You Can Make an Impact this Holiday with Operation Christmas Child Since 1993, more than 168 million boys and girls in over 160 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child.  You are invited to help spread the joy by packing a shoebox with school supplies, hygiene items and toys.  For details go to this website, https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/ If you would prefer to pack shoeboxes with others you may attend one of the following Packing Parties: Sunday, Nov. 10, 10:00 a.m.at Corralitos Community Church, 26 Browns Valley Rd., Watsonville  Tuesday, Nov 18, 6:30 p.m. in the Newton Memorial Building in Mount Hermon, across from the Rec Field. Filled shoeboxes can…

California Mother of the Year Susan Tatsui-D’Arcy is spreading the word about emergency planning! As California’s Mother of the Year, I’d like to make sure that we’re prepared to protect our homes, families, and pets as we enter FIRE SEASON. Everyone knows that it’s a matter of “WHEN” not “IF” there will be another catastrophic wildfire like we had last year when both northern (Paradise Camp Fire) and southern (Woolsey Fire) destroyed almost 20,000 structures, burned almost 250,000 acres, and killed 88 people. So let’s work together to prevent a fire or earthquake from taking out our homes and neighborhoods. There are a number of EASY things you can do…

Library Mixed-Use Project Advocates Launch Community Movement To Improve Downtown Santa Cruz WHEN: 11 a.m. Thursday, July 11, 2019 WHERE: Museum of Art & History, Secret Garden, 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz WHAT: Launch of Downtown Forward, a community movement that advocates for initiatives and projects that will make life in Downtown Santa Cruz better for residents, workers and visitors by bringing new housing, jobs, amenities, and infrastructure that embrace technology, a commitment to fight climate change and a strong sense of community.  SPEAKERS:-Deb Tracy-Proulx, parent and Santa Cruz City Schools Board President-Diana Alfaro, affordable housing advocate and Downtown resident-Martin Gomez, member of Board of Directors for the Friends of Santa Cruz Public Libraries, former head of the Los Angeles Public Library system-Joe Ferrara, Downtown business owner,…

Top Chefs to Appear at Farmers Market Dinners SC FARMERS’ MARKETS ANNOUNCES THE 2018 POP-UP BREAKFAST SERIES By Nicole Zahm Santa Cruz, CA – The Pop-Up Breakfast Series is here for another round. With a soft release on March 15th nearly half of the 2019 season tickets have already sold. The goal of these beautifully set, ticketed farm-to-table meals hosted at the Westside and Scotts Valley markets is to highlight our rich agriculture and food artisan community. The funds raised support the markets’ educational and food-access programs including the Foodshed Project. If you aren’t familiar with this series of community-building, culinary events see our photo album, check out this video clip and visit us for details. These summer morning…

Day Care Workers Seek Union Yes, those who take care of our kids are some of the worst paid and most deserving people in society. Teachers should be paid like sports stars, given what they do to shape our world. Now, childcare workers are seeking to get a fair wage. Here’s an article in the Sentinel Here’s one summary: “Child care is prohibitively expensive for even middle-class families in much of California. At the same time, the majority of the workers who care for the state’s youngest children are paid so little they qualify for public assistance themselves, according to one estimate. Now, with the state coffers flush, many providers are pushing…

Santa Cruz County Celebrates all Three Hospitals Receiving the Baby-Friendly Designation All three birthing facilities in Santa Cruz County– Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, Dominican Hospital Santa Cruz, and Watsonville Community Hospital—have earned the prestigious Baby-Friendly Hospital designation. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global program that requires hospitals to provide mothers with the information, confidence, and skills necessary to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding and/or safely feed formula. To earn the Baby-Friendly designation hospitals must complete 10 rigorous steps, which include developing policies, training staff, and educating patients and then passing a comprehensive onsite review by surveyors. Other key requirements include emphasizing mother-baby bonding with practices such as placing…

When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online Kids are getting angry when they realize their lives have been shared online without permission by their parents. What do you think? Read the Atlantic article here!

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.

Will Toys R Us Return? KRON TV reports the company is re-forming. SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – One year after going out of business, Toys ‘R’ Us is looking to make a comeback.  A new company called Tru Kids Inc. announced Monday that it has taken over as the parent company of several Toys ‘R’ Us brands including Babies ‘R’ Us and the company’s former mascot Geoffrey the giraffe.  Headquartered in Parsippanny, New Jersey, the new company is led by president Richard Barry, the former chief merchandising officers of Toys ‘R’ Us.  As a part of its business strategy, the company will be opening 70 stores in 2019 in Asia, India and Europe.…

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.

Downtown Santa Cruz Parking Price Changes Effective in January and February 2019 The City of Santa Cruz is implementing three downtown parking price changes that were approved by City Council in 2018 to: reduce/sunset the Parking Deficiency Fee paid by businesses; increase hourly and permit parking fees; and use parking funding for alternative transportation options in alignment with the Go Santa Cruz program. The current Deficiency Fee paid by businesses has been reduced 20 percent per year. This started on Jan. 1. The fee will be fully eliminated by Jan. 1, 2023. Monthly parking permit rates will increase to $45 per month. Regarding user fees, hourly and daily parking rates…

What is the Most Popular Name for Boys Over the Past 100 Years? Make your guess before clicking on the article below. Henry? Sam? Edward? Nope. This Is the Most Popular Baby Name of the Past 100 Years

Watch the Eclipse Tonight! If by any chance we get clear weather Sunday night, take your kids out to look at the skies. A few hours after moonrise, the moon should turn red and disappear, all across the U.S. Only two other eclipses have been visible across the entire U.S., in 1968 and 2001. And Sunday’s will be the first total lunar eclipse since July 27, 2018 (which was only visible in parts of Africa and Asia) and the last one until May 26, 2021. You can find more information, along with a live stream of the eclipse (if weather conditions are cloudy where you live), on NASA’s website. You can also…