Beach in winter + empathy in play
With the nice weather coming this weekend & week, consider playing at the beach!
It’s not a holiday weekend. It’s not the height of summer. But the temps should be in the 70’s this weekend and up to the 80’s next week meaning a beach trip is possible without the tourist crowd. You know what Baby Beach in Dana Point looks like in summer? Visit in winter and you might find this:
And there is FREE parking!
Which reminds me, there are some updates that I need to give that are follow-ups from social media or past newsletters!
Los Rios Park in San Juan Capistrano now requires a $2/hr parking fee. The dirt lot has been paved. Payment machines have been installed. And even parking adjacent to the park along the street requires payment for numbered spaces through an app. Now, there is a dirt lot around the corner and BEHIND the playground, that doesn’t require payment (yet). You just need to drive past the playground to the dead end, turn right, and then turn right into the lot. River Street Marketplace is also officially open.
Agendas and minutes are key to those City Meetings. Last week, I wrote about how to be part of the public comment period of the playground design process, but I left out the part about finding the agendas and minutes. Just go on the website for your city and find the agendas (that will tell you what is happening at each meeting by Agenda Item and is required to be posted ahead of time) and if you missed a meeting or want to get caught up on what happened at past meetings, then you read the minutes. In fact, part of a standard meeting agenda will be the council members approving the minutes from the last meeting.
Also, if you want to be involved in the process for park or playground planning:
The City of Mission Viejo Council will be talking about Crucero Park
And I saw that the City of Stanton is looking for input on Dotson Park improvements via this survey
Now I will share more about a beach play trip for while the weather is nice! And some information on empathy that inspired me this week!
Always thinking of you,
Michele
As a friendly reminder, make sure you ALWAYS check official sources when you are heading out to any of the locations I share. These are merely suggestions. Only you know what works for your family. Plus, your experience may not be the same as mine — and there can be changes to the hours or unforeseen circumstances or conditions at the suggested locations.
Play Trip: San Clemente State Beach Visitor Center
Have you been here? It’s a little off the beaten track since it’s inside the state beach very near the campground. Start with a visit to the Visitor Center! See a video tour.
The San Clemente State Beach Visitor Center is a fun family outing. The cottage is on a bluff overlooking the ocean and “was originally constructed by President Roosevelt’s Conservation Corps to serve as the main residence for the parks’s custodian. In 2010, with the help of the San Onofre Parks Foundation, the cottage was revitalized & interpretive displays were set up.” Open 10am-4pm daily.
It’s a small center with a lot of interesting info! There are displays about Acjachemen life before Spanish contact, natural history of the area with taxidermy animals, geology of the area, and its rich surf history. You’ll get a lot out of displays and they sell some local merch to benefit the parks foundation.
🅿️ PARKING is a bit tricky - although there is are ample spots right outside the Visitor Center. Your best move would be to bring your an annual CA State Parks Pass because it costs a $15 day use fee to park on weekdays and sometimes $20 to park on busy weekends or holidays. If you don’t have one, you can try checking one out from your local library for FREE! You can make this day use worthwhile by parking down at Calafia Beach for a beach day or walking the San Clemente Beach Trail.
(⭐️ PRO TIP: Or I even recommend going in on splitting the cost of a pass with 2 to 4 other families since it is a hangtag and you can pass it between each other depending on who is going out to play that day or weekend.)
🅿️ ALTERNATIVES: What if you don’t have a pass or couldn’t get one from the library? You can ask at the entrance station if you can pop into the Visitor Center — and if they happen to let you have access for a brief visit, then respect that access by not overstepping and visiting other parts of the park. OR, you can park in some of the free spots (pay attention to signage) along the curb on Avenida Calafia below the park and then walk in. OR, inquire about how to pay hourly.
After the Visitor Center, walk the San Clemente Beach Trail (see mini trail guide in the paid section below) — or visit Calafia Beach.
BREAKFAST
We like Sancho’s Tacos simple & hearty breakfast burritos with a choice of tasty salsas. And Zebra House Coffee is within walking distance.
📍San Clemente State Beach, 225 Avenida Calafia
📍Sancho’s Tacos, 1101 S. El Camino Real
I’ll share a few bonus beach options in the section below for paid subscribers as a thank you for your support!
PLAY: Empathy in Play
This is the section of the newsletter where we talk about PLAY or connecting to nature each week. I might share a video, an article, a book, or something inspiring. Just trying to help keep you empowered to prioritize play to benefit development and preserve childhood!
Brad Montague is always inspiring to me! Hope you got to read his newsletter this week. If not, here it is. Read this one first by clicking on the “Read more” button below.
And then this is a quote from an article called 7 Tips for Raising Caring Kids from the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Take from it what you need and leave the rest. It’s just one article, you can look up others on the topic!
“Research in human development clearly shows that the seeds of empathy, caring, and compassion are present from early in life, but that to become caring, ethical people, children need adults to help them at every stage of childhood to nurture these seeds into full development.”
And here is another article with some developmental info on the 0-3 age group with milestones and examples to help you understand what this can look like in play.
“Empathy is the ability to imagine how someone else is feeling in a particular situation and respond with care. This is a very complex skill to develop.”
Hope that helps reinforce what is happening through all that important pretend play and through your relationship with your child!
WONDERING: Have you been on the receiving end of some empathy lately? Was there someone who tried to put themselves in your shoes and showed you some kindness? Or have you suffered because of someone who didn’t think of your feelings?
I would love to hear your stories! As always, just hit reply to respond to this email.
Play-Filled Extras are waiting below this paywall each week for all paid subscribers. Thanks for your support!