Just for fun!

A resource for families in Santa Cruz County

...because parenting is the most important job on earth...

Just for fun!

Now that we've been home with the children "forever" and had a chance to be together as a family without a whole lot of space to release energy and get breaks from living inside four walls together 24/7, here's a list of qualities PEW Research Center , in 2014, asked parents to rank in order of importance to them. Just for fun, do your own ranking. Then scroll down to compare with the 2014 results. In aphabetical order:

Being well-mannered

Creativity

Curiosity

Empathy for others

Good work ethic

Helping others

Independence

Obedience

Persistence

Religious faith / Spirituality

Tolerance

What are your top three? And for an interesting twist, ask the children their top three.

Is all the conflicting information on covid-19 frustrating? Yes! Sometimes it's too much. It's a challenge to sift through information from so many disparate voices and sources. Instead check our from the swirl. Listen to music, go for walks in the neighborhood and soon the parks, keep a journal, draw, paint, make acorn people (acorns, twigs, hot glue gun), do garden projects, and find a way to help another person. You are good at this!

Edible Monterey features news about farmers’ markets, grocery stores, farms and other small local businesses. Enjoy!

Check out this message from Yvette Contois: " Art for Wellness Thursday night from 4-5pm. Ages 16 and up. This one is for you grownups and offered at a sliding scale! Cassie will guide you in this peaceful practice."

Have a no-school-work weekend with your family, Parmalee

Thank you Nature Explorers Camp - Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for the image on our homepage.

The 7-Year Old Helping Seniors

Returning The Favor with Mike Rowe

Is it Wednesday or Sunday? Is it just me, or does every day now feel like a Thursday, around two pm? Whatever the day, the favors are still being returned, and today’s honoree is a seven year-old we could all learn something from. Plus, Mom drops by to teach me a thing or two. Enjoy, and have a great Monday.

Mike

Growing for Good Program

By Petra Bryan, Communications, Gateway School

Every year, for the past 29 years, students in our Life Lab classroom have planted extra crops dedicated to those in need. They plant, tend, harvest, and deliver the produce. This year we delivered over 150 pounds of produce to the Grey Bears. In the past years we delivered our dedicated extra crops to Second Harvest Food Bank, the Familia Center, and River Street Shelter Kitchen.

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 supports a number of school events each year so in order to provide produce for the larger community, students plant extra crops. They plant, tend, harvest, and deliver the produce. This year, due to the shelter in place order, students were not able to harvest or deliver but that did not prevent Gateway from donating their garden’s bounty.

With the help of Gateway’s Life Lab farm managers, Dave Gardner and Tricia Sven , Life Lab instructor Caprice Potter harvested and delivered more than 150 lbs of produce to the Grey Bears in Santa Cruz on April 1.

Gateway’s Kindergarten through Middle School students develop a strong sense of personal responsibility for the natural world and others in their community through the school’s rich Environmental Science curriculum which, like all instruction, is integrated with Gateway’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practice.

Taking what they learn in the classroom into the community lets students discover and experience the difference that they can make.

Find out more about Gateway School and its award-winning Life Lab Garden at www.gatewaysc.org .

Stuck at Home!

How to Volunteer Virtually!

You can still stay connected and support your community while you are stuck at home. Many of these projects are family-friendly, so your kids can help too!

Sew a mask ~ Census phone outreach ~ Human Race Social Media and Tech Support ~ Be a Human Race Champion for your favorite cause ~ Virtual Senior Tech Support ~ Academic Support for 2nd -6th grade students ~ Create videos for Davenport Resource Service Center ~ Make "things" from old t-shirts ~ Make cards for seniors

Get the details at the Volunteer Center >>>>>

Dance Zumba with Mrs. C keeps you moving with classes for kids -mom & dad too!

Gale Wysong of the Tutu School Scotts Valley offers "streaming classes" for the little ones. Register for a trial class and she will contact you!

Families may differ, but they share common values on parenting

September 1, 2014

A new report released today by the Pew Research Center shows how the values Americans bring to parenting are strongly linked to their own ideological leanings.

But aside from ideology, the survey finds widespread agreement among parents over the traits that children should be taught. Moreover, there are only modest differences in these attitudes among parents with one child or several, and among those with children of different ages.

For the most part, married mothers and single mothers also share common ground on the values important to teach children.