Trying to be cool is pretty much a guaranteed route to being totally uncool.
But when I hang out with my nieces and nephews… I can’t help myself. I want to be a cool aunt. I want to be fun, interesting, and in touch with what they’re into.
Sometimes I put pressure on myself to keep up with what’s popular now. (On that note: I’m so down with the kids being into Billie Eilish … probably a lot better than the stuff I was listening to when I was 11)
But at the end of the day, I don’t think the kids really care if I know what’s up. They just want me to be open to their world. To be able to get excited about the things they like. To try and appreciate the things they share with me.
In that sense, I guess being cool is more about being open-minded.
As I get older, I get more set in my ways, in my preferences, in my understanding of how the world works.
But kids observe, they discover, they play, they experiment. They haven’t closed themselves off to so many things yet. They encourage me to be more open-minded.
Kids are so damn cool.
process &
behind-the-scenes
I made this piece way before I got a drawing tablet… hence the blocky line art. Drawn with a mouse.