In the Home

Fear For All: Age-Appropriate Fear

| 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?

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Course Notes: Diagnosis and Reframing Perspective

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

I’m not gonna lie, completing this ADHD certification and writing these posts has driven me down a rabbit hole. “Do I have ADHD? Does my son have ADHD?”

While he is a 7-year-old, his past teachers have mentioned focus issues and recently, he’s been forgetting items to either take to school or bring back home. Is this something I need to be concerned about or is this just an age-appropriate phase?

For Patti, ADHD runs in her family. So even though she does not have a diagnosis, she has been on the lookout for flags since the beginning. You can imagine how these coffee chats have gone between us…

If you suspect your child’s inattention or impulsivity may be more than the norm, or you notice that it’s affecting parts of their daily routine, here’s what you can do.

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Course Notes: Meds and Management

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

This is a good time to reiterate that our Course Notes series is just that. Occupational therapists need to take a certain number of continuing ed classes each year. These classes are geared toward therapists, counselors, practitioners, etc. But from these classes, there is a ton of really great information that I think can be helpful for parents as well. I am in no way diagnosing, prescribing or treating a specific person. Now that that is covered, let’s get to ADHD, Part 3.

ADHD affects how information is taken in and processed due to its alterations in brain structure, neural connectivity, and neurotransmitter levels. These changes impair the executive functions, resulting in difficulties with attention, recall, and self-control. While there is no “cure”, it is considered one of the most treatable conditions out there. So, what are the most effective management treatments out there for child ADHD these days?

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Ugh, Read a Book…

| Patti Webb

The way kids get their literary fix these days looks different from when we were growing up. PBS was life then, exposing youth to books from Reading Rainbow to Wishbone. Reading was incentivized and celebrated with the Pizza Hut Book It! Program and D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read). Scholastic Book Fair day was the BEST!!! It was a great time to read.

Then it kinda changed. This may be purely anecdotal, but reading for fun stopped being a thing. Outside of Harry Potter and Twilight, academic and athletic achievement took precedence. Then loud TV shows from Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, then smartphones and social media entered the chat. I have five younger Gen Z cousins and all of them pretty much bemoan reading.

As Millennial Moms, the thought of our kids not loving to read actually hurts. So how do we cultivate the love of reading outside the classroom?

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Tone of Voice and Parenting

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

You know when you tell your kids to do something repeatedly and it falls on deaf ears. And then you end up yelling at them because you’re at your wits end? Then how about when your spouse says the exact same thing and they do it right away? Okay, great. I’m not the only one.

While my children appreciate my animated vocals during play or a soothing one when they need a cuddle, they definitely don’t hear my tone as one of authority unless I’m screaming to the top of my lungs. This got me thinking about how kids interpret tone of voice.

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