Earlier this evening I was travelling on a bus with my daughter and she was working on the words and pictures of her own comic. She’s done a really good job with excellent drawings and a vivid and funny story to go with it. What got me was the point where she asked me about what to do for the next part. I said her that it was totally up to her as it was her ‘publication’. What did it matter what I thought?
There was a real reluctance to do that which, while understandable for a 10 year-old, was rather sad too. As I explained, there will be enough people in her life telling her how to live it without letting someone (i.e. me) dictate how her own work should look. Having said this her childhood is dominated by rules from us as parents and from school teachers too – has her freewill already been damaged?
