Parenting

I Choose Violence, Bruh…

| Patti Webb
Photo Credit: Mean Girls (2004)

Last year around the holidays, a ton of people went to TikTok to complain about one thing: teen girls at Sephora.

Either they were being super rude to other customers, or were snatching products that were not appropriate for their age group, or were messing up displays and complaining to staff; it was total judgement day.

While I definitely believe bad behavior should be called out, I don’t like that this narrative somehow morphed into “Millennials need to be better parents to these feral, disrespectful mean girls.”

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Kids These Days: Generation Alpha

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

The new wave of kids born between 2010-2024 is known as Generation Alpha, slated to be the largest, most diverse, and digitally connected generation to date. While the tail end of this generations’ kids are just being born, their reputation precedes them. Remember last year when people were taking to social media about how “rude and disrespectful” this new generation is in Sephora, blaming their millennial parents for their behavior?

But HOLD ON, is Gen Alpha really as bad as they seem or have we become the “Sorry, Boomers” we made fun of in our youth? And is it the parenting or the societal norms that define a generation?

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Coffee Chat: Making Mom Friends

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

“I’m sorry, but you need to make mom friends.”

Yes, that blunt statement came right out of my MIL’s mouth following the birth of my son. As abrupt as it was, I understood what she meant. At the time, my husband and I were one of the first in our friend group to have a child.

While friendships are generally an important aspect to our overall well-being (they are one of the most important things in fighting PPD), mom friends are truly unique. Friends with children similar in age to yours are easy to relate to. They can exchange suggestions without criticism or judgment, and support one another while navigating parenthood. As more of my friends became parents, the hardships and blessings also became much more relatable. We would have playdates, hang out, talk about the new ways of living, and do it all again another time.

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Coffee Chat: Sports Mom-agement

| Patti Webb

Piggybacking off of Tuesday’s post, I wanted to chat a bit about managing our kids and their sports commitments. Growing up, I was always under the impression that kids just did sports as their school allowed. Most elementary schools don’t have sports teams, so any city teams or intramural prior to Interscholastic sports was just for fun. The real competition was when you made the school team and started playing other schools.

When my little sister hit 7-8 years old, my dad signed her up for softball. As a previous baseball/softball player himself, he of course was all in and she was on travel teams from then on. Practices and games became a priority, she didn’t really try any other sports, and I could tell this started a bit of a power shift in their house (I was already out of college and on my own). In addition to my sister playing, my dad was also assistant coaching and travel coordinating. It seemed like softball became much more important than rest or time with family. Eventually, my sister got recruited to play softball at a private high school and my parents moved states to accommodate it. She won multiple State Championships, and then COVID happened her senior year. No last season. No college ball.

I know this took it to the next level, but that doesn’t mean this type of commitment to kids sports isn’t common.

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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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