Finding your “Cricket”: Navigating your Child Interests

February 18, 2025February 20, 2025 | Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

A little while ago, we watched the Bluey episode “Cricket.” It featured a pup named Rusty who was so passionate about the game of Cricket that he played it whenever he could. This made my son curious about why someone would be so dedicated to one thing. And so began our quest to help our child discover his own “Cricket.”

My son is currently playing baseball. While he enjoys playing the game, he is not as diehard as most of his friends and sometimes would rather stay home building Lego than practice. This season was the first time he realized that baseball may not be his “Cricket”. When we asked him what he does enjoy doing, he said he liked creating things, climbing trees and being outside, and playing video games. Aside from a few new activities, a few have remained constant: nature and building. So do we pursue the interests we already know, or try new avenues to see what sticks?

Continue reading →

My Own Worst Enemy: Kids and The Defeatist Mentality

February 11, 2025 | Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

It can be really heart-breaking (and equally frustrating) when we hear our kids say, “I can’t do it. It’s hard. I quit.” Giving kids challenging tasks can make them take a step back and reassess the situation, but what do we do when these thoughts completely influence their mindset and outlook?

Lately, Patti’s 6-year-old Z has been going through these bouts with reading and writing. If she misspells a word or has trouble sounding out a word, she gets heated, stops trying altogether, and then has a meltdown, claiming that everyone is being mean to her. To add a little detail, her sister and friends are slightly ahead of her in these subjects and she feels like she is either left behind or we’re being too hard on her.

From birth, kids quickly learn new skills and gain the confidence to use them. As they get older, that confidence allows them to trust their own capabilities and bounce back if they’re unsuccessful at something. We know resilience builds after facing setbacks. So, it’s tough to see our kids throw in the towel without trying.

Continue reading →

Oh, The Pain…The Pain!

February 7, 2025February 6, 2025 | Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Cuts, scrapes, and bruises are part of childhood. That curiosity and “f*ck around and find out” mentality helps build resilience long-term. While it’s expected for kids to whimper when they get a booboo at two, it’s a quandary when they continue to do it at eight. After one too many “Toughen up, Buttercups”, we started to wonder about pain tolerance in children. If they can’t handle a minor bug bite or dodgeball hit, then how do we expect them to handle a dun-dun-dun… flu shot?

But the truth is that pain is a highly complex and individualized experience, influenced by a multitude of factors. For today’s post, we’re deep diving into the concept of pain and how to better help our kids manage it.

Continue reading →

Fear For All: Age-Appropriate Fear

October 30, 2024October 29, 2024 | Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Growing up in Florida, Patti and I have ridden Disney’s Haunted Mansion too many times to count. The dark attraction is a fan favorite, resulting in multiple movies and specials highlighting the grim stories of its ghostly residents. Aside from the 2003 and 2023 films of the same name, other versions include the family-friendly Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) and yes, Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak (2015) is rumored to be the R-rated version that never came to be.

This got us thinking how cool it is that all these different variations of the same IP cater to full spectrum of age and maturity levels. Are these stories playing toward our fear, our entertainment, or both? What exactly is age-appropriate when it comes to fear?

Continue reading →