Parenting

Child(ish) Review: Toy Story 5

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

I’ll be honest, I never really got into the Toy Story franchise. I know Woody, Buzz, and Jessie are beloved icons, but I just wasn’t into sitting down and watching the movies when they came out, and even now as a parent. So when Patti told me Toy Story 5 was coming out and I casually mentioned that I was indifferent, the gasp she let out was audible. For reference, the first Toy Story came out when we were 10.

But then the Toy Story 5 trailer dropped, Lilypad appeared on screen, and suddenly I was fully invested. In this installment, Bonnie is introduced to a new high‑tech tablet which completely disrupts the balance of playtime, forcing Jessie, Bullseye, Buzz, Woody and the rest of the gang to confront what it means to matter to a child in a digital age.

Toy Story 5 is essentially a child‑development case study wrapped in a Pixar movie. The film directly tackles themes that map onto core developmental domains: social-emotional growth, imaginative play, peer relationships, technology use, and the psychological experience of being “enough.”

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Summer To-Do List: 2026

| Patti Webb

Another school year is done! We have two months to exhale.
If you are anything like us, you’re probably also thinking way far ahead to the next school year, trying to use the season to make sure your kid moves forward, not back.

We gotta have fun, stay active but also rested, make memories, do the summer homework; it’s a tall order. Hopefully, we can do a little bit of everything.

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Coffee Chat: Kids Sports and the Long Game

| Patti Webb

Yes, we’ve been writing more and more about youth sports. But is it really that big of a surprise, since our kids are now 2-3 years into their teams and activities?

Just like OT, everything is foundational. What they are learning now is going to shape their social skills and identity 5, 10, 20+ years down the road.

Our kids’ sports experiences are vastly different, and they are uncovering a lot of skills and lessons for us parents to dive into. We’re also seeing a lot of bad habits thanks to sports system that’s getting harder to navigate.

Therein lies the conundrum: How long will our kids be on this path before it starts turning into a tearful, stressful, time-sucking money pit? Can we walk the line, or are we already in the vicious cycle?

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The Wide World of Youth Sports

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

This past February, the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina held our attentions for three weeks straight, including our kids. Watching hours of slaloms and biathlon and speed skating, completely engrossed.

Both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games pique kid’s interest in new sports. They are at an age where they think they can pick up these sports so easily and they want to try everything. What, like it’s hard? We found ourselves Googling where the nearest luge center was.

But with the Winter Olympics particularly, the countries bringing home the most medals aren’t always the biggest or richest. This year, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany were in the top five medal count, along with the US and Italy the host country.

Are they just better at snow sports? Do they start their kids on the Olympic track early? Yes and no.

It raised a bigger question about youth sports around the world and how different countries develop young athletes. Turns out, different countries structure youth sports very differently and the contrasts are big enough that they shape kids’ experiences, family culture, and even national athletic success.

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Coffee Chat: Kids and Supplements

| Patti Webb

Last fall, I was chatting with other Girl Scout moms at our annual campout and someone left a pack of Grüns in the cabin. They’re superfood gummy bears that are supposed to do a ton of awesome things like promote gut health and give you energy and fulfill your veggie requirements, etc. I had seen these on my IG feed, so me and a couple of the moms tried them out. Big letdown for me (they were the no sugar added variety), but overall a good reception. One of my girls liked them, and one other scout was like, cool.

That led to what other “wellness” things each of us had tried in our routine; from special-order vitamins, to supplements that replaced caffeine, to Liquid IV and protein. And what do you know, later that week I had ads all over my accounts for kids’ vitamins, gummies, and patches.

Maybe it’s just that we’re getting older, but the lineup keeps growing: a daily multivitamin to fill any nutritional gaps, collagen and biotin for hair and nails, melatonin for sleep, probiotics for gut health, B‑complex and magnesium for energy, vitamin D for mood…the collection just keeps expanding. Creatine, the powder that my high school boyfriend was taking to get “ripped”, is now marketed to women as a supplement.

But what adds an extra layer of weird is that many of the supplements have a kids version. Beyond the classic Flintstones vitamins, there’s now a kid‑friendly version for nutrition, immunity, focus, growth, you name it. But why? And since when?

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