The Children's Trust: Program allows parents to get a pass for summer
Summer can be filled with long, unscheduled days without meaningful activities if parents and caregivers don't prepare. Plus, fewer than half of American families will take a summer vacation this year, according to recent studies. For many, the classic summer getaway is more a fantasy than a plan.
It's enough to make parents yearn for a break - a pass, even. And now, they just might get one.
The Children's Trust is offering a refreshing new initiative as part of its already popular Parent Club aimed at supporting parents exactly when they need it most. It's called the Parent Club Pass, and while it won't give you a literal time-out, it offers something even better: family rewards and recognition for parents who take an active role in growing their parenting skills and connecting with others.
Here's how it works: By attending three different Parent Club workshops, parents qualify to receive a Parent Club Pass. This pass unlocks free access to local family-friendly outings like theater or sports events, movie nights, or admission to popular attractions like museums and parks. It's a small gesture with big impact — a way of saying, 'We see you, parents, and we appreciate what you do.'
These aren't dry lectures either. Parent Club workshops are offered in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, and they're designed to be welcoming and practical. The sessions cover topics for parents and caregivers of children at every developmental stage, into the teen years. Parents who attend in-person workshops at some locations benefit from free child care for kids ages 3 to 12, snacks and a chance to win raffle prizes. For those who prefer the comfort of home, virtual workshops are available too.
The program not only equips parents with real-life tools for handling everyday challenges — from tantrums to teen troubles — but also fosters a sense of community. That's crucial in a time when parenting can feel incredibly isolating. For many, the Parent Club is as much about connection as it is about education.
Credits toward the Parent Club Pass are earned by attending different workshops and completing a short survey. Once you've racked up three credits, The Children's Trust will send you a notification to redeem your pass. It's that simple. For more information and to sign up for a workshop, visit TheChildrensTrust.org/ParentClub.
And the support doesn't stop there. Parents can also take advantage of The Children's Trust's upcoming 2025 Family Expo, happening August 2 at the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds. This free, family-centered event offers everything from school supplies to games, entertainment and connections to helpful local child and family programs. It's a great one-stop-shop to prepare for back-to-school season while also having some fun. Learn more at TheChildrensTrust.org/FamilyExpo.
Meanwhile, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is also offering its Parent Summer Academy, a series of webinars and watch parties in July designed to build community and share valuable resources. It's another way to plug into learning, support, and shared experiences— without leaving your house. Visit parentacademymiami.com/summer.
Parenting in the summer may not always be easy, but with programs like the Parent Club Pass and other family-friendly initiatives, this season can be a time for connection, growth, and a bit of joy. So here's to making the most of the sunshine months — not just for our children but for ourselves, too. Let's turn this summer into a time where we all get a little something back.
Director of Programs Bevone Ritchie, M.S., oversees a wide range of parenting and family development programs across the county for The Children's Trust. For more information, visit TheChildrensTrust.org.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Eater
a minute ago
- Eater
The Katsuya in Century City Is Now Open and Ready for Expense Accounts
is the Lead Editor of the Southern California/Southwest region, and has covered dining, restaurants, food culture, and nightlife in Los Angeles since 2008. Japanese lounge restaurant Katsuya opened on July 25 in the former Century City Rock Sugar with a wide menu of sushi, sashimi, hot appetizers like rock shrimp tempura, and larger mains like miso black cod. The years-long build-out that was first announced in 2022 includes the newly opened Casa Dani, which was awarded a Michelin star in New York City, from lauded Spanish chef Dani Garcia. Okinawa-born chef Katsuya Uechi opened the first Katsuya in Studio City in 1997, in Studio City, joining the long history of California Japanese restaurants that serve the San Fernando Valley. He expanded to Brentwood with SBE in 2006, eventually growing to six other locations around the world, including Toronto, Miami, and the Bahamas. Katsuya also opened in Hollywood and L.A. Live (it also operated an outlet in Glendale, but it has since closed). Uechi runs a more independent collection of Japanese restaurants that include the Izakaya by Katsu-ya and Kiwami, but the Century City restaurant will fall under the SBE partnership that leans more into the sleek, high-design Nobu-esque category. High ceilings, a striking Japanese-inflected design, and a sprawling patio overlooking Santa Monica Boulevard define most of the tactile experience of the new Katsuya. A moody bar area lit like Japanese shoji windows leads up to charcoal-covered lamps looming over the dining room like the giant eyes of local spirits. Sleek wood beams intersect and break up the negative space while greenery shrouds the eye-level glass looking out to the patio. A stainless steel-backed sushi bar puts the chefs front and center for the dining room to behold, with dark speckled tables and pitch-black chairs spread over the floor. A more sunlit side lounge offers a good waiting area or happy hour hangout for office workers. The food is predictable and elegant, featuring Katsuya's most famous invention, crispy tuna rice. Slim slices of tuna tataki, salmon sashimi with soy citrus vinaigrette, and yellowtail jalapeño derived from the Matsuhisa playbook are good starters. Specialty rolls like the Century feature king crab, avocado, and wagyu sashimi topped with caviar and fresh truffle. Prices are expectedly to be on the higher end, with some rolls sitting at $59, but are probably within the expense account range of the high-end law firms and talent agencies in the restaurant's proximity — indulge if someone else is paying. Katsuya, like its Japanese lounge counterparts, isn't here to challenge diners with complexity. It's a slick place to catch a light-ish dinner with friends, co-workers, or clients in the comfy and curated confines of Century City, and is sure to be a hit in a neighborhood where a $59 sushi roll doesn't feel out of place. Katsuya is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. It's located at 10250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 1799, Los Angeles, CA, 90067. Katsuya dining room. Moody bar area at Katsuya. Dining area of Katsuya. Katsuya patio. Katsuya's lounge seating. Katsuya's signature crispy spicy tuna rice. Seared A5 wagyu tataki. Tai uni maki. The Century Roll. Truffle and caviar-topped Century Roll.


USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
Ted Cruz defends Sydney Sweeney amid American Eagle ad backlash
After an ad starring Sydney Sweeney outraged viewers, Sen. Ted Cruz is coming to her defense. The Texas Republican took to X July 29 to blast the "crazy left" for criticizing Sweeney's American Eagle denim jeans campaign as a dog whistle for eugenics and the glorification of whiteness. Responding to a New York Post article, which detailed the controversy, Cruz wrote: "Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I'm sure that will poll well…." Sydney Sweeney, an American Eagle ad campaign and why it sparked backlash Part of a larger partnership between the "Euphoria" actress and the popular clothier, the ad campaign used wordplay to describe Sweeney as having "good genes," with the latter word doing double duty, meaning not just her DNA but also the denim on her body (which was American Eagle made). Soon after the campaign dropped, people began to sound the alarm on what they saw as a dangerous message about the beauty ideal, race and "good" versus "bad" genes. Cruz joined a parade of notables adding their two cents, including "Bachelor" star Gabby Windey and even Doja Cat, who mocked the ad in a TikTok video. In one of several videos for the advertising blitz, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim outfit, says: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color." "My jeans are blue," she says as the camera pans across her blue denim and her blue eyes. Sydney Sweeney critics compare jeans campaign to Brooke Shields' Calvin Klein ad Consumers were quick to point out what they saw as the regressive nature of the material. A blonde shown sensually, catering to the male gaze, they argued, was a stereotypical symbol of a bygone era. "How far back do you plan on going? Do you still wanna vote?" one commenter asked, while another chided: "You accept these jobs that objectify your body. Fight the patriarchy, don't join it." Even more concerning, critics argued, was the use of Sweeney as the archetype of "good genes." Defined generally as the use of selective breeding to "improve" the human race through emphasis on desirable traits, the pseudoscience of eugenics has a dark backstory, used in the past as a vehicle for racial violence and sterilization. Lifting Sweeney's genes up as "good," critics said, notches into a painful and dangerous history. That the controversy stems from a denim ad, and one from a company with "American" in the name, further complicates the reception. Americana and denim go hand in hand, the stiff fabric harkening back to cowboy culture, workmen's uniforms and other mythologized aspects of the national identity.


Boston Globe
31 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump administration told Taiwan president to avoid New York stopover
Trump's desire for steady relations with China, and potentially to secure a summit with President Xi Jinping, may have influenced his administration's position on Lai's travel plans. Trump has said he is open to visiting China to meet with Xi. Advertisement Confirmation of Lai's travels would have riled China, which held trade negotiations with Trump's team in Stockholm this week. China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and sees the United States' support for Taiwan as meddling in a domestic issue. Beijing routinely objects to Taiwanese leaders' visits abroad, particularly to the US. Matthew Pottinger, who was the longest-serving deputy national security adviser in the first Trump administration, criticized the apparent decision by US officials to 'bend over backwards' in the face of Chinese objections to transit stops by the Taiwanese leader. He noted that such visits were common during the first Trump term — he had met with the Taiwanese president on a visit to New York — and during the Biden administration. Advertisement 'Beijing will pocket this concession and ask for more,' Pottinger said. According to two officials familiar with the planning, Lai called off the trip after Trump administration officials told him to revise his itinerary for the US, specifically to forgo the visit to New York, which was viewed as more high-profile. The news about the Trump administration's objections to Lai's travel plans was earlier reported by The Financial Times. On Monday evening, Lai's spokesperson, Karen Kuo, said the president had no plans to travel soon. Lai needed to focus on dealing with damage in southern Taiwan from a typhoon, as well as trade talks with the Trump administration, Kuo said. She said the reports of US obstructions were 'inaccurate' and 'purely speculative.' While Lai's office had never publicly confirmed the trip, three Taiwanese officials had in recent days and weeks privately described his plans to stop in New York and Dallas as part of his travels to Paraguay, Guatemala, and Belize, three of Taiwan's diplomatic partners in Latin America. David Sacks, a fellow in Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in US-Taiwan relations, pointed out that such US stops were coordinated with Washington. 'The idea that Taiwan would plan a trip for its president to visit three of its diplomatic partners while transiting through the United States, all without approval from senior American officials, strains credulity,' he said. Advertisement The White House National Security Council did not reply to a request for comment. Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokesperson, told reporters Tuesday that because Taiwan had not announced any travel plans by Lai, any discussion about it was 'a hypothetical.' Lai's predecessor as president, Tsai Ing-wen, visited New York in 2023, during the Biden administration. Tsai also met in California with Kevin McCarthy, then the speaker of the House, the third-ranking post in the US government. That was the highest-level in-person meeting for a leader of Taiwan in the United States since Washington switched diplomatic relations from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China in 1979. The United States maintains political, economic, and security ties with Taiwan, and allows the island's president to make stops on the way to and from other countries — but Washington has sometimes set limits. In 2006, President Chen Shui-bian canceled a plan to travel through the United States after Washington denied him permission to stop in New York. Taiwanese officials had made arrangements for Lai to give a speech in New York, and he was expected to attend an exhibition of Taiwanese technology and products in Dallas, according to two researchers who had heard about the plans from diplomats. Asked about the reports that the Trump administration had blocked Lai's plans for visiting the US this time, a spokesperson for the Chinese government's Taiwan affairs office reiterated that Beijing 'adamantly opposes' any such visits at any time. This article originally appeared in