OC Beach Report Card

Summer means taking the family to the beach. From Seal Beach to San Clemente, Orange County is home to some of the finest beaches in the state. The good news from non-profit group Heal the Bay is that most OC beaches have excellent water quality scores during the summer.

The Santa Monica-based organization recently released its 18th annual Beach Report Card for 2007-08. According to the report, ocean water quality hit a record high statewide (although neighboring LA County had the overall worst beach water quality).

Summer dry weather conditions at California beaches this year was excellent, and one of the best on record. Of the 517 ocean water quality monitoring stations throughout the state, 93 percent received “very good” to “excellent” marks (grades of A or B). Seven percent received “fair” to “poor” grades (C-F).

“Orange County displayed the best water quality it has seen in the last five years, and this year was markedly better than the county’s four-year average,” says Matthew King, Communications Director at Heal the Bay. “Part of that was attributed to low rainfall, but there have also been some infrastructure improvements. So for people going to beaches in Orange County during the dry summer months, it will be fairly unlikely they will run into a problem.”

However, King pointed out that Doheny Beach in Dana Point and Poche Beach in San Clemente are two of the top ten most polluted beaches statewide. Both beaches received the “Beach Bummer” title on this year’s report.

“Historically, these have been trouble spots,” King says. “Families should be really cautious about going there.”

If you are planning on spending time at the beach this summer, here are the cleanest (and not-so-clean) beaches in OC:

BEST BETS

• Seal Beach: From 1st Street south to Huntington State Beach at Newland Street
• Newport Beach: From Orange Avenue all the way to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point (this includes Crystal Cove, all of Laguna Beach, and Salt Creek and Strands beaches in Dana Point)
• San Clemente: Avenida Pico to Las Palmeras

TO BE AVOIDED

• Dana Point: Doheny Beach (North Beach to south of San Juan Creek)
• San Clemente: Poche Beach
• Dana Point Harbor including Baby Beach (the scores are no longer failing for Baby Beach, but they are still below average)
• Huntington State Beach at Magnolia Street

To see the full report card, visit www.healthebay.org. —Jennifer Cho Salaff & Cindy Morgan

Donít Forget the Hat This Summer

Skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States, will result in one million new cases this year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Here in sunny Southern California, we frequently expose our skin and our children’s to the damaging rays of the sun—whether it is at the beach, the pool, the playground or the backyard. While most of us are probably conscientious about applying sunscreen to our kids when it is sunny, you should know that this is just one form of protection—the first in a line of defenses.

It is common to see parents putting hats on their infants and toddlers when they are exposed to the sun, but by the time kids are 4 or 5 years old this sun-smart habit seems to fall by the wayside. This is dangerous because doctors estimate that between 60 to 80 percent of all sun exposure happens before age 18. The most common sites of skin damage and cancer are on the neck, ears, lips, face and nose.

“I would absolutely recommend putting hats on your children,” says Dr. Brian Toy, a pediatric dermatologist at CHOC in Mission Viejo. “Melanomas are highly correlated with a history of blistering sunburns in childhood.”

Because children spend so much time outdoors, it is a great idea to get them used to wearing hats for outdoor activities. In Australia, the nation with the highest rate of skin cancer, hat–wearing is compulsory at most schools. If children do not have a hat on outdoors they are made to play in the shade.

Here in Orange County, school districts have a variety of hat policies: in Capistrano Unified, all hats and head gear, except for district approved sun hats, are banned in an effort to limit gang associations.

“Most middle school and high school students will not wear the hats, but elementary students might,” says Capistrano Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Carolyn Williams. “Parents should talk to the principal at their child’s elementary school if they are interested in the district-approved hats.”

In other districts like Irvine Unified and Santa Ana Unified, hats are allowed outside when weather permits.

The AAP recommends children wear a hat with a three-inch brim. Baseball caps are ineffective at protecting ears and necks from sun exposure. So this summer, buy your kids a few hats and encourage them to keep them on whenever they are outside. —Cindy Morgan

Good Roadtrip Tunes

When I was growing up, my family took at least one road trip in the summer. The 1974 Volkswagon Dasher was orange on the outside, black vinyl on the inside (HOT!), there was no a/c and the radio was iffy. There was a tape-deck that (of course) led to more arguing than peace, as all the travelers had their own tastes and desires. The only tape that made everyone happy was a best of Neil Diamond album.

Here are some picks that just might keep everyone in your car humming and singing along—or at least not plotting acts of violence against one another.

