In the Home

Things I Learned on TikTok

| Patti Webb

Very apropos considering Tuesday’s Netflix post and that TikTok might be getting banned. Maybe not so apropos considering one of my Resolutions is cutting screen time…

There are so many parenting influencers (we do consider ourselves one), and all of those accounts, commentaries and opinions contribute to a lot of parenting noise. What may have started as a mindless scroll to turn your brain off, might end up with you questioning your parenting choices, feeling like you have to buy every product under the sun, or leave you genuinely scared for this generation.

And it doesn’t stop at parenting noise. Similar to spending hours on a video game or bingeing on the couch, once you stop, you’re like “Where did my life go?”. You end up dysregulated, feeling lazy, and asking yourself “Did I really need to watch 20 minutes of wild Karen encounters?”

In my infinite scrolling last fall, an ad showed up about turning your screen time into microlearning. Of course, I’m not going to pay for whatever app or course they are trying to promote, but it did make me reconsider the types of content I’ve been consuming.

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Course Notes: Torticollis and Flat-Head Syndrome

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

When the Back to Sleep campaign kicked off in 1994, there was a noted decrease in SIDS. However, the number of babies with developmental delays rose. Interestingly enough, the cases of torticollis and flat-head syndrome (aka plagiocephaly) dramatically increased as well. Coincidence? I think NOT!

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Course Notes: SIDS

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Ever accidentally take a continuing education course that does not apply to your professional license/continuing ed? Yes, me?

Despite this unlucky incident, I still gained a great deal of useful information. A few months ago, I took a CEU course called Infant Positioning Strategies: Progressing Development while Promoting Safe Sleep. While it covered baby development and how positions can cause or reduce certain neck or head conditions, like torticollis or flathead syndrome, I was most intrigued by the topic of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Sounds dark, but the intel presented was too fascinating not to share.

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March Madness: Daylight Savings Time

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Daylight savings time (DST) starts in a couple weeks and nothing sucks more than losing an hour of sleep. You’re dysregulated, the kids are dysregulated, everyone and their mom is dysregulated; it’s not a fun time.

According to a Better Sleep Council survey, 29% of all parents reported they disliked the Spring Forward time change. Once bedtimes and sleep routines are thrown off, everyone chimes in on how the practice is no longer necessary. It’s challenging enough to reset our kid’s circadian rhythm after summer break and again when DST ends. Now we must do it again, but with a time loss. Kudos to Arizona and Hawaii for staying out of the whole thing…

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Coffee Chat: Redshirting

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

The Georgia pre-k lottery is in full effect, but my husband and I have been dealing with the decision to redshirt our twin girls for a while. They are August babies, born very near the September 1 cutoff. I’m admittedly a little jealous of parents with September-June babies, because this is something that they most likely don’t even have to consider.

We have talked at length between ourselves and with friends/family, in addition to reading a bunch of research and studies, to figure out if giving the girls “the gift of time” is the best option for them. I’ll tell ya, even after all that data collection, the verdict was still not cut and dry. 

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