Positive Parenting During a Pandemic BY NICOLE M. YOUNG, MSW Just when I got used to my son being away at college, BAM! He’s finishing his spring semester from home and we’re a family of four again with very different schedules, understandings of social distancing, and pre-existing handwashing habits. We’ve resolved most of the big differences that caused tension early on, but social distancing, school closures, and Stay at Home orders due to COVID-19 have turned many families’ lives upside down. Daily routines are disrupted, and everyday tasks like grocery shopping are increasingly difficult and stressful. Many parents I’ve talked to (virtually or from a safe distance, of course!) are…
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Editor’s Note May 2020
Editor’s Note Tom Petty sang that “the waiting is the hardest part” and it was never more true than right now. All we’ve got is the waiting. Waiting to see if schools will reopen, waiting for a vaccine or safe treatments, waiting to see if we’ll have jobs, if there will be enough food, rent money and an economy that will keep us going when and if the virus passes. Other generations have faced worse challenges and made tougher sacrifices than staying home together, cut off from friends and activities. But we’re waiting to see just how big a toll all of this will take on us. Right now, we…
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Letters to Mom
May is the month we celebrate mothers. Women who give selflessly to those around them. A mother is not always the one who gave birth to you; she may be your aunt, guardian, or friend. She may live next door, across the country, or be watching over you from beyond this world. We celebrate a mother’s unconditional love, her ability to be somewhere/someone safe when we are scared, and our cheerleader through life—cheers to all of the women out there wearing their heart outside of their body. Dear Mom,I appreciate the incredible Mom you’ve been for 37 years now. It all began with a heartfelt tune you sang to me…
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Time Capsule
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Santa Cruz County COVID-19 Update
Santa Cruz County COVID-19 Updates BY ZACH FRIEND, COUNTY SUPERVISOR Many in our community have been severely impacted by both the health and economic conditions caused by the virus. With community members losing their jobs, businesses seeing declining revenue and tenants and renters unable to pay rent, we know it is also difficult to meet your basic needs – and many have been contacting me with questions on ways to get assistance. We want to help. What resources are available to you? How does the shelter-in-place order apply to a number of sectors? Here are answers to some of the most common questions that have been coming into my office…
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Adapting Business
Staying in Business During Quarantine How to Think Outside of the Box in Challenging Times BY MARINA HALLIN AND STAFF Amidst these hard times for business owners and employees alike, there are many creative individuals coming up with different ways to keep money rolling in and change their business. Construction worker, Michael Cyr, 55, has seen business slow because of the stay-at-home order. He has come up with a meaningful project and way to keep income rolling in during this time. Cyr is making individual planter boxes for people’s outdoor gardens. Cyr recalls planting produce with his father, being fascinated with watching it grow, and going out into the garden…
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On the Spot
On the Spot First Job Interview BY MARY GAUKEL FORESTER I hope that each and every reader, and family, is well and finding the positive opportunities and discoveries during Shelter In Place. The article for this month was to be about “Your First Job” with tips for parents and students about getting the first job. The month of May traditionally begins the hiring season for summer jobs, often the first job for a teen. As I write this article, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Whitings Foods, the largest Santa Cruz summer employers, are shut and no one knows when they will reopen and what that might look like. Many other…
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Ride Again
Will You Ride a Roller Coaster Again This Year? BY ERIC CHALHOUB I was going through old photos on my phone the other day when I came across one I took of RailBlazer at California’s Great America back in December.It made me wonder: Have I yet to ride a roller coaster this decade? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Even more unfortunate is the idea that I have no idea when my next coaster ride will be. And we’re almost halfway through 2020.With the coronavirus barely showing signs of letting up, theme parks around the nation are gearing up for a possible summer without thrills. At the beginning of April, most…
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Strengthen Immune System
Lifestyle Can Foster Your Strongest Immune System BY GRETCHEN HEIMSOTH Times are crazy! I think we all are looking for things we can do to feel empowered right now. I have hope we are now starting to move in a slow, but forward momentum surrounding the coronavirus. But the threat of it makes one want to react. “What can I do to protect myself?” We think about the immune system. “Can I boost it?” the thought process can go. Yet when it comes to the immune system, there isn’t any magic boosting pill, supplement, or superfood. Ramping up the immune system would lead to the unpleasant symptoms we experience with…
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Build Your Home Classroom
Build Your Home Classroom BY JHONEE FILLMORE We are all carrying out the remainder of the school year in our homes. Do you need some ideas on how to physically set up your “home classroom” in order to make it a feel-good and efficient learning environment, even if this is a temporary setup? You know your child and home best so mix and match ideas that will best suit you and don’t forget that if something isn’t working… mix it up again. Mix Up Your LocationDon’t get stuck in the same spot everyday. Try to rotate spaces in which your kids are working to keep the ENERGY FRESH! Even if…
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Turn Off the Screens
