Dear Parents,

Happy Holidays! No matter how you are celebrating this year, we wish you light, love, and the joy of friends and family.

Looking for ways to build meaningful connections with your child or teen?
Announcing Keys: for Parenting, a new tool for parents developed by educators Charlene Margot and Bev Hartman, co-founders of The Parent Venture.

Keys (app) puts parenting advice at your fingertips—literally, it's a keyboard!—with real-time suggestions for what to say (text) in those tough moments. Click here to join our Waitlist (product launch January 2021).

On December 15, Sequoia Healthcare District hosts a Town Hall meeting featuring Aaron Nayfack, MD, a developmental/behavioral pediatrician, in Helping Kids Thrive During the Holidays and COVID-19. Parents, caregivers, and community members welcome! (Online)

Have you visited our Video Library? With over 11,700 views, our YouTube channel has become a trusted resource. New sections make it easier to find videos on Mental Health and Well-Being, Social Justice, or College Admission.

Videos of recent events include Mental Health 101: When Should Parents Worry? and La Familia y Las Festividades: Un Tiempo Para Re-Conectarse (details below).

As always, our videos are produced by the Media Production team at Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula. Thank you, Jacob Crowell and BGCP!

If you value our work, we hope you will consider making a year-end contribution to The Parent Venture, our registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

And thank you to everyone who contributed this year via our events! We are so grateful for your generosity, participation, and encouragement.

Warm regards,
Upcoming 2020 - 2021 Events
Live Events (Virtual)
Helping Kids Thrive During the Holidays and COVID-19: Town Hall
Join Dr. Aaron Nayfack, Sequoia Healthcare District Director and developmental/behavioral pediatrician, as he shares his expertise on helping kids thrive during the holidays and COVID-19. This special Town Hall is presented by Sequoia Healthcare District.

Tuesday, December 15, 2020
6:00pm - 7:00pm PT
Live Event (Webinar)
Resources (Virtual)
Announcing KEYS: FOR PARENTING!
Keys: for Parenting puts the experience of its founders — two educators with 60+ years of experience — at your fingertips (literally).

Field tested by teens and approved by parents, KEYS gives you the ability to connect with your kids through texting. As one teen told us, "I wish my parents had this when I was in high school!"
Community Events (Virtual)
City of Menlo Park
Meet the Poet: Samuel Getachew
Samuel Getachew is a 18-year-old poet and writer from Oakland, CA. He is the 2019 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate, and a finalist for 2020 National Youth Poet Laureate. Samuel will attend Yale University in the fall of 2021.

Monday, December 14, 2020
6:00pm - 7:00pm PT
Live Event (Webinar)
Just for Fun
Cookie the Little Penguin at the Cincinnati Zoo
Many kids enjoy being tickled, but no one likes it as much as this tiny penguin! Cookie is mascot of the Bird House at the Cincinnati Zoo, spreading joy and laughter with him wherever he waddles. I can't stop watching!
Watch Utah's Incredible Ice Castles Take Shape
Each year, a team of artists turn 20 million pounds of ice into incredible ice castles worthy of Disney's "Frozen." Watch how a winter wonderland was built in Midway, Utah, in an amazing time-lapse sequence.
In the News
How to Talk to Your Kids About Celebrating the Holidays During COVID-19, According to Experts
Don’t underestimate how much kids enjoy the anticipation of the holiday season. Rather than minimizing the festivities, see if you can find ways to make new holiday traditions. Give your kids something to look forward to!

— TIME: Parenting
How parents are turning toward gratitude in the pandemic
“Once the pandemic hit, we learned to show gratitude for the things immediately surrounding us, " says parent Shannon Shea. "As our world shrunk, we didn’t focus on what we lost. Instead, we learned to take a closer look at what we had."

— The Washington Post: On Parenting
Video Library
La Familia y Las Festividades: Un Tiempo Para Re-Conectarse
En este video, los padres escucharán cómo hacer de estas fiestas algo memorable para su familia, y sobre todo, cómo reconectarse con su familia y seres queridos, sin sentirse que tienen que invertir financieramente.
Mental Health 101: When Should Parents Worry?
In this webinar, Shashank Joshi, MD (Stanford University), Amy Heneghan, MD (PAMF), and April Torres, MFT (SMUHSD), discuss how parents and schools can promote youth mental well-being. Special event presented by Peninsula Health Care District.
Parenting Quotes
The Parent Education Series is an award-winning program that provides high-quality education to parents, students, teachers, clinicians, and community members.

Since 2006, our organization has reached over 85,000 attendees on critical issues — mental health, substance use, social media, college planning, and more — that impact the health, safety, and well-being of children and teens.

Questions? Contact Charlene Margot, M.A., Founder and CEO, The Parent Education Series. For more resources, visit The Parent Venture, www.parentventure.org.

Copyright © 2020 The Parent Education Series. All rights reserved.
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