Our PJ Masks Contest Winner! Penelope Lindle, 3, won our contest for free tickets to see the “PJ Masks Save the Day Live” show in San Jose on Feb. 20. They had a great night. Growing Up in Santa Cruz was there too, and it really was a terrific show for toddlers, with music and dancing, acrobatics and professional use of screens and lights that rivaled a Broadway show.  With a 6 p.m. start time, it wasn’t a bad drive, either. We’d go back. Watch our site for future giveaways at area amusement parks, concerts and shows.   Penelope and her mother Susan had great mother-daughter bonding at the PJ…

Is it better for your kids to live in a big or small town? This article in the New York Times says that while workers make more money and are more productive in big cities, kids get better opportunities to better their lives in a small town. Says the story: “In important ways, states are more alike now than they have been historically. In places other than big metropolitan areas, research shows it’s easier for parents to give children opportunities to become higher-earning adults because the cost of living in a high-quality neighborhood is usually lower Moreover, people living in smaller towns or cities tend to rate the quality of…

Screen Time Doubles for Kids Under 2 A newly released study says that screen time for really little kids has doubled from 1.32 hours in 1997 to 3.05 hours in 2014. A study in JAMA Pediatrics focused on the ways small kids interact with screens, from TV to cell phones. Read more here And here Do your kids spend more or less time on screens?  Are you concerned about it, or do you think your kid may be the next Bill Gates with an early start online? Here’s a study that says it’s not so bad

Here’s What You Need for College According to top officials at the College Board, there are two most important things for college applicants to know: computer code and the Constitution. Here’s a great article explaining those thoughts by Thomas Friedman. Now’s the time so many are thinking about college applications and SATS.

Gilroy company pays for student lunches Where are the Santa Cruz companies? Gilroy garlic grower Christopher Ranch sent out this Facebook posting. “We’re proud to announce that this week, Christopher Ranch cleared the student lunch debt for Gilroy High School. It’s our hope that in doing so, we can make sure that all of our kids are given basic dignity and can focus on what matters most, education, not where their next meal is coming from.  Pictured here is Ken Christopher, GHS Principal Marco Sanchez, Gilroy school district Superintendent Debra Flores, as well as other key school district administrators.” We are impressed. Are there Santa Cruz companies doing the same?

City of Santa Cruz Holds the Second Highest Bike Commuting Rate in US The League of American Bicyclists recently released a report that shows the City of Santa Cruz holds the second highest bike commuting rate in the U.S. at 13.2 percent just behind Davis, Calif. The report, titled Where We Ride: Analysis of Bicycle Commuting in American Cities, uses the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey to gauge the status of biking in cities across the country. In the 2000 census, the City of Santa Cruz held a bike commute rate of 4.6 percent. By 2010, this had increased to 8.4 percent. The 2017 increase to 13.2 percent is based…

New Moves at the Mall Growing Up hears there are changes coming in February at the Capitola Mall. Giggles and Wiggles is expanding and moving to the mall center, near the fountain, where until recently there was a furniture store. It will be bigger and all in one place, instead of having to cross the mall for the two sections. An outdoor store will take a shop in the old Giggles and Wiggles play shop. The mall’s been packed over the weekend. It’s the best place around in the rain.