Parenting

Finding your “Cricket”: Navigating your Child Interests

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

A little while ago, we watched the Bluey episode “Cricket.” It featured a pup named Rusty who was so passionate about the game of Cricket that he played it whenever he could. This made my son curious about why someone would be so dedicated to one thing. And so began our quest to help our child discover his own “Cricket.”

My son is currently playing baseball. While he enjoys playing the game, he is not as diehard as most of his friends and sometimes would rather stay home building Lego than practice. This season was the first time he realized that baseball may not be his “Cricket”. When we asked him what he does enjoy doing, he said he liked creating things, climbing trees and being outside, and playing video games. Aside from a few new activities, a few have remained constant: nature and building. So do we pursue the interests we already know, or try new avenues to see what sticks?

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Things We Loved: February 2025

| Patti Webb

Fun Fact: Our Child(ish) Advice Amazon storefront actually made a commission! Oh, how our baby has grown. TBH, it’s only a little bit and it was on items that we haven’t actually promoted. The great algorithmic mysteries of life…

That being said, thank you to our audience and we’re happy you are reading our content.

It’s only been two weeks since our last personal check-in, but since November when we actually shared things we loved.

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My Own Worst Enemy: Kids and The Defeatist Mentality

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

It can be really heart-breaking (and equally frustrating) when we hear our kids say, “I can’t do it. It’s hard. I quit.” Giving kids challenging tasks can make them take a step back and reassess the situation, but what do we do when these thoughts completely influence their mindset and outlook?

Lately, Patti’s 6-year-old Z has been going through these bouts with reading and writing. If she misspells a word or has trouble sounding out a word, she gets heated, stops trying altogether, and then has a meltdown, claiming that everyone is being mean to her. To add a little detail, her sister and friends are slightly ahead of her in these subjects and she feels like she is either left behind or we’re being too hard on her.

From birth, kids quickly learn new skills and gain the confidence to use them. As they get older, that confidence allows them to trust their own capabilities and bounce back if they’re unsuccessful at something. We know resilience builds after facing setbacks. So, it’s tough to see our kids throw in the towel without trying.

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Patti’s New Year’s Resolution Check-In

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

I’d like to thank my previous self for the resolution mindset of “Life’s tough. Get a helmet.”, because there is some bad juju going on, on every level. I also got Norovirus over the weekend, so that’s fun and games.

Here’s my quick Resolution recap for the month of January.

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