Reviving the Childlike Spirit: How Drawing Cartoons Keeps Our Kids Curious, Creative, and Joyful

This summer I spent a lot of time in the creeks of East Tennessee with my two-year-old, catching salamanders.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing my own child happy.

My daughter Elliana and I would wade into the chilly water, climb rocks, slip and fall, get muddy, turn over stones, and try to get a hold of those squirmy little salamanders. I did this as a child all the time, growing up in the woods of North Carolina. It’s an absolute thrill passing on this sense of wonder and discovery to my child.

Actually…no… I don’t think I’m passing that on to her.

She passes it on to me…

Elliana helps me connect with my inner child and find my sense of wonder and discovery again.

She often stops to watch an ant crawl along the sidewalk for 5 minutes.

She has an absolute blast inspecting the speckled surfaces of the rocks in our backyard.

She paints with abandon and shares her work generously.

She’s delighted by the tiniest most beautiful things that us old folks have grown to take for granted.

What else have we lost?

Our sense of play? Our curiosity? Our creativity? Our generosity? Our lack of crippling self-consciousness? Our ability to be present? Our joy?

Nearly all children read, and draw, and paint, and love to explore outside….

Until adolescence.

Some sadly never gain it back.

In all of our growing up and maturing in responsibility, is it really necessary to leave behind our childhood selves that were more confident, creative, present, and more in love with the little things and moments around us?

I taught in middle and high school classrooms for 15 years, and I would poll my students— 90% of them would report that they used to read and make art for pleasure.

And now they don’t.

What happened? What stole this from them?

I know I’ll be crushed if my daughter ever loses her childlike spirit—her sense of discovery, her playfulness, her curiosity, her creativity, her joy for life.

Maybe you’ve already seen your precious child start to lose their spirit.

Is your child increasingly hard on themselves? More perfectionist? More self-conscious? More jaded?

How can we stop this?

How can we keep the spirit alive in our kids?

Solving this problem is the entire mission of Kids Cartoon Academy.

As a teacher, foster parent, and biological parent, I’ve seen too many children have their spirit crushed way too early in life. By drawing cartoons, however, we can develop their skills, grow their confidence, and keep their childlike spirit alive.

Stay creative,
Daniel

PS. If you want to join me in helping your child keep that creative spirit alive, well into adolescence and beyond, then sign up here for the waitlist to join Saturday Cartoon Club.