Dear Reader,
During the start of the Pandemic in 2020, when so many kids were isolated and alone from school closures and an increasingly uncertain and traumatizing world, I got the idea to share my 8th grade version of this book as a way to reassure kids that they are not powerless. I wanted to help them believe in themselves through the example in my life — the early version of this concept, which was a failed homework assignment — when someone did not believe in me. Since then, so many adults have believed in me that I was able to expand this book and bring it to you.
I want to tell you something I think a lot of adults forget to tell children. First, a bit of background:
I am currently 27. I have been through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, and I have also been a camp counselor and assistant teacher for over 8 summers now. So?
I have seen and helped a wide variety of kids in my life. The thing I think adults forget to tell children is this:
In many ways, it’s really rarely your fault.
When teachers or other adults tell you that you are doing something wrong, that you are failing, that you are not living up to their expectations, it is possible they are just doing a bad job at being a compassionate human being in that moment, and really, both of you are totally fine. They might just be communicating their needs poorly, and as a child, it’s impossible for you to see that.
Only recently having grown up (somewhat), now when I look back at my life, and when I help kids at camps or schools, do I really see that the grownups could have as easily gotten it as wrong as the child, but grownups put it all on the children. I see kids who have certainly been hurt or mistreated by the adults in their lives, and they don’t even know it. They are only able to blame themselves, because it is all they know. That is extremely sad to me.
This is not to say that you should not trust adults. Just make sure you keep in mind that... well... they can be wrong. Even me! You have a right to think critically about adults’ behavior—use this right! I hope this helps you.
This book is a project I did for an English teacher I had a hard time with. One way I coped was by ending sentences with prepositions. After a long time not connecting in class, I finally started to enjoy our Shakespeare unit. But then I had an even longer time not connecting with the homework assignment. I could not come up with an idea for a project that the teacher approved of. Finally, I had the idea to create An Illustrated Guide to Shakespearean Insults, which I thought would be fun, and I was right! Learning was a joy again!
It was very exciting to me, and I spent all this dang time drawing and researching these insults, only to turn it in to have my teacher say it didn’t conform to the project guidelines. She told me I had to change it or I would receive a zero—out of 100.
At 27, I can’t imagine being a middle or high school teacher of English, and, seeing that a student I have trouble connecting with is going out of his way to work hard on a project, deciding to give the assignment back with the threat of a zero just because it didn’t conform to the guidelines I had set up. Ridiculous! That is poor teaching to me. Putting your guidelines before a child’s imagination. I ended up begging and imploring the teacher to reconsider in a very nicely and carefully written email, and that ended up doing the trick. It was late, but it did work out in the end.
I hope you like this project I did when I was 14... more than 10 years ago. If you don’t, I hope you can read this artist’s statement and remember that sometimes adults make bad decisions, and your impressions on that topic are valid, and your recognition of an injustice done to you is also valid.
I repeat: In many ways, it’s really rarely your fault. And often, there’s a way around. It might take a lot of stick figure drawing, feeling bad, and writing an email advocating for yourself—but do it! It is worth it in the end.
It turns out that I am no stranger to zeros on homework, so this is the first book in a series on that theme and experiences related to it—school stress, kids’ mental health, how to cope—that I’ll write for Minnesota Children’s Press.
“Stick With Kip! How to Draw & Problem Solve Your Way Out of Homework Horrors and Related School Perils.”
Really. Stick (figure) with me. I’ll do my best to show you what I know, and how I keep learning. Even with the chaos of this Pandemic, we can still help and hope for each other. Let’s do it!
Sincerely,
Kip
Send me an email or drawing about your experiences if you’d like: kip@minnchildpress.org
or mail it:
Minnesota Children’s Press P.O. Box 301
Grand Marais, Minnesota 55604
