The other day, I was a substitute teacher and had lunch duty. A little kindergartener raised her hand and I came over to her. She had two notes in her lunch bag. She asked me to read them. One said, “You are beautiful!” The other said, “You are smart!” The little girl beamed as I said, “Two very true statements!”
It’s all how you look at it, right? If you have the type of zombie that sits around all day and moans, then you might just may have found a good listener.
Cartoon of two adults and baby with a scarecrow. A man says about the scarecrow, “He doesn’t interact with the kids much. But he’s always available and on time.”
I can usually tell when someone doesn’t feel comfortable in a classroom. They don’t look much different from the scarecrow in my cartoon. They’re stiff, standing tall among all the kids. They do dress better than a scarecrow, however. They also have a more worried look than the scarecrow in this picture.
Eighteen years ago, I drew a birth announcement. It was very risky since a cartoon version of a family member can come back to haunt you.
And that is exactly what happened last week! My mother-in-law printed some pictures to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. One of the prints was the birth announcement I drew to announce the big day. My daughter appeared amused. I had to clarify that no cartoon could ever be as cute as the real thing. To prove it, here is a photo of the two of us. We both looked much younger then than now!
Heaven knows I’ve made my share of mistakes with my kids. Drawing cartoon versions of them is probably one of the least mistakes I’ve made. One of the worse mistakes was when I struggled between getting my freelance work done and spending time with my kids. As much as I loved illustrating for books and magazines, it all seems to trivial now compared to the time I had with my them.
My dear daughter, you are now a young lady. You have brightened my world. And I have cherished every moment with you. Happy eighteenth birthday!
Have you ever had a child begging you for a pet? You know it will be extra work and money, but deep down you want the pet as well, don’t you?
One day, my son announced he wanted a dog for his birthday. My wife and I thought it was time and we began looking for the perfect dog. The whole episode ended badly because we were ill prepared for pet ownership. Here are ten things I learned that enabled us to become responsible pet owners later.
We ended up finding the right pets for our household. How about you? What are some tips you would give someone before committing to a new pet?