9 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS

Had enough Raffi for a lifetime? If you NEVER hear Kermit singing “It’s Not Easy Being Green” again will it be too soon? Here are some fun tunes for smaller kids that should keep them happy (and keep you sane):

“Splash Zone: Singable Sea Songs Just for Kids” by Linda Arnold. Released in 2002 for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, this album has catchy lyrics all about the wonders of the sea. Three years after I lost the CD, I still find myself singing “Penguin Party” with a frightening regularity. (borders.com, $14.99)

“Las 100 Classicos de Cri-Cri” by Cri-Cri. Unless you grew up in Mexico or South America, you probably haven’t heard of this guy (a.k.a. Francisco Gabilando Soler). But he is AWESOME. The background music is provided by a full orchestra and his voice is smooth and easy. The songs will make more sense if you can understand some Spanish, but even if you can’t, the music is fun and very different than other preschool music fare. (amazon.com and borders.com, $18.99).

3 YEARS & UP

This is the perfect age to introduce show tunes and movie soundtracks. I prefer anything with Julie Andrews, but there are other good ones too:
“Mary Poppins,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “My Fair Lady,” “Annie,” “Grease,” “Oliver!” and “Jersey Boys.” (amazon.com, iTunes, borders.com, $8.99-$19.99).

5 YEARS & UP

By the time your kids are off to kindergarten their ears (and yours) are ready for more. We have kissed a lot of music toads in our car before landing on some real princes. Some are from “real” bands that are making music for children, and some are some old favorites that we just can’t let go:

“The Best of Schoolhouse Rock” You will instantly be taken back to Saturday mornings when your cartoons were interrupted by these educational cartoons with never-to-be-forgotten tunes like “Conjunction Junction,” “Interjection,” and “I’m Just a Bill.” The best part is, just like you, your kids might actually learn something while they listen! (amazon.com and borders.com, $13.99-$17.99).

“Schoolhouse Rock, Rocks” These are some of your favorite original songs remade by contemporary artists: The Lemonheads sing “My Hero Zero,” Moby performs “Verb,” and Skee-Lo remasters “The Tale of Mr. Morton.” (amazon.com and borders.com, $9.98-$10.99).
“Children’s Album” by Johnny Cash. This is so signature Johnny Cash in its sound that you will almost forget that it’s not the sound track from “Walk the Line.” (amazon.com, and iTunes, $9.99-$10.99).

Try some singable oldies for fun: The Monkees, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, and Simon and Garfunkel. If you get desperate, you could always try the best of Neil Diamond—it worked for my parents! —Cindy Morgan

NEW OC SITE RIVALS MYSPACE

With the advent of digital photography and video, parents everywhere are faced with a new dilemma: how to store and distribute all of their memories of their kids. Two years ago, an Irvine entrepreneur and first-time dad Michael Sawtell decided to launch a company that would provide high-quality photo and videosharing services to families around the world.

“He wanted parents to be able to put everything in one place,” says Mike Maloney, director of PR for TheFamilyPost.com. “He didn’t want a lot of ads, and he wanted to make it very easy to use for the not-so-tech-savvy.”

Starting your own family site on www.thefamilypost is a snap. The instructions are simple and adding photos is as easy as clicking and dragging them into place. The company provides a variety of cute backgrounds (holidays, vacations, seasons) as well as music. Make an album of your trip to Maui with beach backgrounds and steel drums playing. You can also create scrapbooks with text, publish family newsletters and organize a calendar of events on your site. Additionally, you and guests to your site can order prints and merchandise with your uploaded images.

All the digital images are stored off-site and backed up daily, as they take security very seriously.

“Sites like MySpace are not secure,” Maloney says. “Families should feel like their photos are safe.”

Because they didn’t want their users to be plagued by pop-ups and constant advertising, thefamilypost.com is fee based. Packages run from $4.95 per month to $12.95 per month for unlimited photo sharing. If you compare that the to cost of developing rolls of film and mailing out prints, it works out to be a pretty good deal. —Cindy Morgan

Win “Nim’s Island” on DVD

Go on a daring and whimsical adventure this summer as Parenting OC Magazine’s sweepstakes giveaway continues. This month, we feature Nim’s Island, coming to DVD on August 5. Also enter to win tickets to “Willy Wonka Jr,” playing July 25 to Aug 17 at the La Habra Depot Theatre. Email contests@parentingoc.com and in the subject line, type “Nim” (for Nim’s Island DVD) or “Willy Wonka” (for La Habra Depot Theatre tickets).

Include your name, address and phone number. The winner will be chosen in a drawing. The contest ends July 31 and the winner will be announced in our August issue. Go to www.parentingoc.com for details.

Congratulations to the winner of our June Sweepstakes Giveaway! Sara Kil of Buena Park, Maryanne Angeles of Garden Grove and Laurie Ng of Yorba Linda won “Bob the Builder: Let’s Build the Beach” on DVD.