Parenting

Patti’s 2025 New Years Resolutions

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

I think we all start the year with the best intentions. In 2024, I wanted to continue along my path, just keeping things steady and predictable. I’d had enough upheaval and just wanted to get through my life.

Around November however, I had a regrettable crash out and I know now something big needs to change. I don’t think I’ve ever been this stressed or frustrated with a particular component of my life. This went beyond just setting boundaries or just getting things done.

I turn 40 at the end of the summer. In order to get where I want to be by then, I want to go big. Whether that means finding a new job or diving into a new field, we’ll be doing some hardcore recalibrating.

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Mary’s 2025 New Year Resolutions

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

It’s a new year which means a new opportunity to dust off those old resolutions, update, and try again. While last year’s resolutions did not go as planned, I believe I fulfilled 2024’s intention: to feel fulfilled, secure, accomplished, and complete. With that said, 2025 poses similar challenges to years past. Every resolution looks like the one before it, but why? Obviously, I’m seeking to achieve something greater than the tasks, so what is it?

After looking over my goals for the year (and the year before that, and the year before that), I noticed that I ultimately want to be more productive and intentional with my time. I’ve struggled with time management for years and while I score mini wins in establishing a new habit every now and then (daily workouts, drinking water, etc.), I never feel like I accomplished what I’m truly aiming for. So now that I’m 40 (Happy Birthday!), this year serves as a reset: ridding old habits, establishing new ones, and maintaining consistency.

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Child(ish) Reads: Class Mom

| Patti Webb

To close out the year, we picked a quick fiction book for Child(ish) Reads.  A nice little palate cleanser for the holidays.

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman is the first book in a series starring Jen Dixon, a SAHM mom in Kansas City. She’s been given the Class Mom position in her son’s Kindergarten class and we’re following her throughout the school year, one email at a time.

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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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Child(ish) Reads: Article Review

| Patti Webb

Welcome to October!

We usually reserve this month for #spookyszn content. But our October calendars are looking a bit…scary. So Child(ish) Advice will be keeping it light for this week, before heading into a much needed two-week break.

Today’s post is an article review, something we really haven’t done since our first year blogging. This article came out in March, but it fit our Gen A theme/Halloween transition so perfectly. Check it out!

Kids Media Is In Its Villain Era by Katy Hershberger, Romper.com.

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