How to Get Them Up from the Screens BY SUKI WESSLING In normal times, our kids are using screens way too much. These aren’t normal times. I love the Internet and all it has given us, but as a parent, one of the things I am concerned about is when activities on screens replace healthy, real-world activities. These activities are the antidote to screen use, and involve moving the body, changing eye focus between long and short distance, developing complex fine motor skills, and social interaction. In other words, all the things our kids do when they are in classes, playing with friends, being creative, and just out in the…
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Reluctant Homeschooler
Reluctant Homeschooler? Join the Club! BY SUKI WESSLING It’s an odd time to be a homeschooler. You finally got used to being the weirdest family on the block, and then suddenly everyone is doing it. I’ve been writing about homeschooling and teaching homeschooled children for years, operating in an almost invisible subculture that mainstream parents and teachers only found out of desperation. As recently as January, a public school official expressed surprise to me that my job—online teacher of homeschooled students—even existed. Most of the teachers I met thought that homeschooling was perilously close to child abuse. So I and other veteran homeschoolers have been watching with a mixture of…
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Skin Color
Skin Color BY AMANDA FIRTH This is part of a short series on foster parenting and adoption in Santa Cruz County. Proper names in the stories have been changed for the protection of the children and families involved. An old and dear friend was over at our apartment to meet “our babies.” One baby was really about to become our baby forever. We were about to adopt a beautiful Latino baby. He was in the midst of a playdate with one of our former foster babies, who was white. The two of them were crawling around the living room together.“It’s a shame you’re not adopting that one. That one looks…
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Donated Mother’s Milk in the Era of Coronavirus
Donated Mother’s Milk in the Era of Coronavirus BY LINDA KAY There has been a call for increased blood donations during this pandemic season but there is always a constant need for human milk donations. Blood donors can give multiple times a year and give for many years. The time a woman can donate milk is limited but the need is always present. The greatest need for donor human milk is for premature babies. Often when a baby is born premature the mother’s milk has not come in, yet the baby needs the nutrition and protection that mother’s milk provides. Premature or low birth weight babies are susceptible to necrotizing…
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Brave Moms on the Front Line
Brave Moms on the Front Line BY JEANETTE PRATHER It is no doubt that moms are busy. They juggle schedules, work, families, commutes, bills… the list goes on and on. Now, during a COVID-19 outbreak and global pandemic, moms are called upon to wear more hats than ever before, especially those moms who are currently serving our communities out there on the front lines.“I feel anxious leaving for work in the morning,” said Jillian Castro, a single mother and a local grocery store clerk, who asked not to name her store because management handles interviews. “[My son’s] dad refuses to see his son due to me being exposed. We have…
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Mothers of the Farm
The essential farmworkers are still clocking minimum wage in the produce fields of California while the schools that kept their children have closed down amid the corona chaos.
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Letters to Mom
Letters for Mother’s Day Here is your chance to show your female role model or guardian (mom, aunt, friend, etc) your love! Write a letter for Mother’s Day and send to [email protected] to have it published for FREE in our May issue! Here’s the details: Write 250 words about what your mother means to you and send us a great photo of her and maybe the whole family too, and we will print it in our May Mother’s Day issue. Send your message to [email protected] by April 25.And, we have a gift for the family. Ten of you will be chosen in a random drawing to get four passes to…
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Gateway’s Life Lab
Gateway’s Garden Bounty Gateway School was established in 1970 and for the last 29 years, it has delivered produce grown in its Life Lab Garden to a variety of agencies through its Growing for Good program. Recipients have included Second Harvest Food Bank, the Familia Center, River Street Shelter Kitchen, and this year, Grey Bears. The Growing for Good program was developed to help students understand access to food and what and how the supply chain works. Every fall as part of Gateway School’s Social Justice curriculum Kindergartners and 5th graders discuss what they are thankful for and learn about those who are less fortunate. Gateway School’s Life Lab Garden…
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History Repeats Itself
History Repeats Itself BY CAREY LISTON I’m a social music teacher longing to be back in school creating music with my students. The past few weeks have been extremely difficult. Feeling like I needed to channel my energy, I started sewing face masks. I called my mother, who in my mind is a master seamstress, to walk me through my first mask. After the first I started to crank out more. As I was sewing, my husband pulled a book titled Historic Homes of Boulder Creek from the shelf and reminded us of a story we had forgotten. In 1907, George and Mildred Cress bought our house on Pine Street…
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Second Harvest COVID-19
National Guard & Second Harvest Feed Those in Need PHOTOS BY KEVIN PAINCHAUD Thirty volunteers joined with the US National Guard to help the Second Harvest Foodbank distribute food to Santa Cruz County residents at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds on Friday, April 3. Suzanne Willis, Development and marketing officers for Second Harvest Foodbank estimates that food was distributed to over 2,000 cars, feeding over 3,000 families across the Santa Cruz County. The distribution included fruits, vegetables, and various frozen food items. Second Harvest Foodbank is looking to distribute food at the fairgrounds every Friday until the pandemic ends. They are currently looking for other distribution locations in the mid-county…
