Overloaded Kids

We are their guides

A lovely email just came in from a 16-year-old young lady in Peru. She told me she is studying my work in school, and was grateful for one particular cartoon, the one below. She wanted to thank me, and ask for further insight. She pointed out that the cartoon touched on an important subject for her, one that is not talked about very much: how we overload our kids (particularly girls, I think) , with expectations. If they don’t get it directly from their parents, they get it from the culture, their teachers, their peers. It’s hard to learn how to be your own person sometimes, so let them explore.

First of all, it is exciting to hear that my cartoons are reaching places outside of the US. In recent years, I have been getting emails from students as far away as S. Korea, wanting to understand the meaning behind my drawings. They are studying my humor and message in school.

Secondly, I am particularly grateful that feminist subject matter is being taught, and taught through cartoons. Cartoons get at the essence of a subject, and because humor often relies on twisting the known, turning it on its head, they can expose wrongful traditions. And it’s a fun way to discuss serious subjects!

In answering the young lady, I sent the one below as another example on the subject of the drawing above. My opinion is let kids be kids, don’t try to make them into something you think they should be. We don’t really own them, we are just their guides until they are eighteen.

Originally published at https://lizadonnelly.substack.com.