Author: Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Mary’s New Year’s Resolutions: 2024

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

It’s 2024, which means that Child(ish) Advice is four years old (old enough to be in preschool).

The lull between Christmas and New Year’s always has me contemplating what goals I’d like to set for the upcoming year. This time around, I found myself writing the same goals that haven’t been achieved for years (or piggybacking on goals that have recently been met). The resolutions started feeling like a never-ending hamster wheel. I don’t want 2024 to be mundane.

During our monthly meeting, Patti had mentioned creating resolutions about how you want to feel rather than what you want to accomplish. That perspective shifted my mindset on how I want to live in 2024. So, with that said, here are my New Year’s resolutions.

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Mary’s favorite posts: 2023

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Sifting through a year’s worth of posts to find a favorite one is hard. We covered a ton of topics this year, all of which I am rather proud of, as they’ve had a positive effect on me and how I parent as well. But for 2023, my favorite post is Coffee Chat: Dogs are like kids, right?

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Holiday Mom Magic

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L
Photo credit: A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)

Moms don’t en-joy, they give joy. That’s how being a mom works. – A Bad Moms Christmas

Thanksgiving starts a mad rush all the way through December. While we can’t speak for other religions and their traditions, Christmas has a chokehold on an entire month; bringing festivities, expectations, and Mariah Carey.

This onslaught includes: hours making and checking shopping lists, wrapping the gifts, sending out cards, decking the halls, baking the cookies, making the travel plans, and keeping the spirit of Christmas alive. And year after year, the person behind all of this isn’t Santa. It’s mom.

Why do we do this? Is it a rite of passage to level up as a mom? Is the expectation the same for dads? With a few weeks left before December 25th, let’s get to the bottom of this quandary and how we can alleviate this self-inflicted stress.

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Holiday Gift Guide 2023: Elementary School

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

As kids enter their elementary school years, they have achieved many (if not all) of their developmental milestones. They feel confident enough in their skills to test their limits, try new things, make new friends, and seek more independence.

This must be the largest list we’ve made to date since there are so many good toys, games, and activities out there that our kids can benefit from.

Here’s our top picks for 2023 for elementary kids, 4 years and up:

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Holiday Gift Guide 2023: Toddlers & Preschoolers

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Toddlers are experimenting with and refining their newfound developmental skills, from walking to using words to get what they want. They are also using pretend play to understand the world around them. This means more self-awareness, imagination, independence, autonomy, and tantrums (sorry, there’s no way around this).

Here are our gift picks for toddlers ages 1-3:

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