First Pres Kids Hayward

04/05/2026

Easter if you’re a kid : kids area front and center (okay a little off center but you can’t miss it), kids choir presentation, Godly Play story then an overabundant Easter egg hunt!

07/03/2025

We had over 45 people attend our second annual Pride Month Family Movie 🥰 which was just named Best Movie Theatre in ’s Best of Bay Area!!! And we made the local paper (link in bio to digital article)! Thank you so much to our co-hosts this year: Holy Cross Episcopal and Stonewall Community which meets at . It’s not an understatement to say that this work is life-saving and is a requirement of our faith—not only because Jesus says so (!) but also because it’s our responsibility to right the past and continued harm/atrocities that are done in his name. Showing up in individual relationships, within your community and and as a community for q***r kids and families matters—at we don’t say you are welcome “no matter who you are” because it very much matters to us and to God who you are—you are a beloved and necessary part of this world not in spite of your q***rness but because of it 😍🏳️‍🌈 ***rkids

07/03/2025

Look who made the paper! Let's keep up this important, literally life-saving work of showing up for our q***r family at home, in the community and in the local paper!!! Thank you to everyone who came and supported in body and spirit. It's also never too late to donate to The Trevor Project whenever you want!

For the second year in a row, First Presbyterian Church of Hayward (FirstPres) celebrated Pride Month by hosting an LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Family Movie on June 28 at the Chabot

06/25/2025

This fun event is coming up on Saturday. Mark your calendars! Send to a friend. Let's raise some money and enjoy a morning at the movies :)

Join us The Chabot for a Pride Month Family Movie on Saturday, June 28th at 10am. Tickets are $10 per person, available for pre-purchase or at-the-door. All proceeds from the event will go to The Trevor Project.

There will be FREE Pride crafts for children and youth of all ages before a showing of “Luca”— a Pixar animated film, that tells the story of Luca who longs to be a part of the human world but who must face the fear of being discovered as a sea monster, hiding his true identity in fear of rejection and prejudice.

This event is co-hosted by First Pres Kids Hayward and Students of Eden, the children’s and youth ministry of FirstPres Hayward, along with other local churches and organizations: Eden United Church of Christ (Hayward), Holy Cross Episcopal (Castro Valley, Bethel Community Presbyterian (San Leandro), College Avenue Presbyterian Church (Oakland), Saint Paul Lutheran (Oakland), Stonewall Community (Tri-Valley). Follow us all! DM for more information or questions.

06/17/2025

Join us The Chabot for a Pride Month Family Movie on Saturday, June 28th at 10am. Tickets are $10 per person, available for pre-purchase or at-the-door. All proceeds from the event will go to The Trevor Project.

There will be FREE Pride crafts for children and youth of all ages before a showing of “Luca”— a Pixar animated film, that tells the story of Luca who longs to be a part of the human world but who must face the fear of being discovered as a sea monster, hiding his true identity in fear of rejection and prejudice.

This event is co-hosted by First Pres Kids Hayward and Students of Eden, the children’s and youth ministry of FirstPres Hayward, along with other local churches and organizations: Eden United Church of Christ (Hayward), Holy Cross Episcopal (Castro Valley, Bethel Community Presbyterian (San Leandro), College Avenue Presbyterian Church (Oakland), Saint Paul Lutheran (Oakland), Stonewall Community (Tri-Valley). Follow us all! DM for more information or questions.

11/08/2024

(1/2)I have everything and nothing to say. Last week, I wrote that we should practice feeling everything. This week, I find myself swinging between feeling it all and feeling nothing at all, zoned out, on autopilot.

I picked up the preschooler from school, and lately, living with her has been like living in an episode of Dora, The Explorer. First! We’ll walk to Mommy’s office to pack up her bag. Second! We’ll drive to pick up big brother from school. Third! We’ll go home for dinner!

Except, after picking up the preschooler (stop 1), I skipped driving to the elementary school (stop 2), and instead I pulled into our driveway (stop 3). Luckily, my little Dora chirped, “Why did we go home? Awen’t we gowing to pick up my bwother?!” So, I threw the car into reverse and headed to the elementary school, making it just in time for pickup. On the way, we talked about how “silly Mommy” was on autopilot.

