Parenting

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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Holiday Gift Guide 2024: Middle Grades 8+

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

This category is new for us but TBH, the toys and games in this age range have upped their game in the last couple of years.

Around ages 8-12, kids make big strides in many areas of development. Their skill refinement allows for:

  • Improved attention, problem solving, and critical thinking
  • The ability to strengthen friendships and resolve conflicts more efficiently
  • Participation in skill-based activities requiring refined motor movements
  • The ability to express themselves more clearly
  • Increased independence and thought

Here are our recommendations for kids 8+:

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Holiday Gift Guide 2024: Preschool and Early Elementary

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

This has got to be the largest list we’ve put together to date, but not just because we love toys.

Kids at this age are achieving key developmental milestones and improving their executive functions, allowing for better focus and memory. As they continue to refine their skills, they enjoy social play, seek friendly competition, pursue independence by testing limits, try new things, and make new friends.

Not only did we pick a ton of toys and games geared towards these age-range skills, but we also chose practical items to encourage independence, and bigger, family-friendly gifts that include your littlest.

Here are our gift picks for kids 3-7:

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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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