their desert tans. Busted.) That said, one of the biggest challenges parents face as their youngsters return home from an arduous day of learning is getting them to talk about it. It can be as tough a job as a police person interviewing a suspected murderer trying to get the facts,…
-
Back in the Classroom
A New Kind of Classroom Safety By susan Tatsui-D’Arcy Whether we’re talking about guns on elementary, middle school, high school, or college campuses, we’re opening doors to more carnage. As teachers prepare for the new school year, besides books and class supplies, some teachers are stocking their classrooms with military-grade devices to protect their students. One Bay Area teacher purchased a metal bat and the Barracuda, a metal bar that prevents entry, for her classroom. She also plans to run drills for her elementary school students to teach them how to stay quiet and to listen to her directions when there is an intruder who can harm them.It seems to…
-
The End of an Era
Great America is Closing: What Can You Expect? By Erik Chalhoub The news of California’s Great America’s eventual closure sent shockwaves through the Bay Area and the theme park community. We haven’t experienced such a loss in our region since Santa’s Village in Scotts Valley shut down for good in 1979. So what might this mean for Great America visitors? Let’s take a look.Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, which has owned Great America since 2006 and the land it sits on since 2019, announced in late June that it had sold the land to real estate developer Prologis for $310 million, and would wind down operations of the Santa Clara park…
-
Morning Routines
Don’t Forget Your Lunch! Back-to-School Health Tips From a School Nurse By Sandra Fong, RN Nobody can get it all done and be the perfect parent. Pick one or two goals for a healthier school year and take a baby step in the right direction As the back-to-school season is in full swing, parents are busy filling backpacks and teacher wish lists and squeezing into that last spot on the after-school care roster. Among all the activities and supplies, parents should also make sure to do a quick health check-in! Fueling Your Body with foodSnacks and meals are an important part of the “fuel” children need to get through their…
-
School Begins
Rocks By Lisa Catterall Today, I finally remembered the rocks. Then I looked at my classroom and the way I had suddenly made my messy creative space neat as a pin, and I reflected on how I’d never stressed neatness so much with my students as I had in these first few days. This world’s anguish is no different from the love we insist on holding back.-Aberjhani Getting my classroom ready It’s almost there; the posters are up and supplies organized, but there is one thing I haven’t done yet. Do you know what it is? I haven’t placed a basket of fist-sized rocks in the front by where I…
-
Learning by Immersion
Lisset Orozco: Plants Seeds in Spanish by suki wessling She has to believe in immersion to do her job. Lisset runs Spanish Nature Club, which offers preschool, afterschool, summer, and adult programs. The concept is simple: get out in nature, speak Spanish. Teaching Spanish to children in Santa Cruz was possibly the last place Lisset Orozco thought she’d end up. With her degree in political science and work in rural Mexico on literacy, Lisset planned to go to Italy for graduate school.But then she fell in love surfing in Puerto Escondido with a man from Santa Cruz, a town she couldn’t even find on the map. When she arrived, she…
-
Growing Healthy
Generations: Nourished By Suki Wessling The stakes for teen foster youth are high. Once they reach eighteen, they leave the system. Unless they were lucky to be placed with families who taught them solid life skills like cooking, they enter adult life knowing little about food. “To your stations!”The children come into the room full of playground energy and loud voices. They chatter as they don their aprons and wash their hands. But as soon as they’re assigned to their stations they become as focused on their tasks as a chef in a restaurant. Because these kids are chefs Their Live Oak classroom has been turned into a kitchen where…
-
Vaccinations
COVID Vaccines for Our Youngest Kids by Nicole M. Young, MSW Last month, COVID vaccines were approved for children between 6 months and 5 years of age. For some parents, this was a long-awaited moment, when their youngest family members could also be more protected against COVID. Others are feeling cautious and want to wait and see. And there are many strong opinions about whether COVID (and other) vaccines are helpful or harmful, leaving many families wondering what to do. This month, I’m sharing information I’ve learned from local pediatricians, pediatric nurse practitioners, and public health leaders (many of whom have young children) about the COVID vaccines for this age…
-
Missing Van
Editor’s Note By Brad Kava The school year is starting out sadly at Watsonville’s Pajaro Valley High School. The school’s only van—a beloved seven-passenger Ford, nicknamed “Grizzly Van” — was stolen from the campus in July.he white van was a fixture for the 1,650-student school, transporting classes, special ed students and athletes to events. It was last used on a Saturday to take members of the football team to Monterey for training. The next day it was gone. “At first I felt disbelief,” says Athletic Director Joe Manfre. “Nobody is going to steal a van from a high school. We’re across the freeway from most people and you have to…
-
Recycling Center Tours
Free Summer Tours City of Santa Cruz SANTA CRUZ, Calif. —The City of Santa Cruz offers free summer tours of its recycling center, the Resource Recovery Facility, 605 Dimeo Lane, every Friday from July 29 through Aug. 26 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The 90-minute tours provide opportunity to learn about the multifaceted recycling process as well as our new food scraps processing and Household Hazardous Waste Program. Visitors will see what happens to the 30 to 50 tons of material that Santa Cruzans place into their blue recycle bins every single day. They will learn why it is important to “recycle right” and avoid “wish-cycling.” Visitors will see a…
-
Wonderful Wednesdays
(Photo by Kelly Berreto) We don’t have to tell the locals about Wednesday’s free twilight concerts at the Capitola bandstand, but sure, there are plenty of new people moving in all the time, not to mention tourists. One of the coolest, free-est things you can do is bring a chair or a beach towel and stake out a spot on the lawn or on the beach on Wednesday nights, from 6-8 p.m. Some of the bands coming up for the rest of the summer include the ever popular Joint Chiefs, Live Again, the Santa Cruz Latin Collective, Billy Martini, Jive Machine and Dirty Cello. We’ve never seen a bad show there. Catch…
-
Family Favorites 2022
We asked you to send us your favorite places to bring your kids and to do special things with your families…and man, did you ever respond. We got so many great suggestions that we will make this an annual feature and next year, we’ll add in some of our favorites (although we do that every issue and on our website, growingupsc.com) Thanks to everyone who nominated and voted. Some of these businesses didn’t submit nominations and didn’t even know they had won. That really shows us and them that you cared enough to let all of our readers know the places you love most. Thanks for helping out! the editors…