“What’s autopilot?” she asked. (Well, it sounded more like: “Whass auwopiwot?”)

Apparently, according to sciencey things, on autopilot, “[w]e can avoid obstacles but fail to notice what the obstacles were or even that there were obstacles.” I’m sure you could twist this into an analogy that goes any which way you want—life is hard, but we get home safe; it’s possible to live a life unaffected by your obstacles? My takeaway is that whether you are aware of it or not, the obstacles remain.

You may avoid them, or survive them, but the obstacles are still there. They are still a danger to someone, will harm someone, trip someone up—maybe a stranger, a neighbor, someone you know, someone you love. Just because you don’t notice the speed bumps, the potholes, the downed wires, the fallen branches, the missing signs, the closed lane, the drifting delivery truck, the rouge raccoon—just because you made it home (this time) doesn’t mean all the things you navigated (maybe easily, maybe safely) weren’t real and present dangers. They were always a danger—to you and to others—you just weren’t present to the reality.

Let’s be present, stay present (dare I say be a present?) to the reality.

Lauren

P.S. I have a present reality to present (in comments…)

11/06/2024

I don’t want to rush from grief or the realities of what this election means to people we love including our children and their friends at all levels of society (and when I say our children I mean all the children but I also hold our specific children in my heart). I don’t want to spiritual bypass or bright side or problem solve. But I do want to leave these words by other wise people for you to ruminate on as parents, as people of faith, as chasers of Shalom and as members of the Community of Creation… and maybe by Friday those of you with littles will want to join us for our Storytime talking about Turtle Island for Native American Heritage Month… this land and the people that came before, continues to be and will still be here after all this human brokenness. Sources tagged.

08/07/2024

Hi Parents, especially those sending their kids to school for the first time, to new schools or to schools far away… here is a prayer from Feminist Prayers for My Daughter by (applicable to all children of all genders) that you, your schools, your communities be able to hold your precious children securely and safely with a love that does not seek to control (for that is not love at all) but a love that serves the unique beloved creature God intended them to be, a love that liberates and gives them wings.

07/04/2024

If, like me, you are paying attention to national politics right now and the conflicts and elections that are happening globally this year, you might feel a little discomfort or confusion about what we’re supposed to be celebrating on the 4th of July?

I was an American Studies major in college and I am deeply invested in the idea of America, holding both criticism for its past and present and hope for its future. It feels harder and harder to be hopeful these days. And easier and easier to succumb to the temptation of melting into my couch cushions and never going outside again. But, as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

So, I continue to reach for a handhold on that arc and follow the Way of Jesus who was anything but a fanatic nationalist or supporter of the status quo and empire. I continue to do my little part in the spheres of my own influence. But, when my sphere is children and youth, what does that look like? Simply: simple conversations.

Link in bio from for how to simply talk with young children about the 4th of July in a way that captures the complexity of a holiday that shouts a well-meaning, celebratory: “Freedom for all!” but does it so loudly that it drowns out the voices of those who were and are still not free.

Some other resources for this month which is Disability Pride month are also available at link in bio. There is no playdate this Friday due to staff schedules, but there will be a Storytime and Playdate on Friday, July 19th.

And looking ahead, on Saturday, July 20th is Castro Valley Pride and will have a booth, so make sure you add this event for all ages to your calendar.

And don’t forget, that we next week we have our Mom’s/Female-Identifying Caregiver Night!

06/27/2024

Hang on everybody! Get ready for a morning of adventure, laughter and heart-warming fun. Join us on Saturday at 10am for Pride Month crafts for children of all ages and special concessions all to benefit . If you can’t make it, scan the QR code to donate directly to this life-saving organization.

06/08/2024

is partnering with the children’s and youth ministry department of to host an LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Family Movie on Saturday, June 29th at 10am. The cost is $5 per person. There will be FREE Pride crafts for children and youth of all ages before a showing of “Strange World”—an animated, sci-fi adventure film produced by Disney that features a family of explorers who must set aside their differences to save their planet. Child-friendly “rainbow” snack packs assembled by the FirstPres youth group will be available at the concession stand. All proceeds from the event will go to The Trevor Project. If you can’t make it, donate directly to !