Parenting

Expectation vs Reality: Table Manners

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

“Eat dinner as a family”, they said.

“It’ll help boost morale and connection with your kids,” they said.

“It’ll be a great time had by all,” they said.

Then why do we feel like we’re banging our heads up against the wall when our kid’s behavior and manners at the table are like a scene out of Gremlins? Well, no one said it was going to be easy (and if they did, they are liars).

Family dinners have been a cultural norm in the US for decades. But all those wholesome Norman Rockwell scenes of sitting together and politely eating a meal are not the realities of what we ACTUALLY experience on a daily basis right now. In fact, it’s quite the opposite (kids getting in and out of chairs, refusing to eat their food, spills/messes on the floor, you and your spouse trying to talk over the calamity, etc).

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There’s No “I” in Team: The Parent-Teacher Relationship

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

When my son was three years old, his teachers expressed concerns about his behavior in class. He wasn’t following directions, had a tough time staying seated during circle time, and was distracting his classmates. With all of the other kids in the class, they were having a difficult time dealing with my son and unsure how to handle him. End story.
What? That’s it? That’s all you have to say?

With this news, a rush of anxiety came flooding in.
OMG, they think he’s a bad kid.
Does he have ADHD?
Am I a bad parent?

I know that other parents have these kinds of talks with their kid’s teachers, doctors, counselors; and more times than not, that is the end of the conversation. But it doesn’t have to be.

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Child(ish) Reads: Advanced Parenting

| Patti Webb

Advanced Parenting is one of those books that I thought wouldn’t really apply to me, but I knew it would give me a new perspective. I do not yet have a child with a specific medical diagnosis. Neither of my girls have allergies so far, they are neurotypical as of now, and I don’t believe they anything hereditary that we need to be on the serious lookout for. However, so far is not never. I don’t think parents really prepare for medical challenges until they happen, and then it all comes at you so fast.

Advanced Parenting: Advice for Helping Kids Through Diagnoses, Differences, and Mental Health Challenges by Kelly Fradin.

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Coffee Chat: Week 2 Check In

| Patti Webb

So many First Day of School pics….

Our kids have been in school almost two full weeks now. For context, both Mary’s son and my twins are in their second year of elementary school. And even though we got most of the first-time student anxieties out last year, there is still plenty to go around for year two.

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The Gifted Parent

| Patti Webb

Last week, I did a Google and podcast search to see what resources or articles covered “gifted” parents. To be clear, this is about parents who were in the Gifted and Talented programs growing up in the 90s. Not parents of currently gifted children.

Both Mary and I grew up in gifted program in it’s various forms. In the spirit of Millennial Parenting, which has a sturdy base in self-reflection and re-parenting, we wanted to see how growing up as gifted students could have an impact on how we now raise our own kids.

My search ended up with not that many hits. Mary and I have five kids between us and for the most part, they are too young to be considered for gifted right now. So in this liminal time where our kids and their relationship with school is in development, how can we see what this academically-accelerated program has done for/to us when it comes to parenting?

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