Feeling angry lately? Overwhelmed? How about your kids? Author and illustrator Christian Robinson has created a tool to help young people process powerful emotions through art. In this episode he'll talk about his video series Making Space, and how childhood struggles can be spun into stories.
Feeling angry lately? Overwhelmed? How about your kids? Author and illustrator Christian Robinson has created a tool to help young people process powerful emotions through art. In this episode he'll talk about his video series Making Space, and how childhood struggles can be spun into stories.
After the show:
And we want to hear your tips and suggestions! What videos or resources have you found online to help your kids process their emotions? Send your stories to parenttrapped@commonsense.org, and we might invite you on the show.
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AMB: Since the beginning of the pandemic, like many of you, I've been dealing with a mish-mosh of feelings, most of them, not positive. There's sadness, anxiety, fear, grief, anger. To be honest, my tendency is to stuff bad feelings down, to a deep dark place and try to ignore them. But that's not what I want to model for my kids. I want to help them, as much as I can, process their difficult feelings, learn how to live with them and make sense of them. And the good thing is, there are tools out there to help.
[0:53] AMB: One that I've found recently is a show on YouTube and Instagram by award-winning children's book writer and illustrator Christian Robinson.
CR: Hello.
AMB: It's called Making Space.
CR: Welcome to Making Space – Day 35. In quarantine.
AMB: That title has a bunch of meanings. First off, Christian films the show from his art studio or “making space.” And then, for kids, the show is designed to help them find their own making space, and to make space for them to manage big emotions. In an episode from a few weeks ago, when in addition to a pandemic, the country – again – was dealing with racism, police violence, and unrest, Christian asked his young viewers how they were feeling. I watched the show with my 8-year-old daughter.
CR: You ever get angry?
KID: Yes.
CR: Like, so angry that you could yell?
KID: Yes.
CR: Or stomp your feet?
KID: Yes!
CR: Or even break something?
KID: Yes, definitely.
CR: I feel that way sometimes too.
[1:59] AMB: I know my kid struggles with anger. Don't we all? But I can't always figure out how to talk to her about it. So I am glad that she heard someone acknowledge that anger can be rough. Christian helped my kid feel seen.
[family screaming]
From Common Sense Media, I'm Ann Marie Baldonado, and this is Parent Trapped. Coming up, Christian Robinson talks about how art can help kids make sense of complicated feelings, and how creativity helped get him through difficult times when he was growing up. Plus, he'll give us some ideas on how all kids can turn their experiences – and the junk around them – into art.
CR: For those of you who are joining us for the first time, my name is Christian Robinson, I am an author, writer and illustrator of books for children, which basically means I get to draw and make up stuff, all the time. And I believe that creativity has the power to heal – that everyone has that creative spark within them, and it's my hope that these videos might inspire or encourage you to explore your creativity.
[3:20] AMB: I want to tell you more about Christian's show, Making Space – but before we get there, I want you to be able to picture what his drawings look like.
CR: I would describe my illustration style as being simple. I know some people think of that word as like an insult. But I love the word simple. I love simplicity.
AMB: Simplicity, as in geometric shapes and quick brush strokes.
CR: I love using real materials like paint and collage, cut out pieces of paper. I think pictures as like communicating. Right? It's like talking. What's the easiest way I can share something – an idea – to make sure that someone gets it?
AMB: Christian has illustrated picture books like Last Stop on Market Street, When's My Birthday, Gaston, and his new book, You Matter, which he also wrote. Christian applies his whole simplicity thing to the lessons he teaches kids on Making Space. In each episode, Christian takes a complicated feeling or a concept, and walks kids through an art project, step by step, to help them visualize the idea, and hopefully process it.
CR: Something I've noticed lately is that many people are not able to celebrate their birthdays in the ways that we're used to – surrounded by friends and loved ones. And I was thinking, what if today's art project could be a gift we give to the people we care about on their birthday?
CR: Alright, so here's what we're going to make today – some Happy Birthday candles. We'll need a few materials – glue, scissors, markers, and some colorful scraps of paper.
[4:58] AMB: Christian encourages kids to use cut up boxes, magazine pages, or even onion peels to make art. Perhaps making a rainbow or a birthday card with candles can't make up for missing a birthday party during quarantine, but Christian hopes that it helps.
AMB: So, what made you decide to start doing the show Making Space?
CR: Well, the pandemic hit and I was feeling overwhelmed and uncertain and – and I was trying to do what one of my heroes says that we should do during challenging times, which is – notice the helpers. Mr. Rogers says that. And there are many helpers. You know, we had our first responders and our nurses and our doctors and grocery store workers and teachers, especially – my partner, John – he's a teacher. And I just kind of sat back and that, well, what can I do? And I realized that creativity for me has always been a thing that has got me through hard times. It's helped me process my world. And during a time when, you know, there's so much that's not in our control, especially for young people, I thought having a creative outlet while you're stuck at home could be helpful.
AMB: Well, you recently made an episode about anger, which is such a great thing for you to help kids process. I should say – the episode came after the killing of George Floyd, and then the protests and the unrest. So that was the first show that you did after all that happened. And you even said that you were wondering if you wanted to do the show, but then that you changed your mind and decided to do it. Was it because you also wanted to process your feelings, too, in a way?
[6:48] CR: Absolutely. I think, yeah, the anger episode was definitely one of my more raw. I literally just sat down and pressed record type of day. I too, like many people in the country, were just feeling emotional and just angry. It was definitely coming to the top – anger. And I had to take a moment to pause and ask myself, like, what is underneath this anger that I'm feeling and how can I use art as a way to process and heal, or sit with or just look at it differently. And I realized that there was a – there was an opportunity there to make a Making Space episode around that.
AMB: In every episode, you do an art exercise.
CR: Yeah.
AMB: And walk kids – and their caretakers, I should say too – through an art exercise. Can you talk about the one you did for the anger episode?
[7:41] CR: Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to create a way for young people, for anyone, to kind of process their anger that we're all feeling right now. And so I thought, how can I visually represent anger in some way? So I want to create an art project where we kind of see that anger is the emotion, the feeling that exists usually right on the surface. It's right at the top. It's what's easiest to see. But there's oftentimes just so many things just below the surface of anger. And I wanted to look at that. So I basically created this art project where I had kids make an iceberg.
CR: So at the top, remember – we see anger. That is the feeling that is at the surface. So I have an angry penguin. And below maybe anger is nervousness. Maybe you're nervous sometimes and that's why you're mad. So I have a little nervous narwhal. And here's a little walrus. And maybe you're worried. Worry and fear can definitely lead to anger – that's how anger can express itself. If you're afraid of something. So here we have a worried walrus. Oh, and maybe you've been really sleepy and you end up getting really cranky. Well, sometimes sleepiness and being tired can make you angry. So I have a little sleepy shrimp. And below that I have a little sad seal. Sadness definitely makes you upset sometimes. And, oh – a shark. This is gonna be a hungry shark. I know that when I'm hungry, I get angry. I get hangry! And sometimes you're hungry for more than food, and that's what's making you upset. Maybe you're hungry for someone to listen to you. Or hungry to be heard. Or hungry for justice! So here we have our iceberg of emotions.
CR: So, yeah, worry, fear. All these things exist right below our anger. And I wanted to help kids process that.
[9:37] AMB: Well, I think something great about your show is that you do talk directly to kids in a way that they can relate to. And I think that makes art seem accessible. You know, like maybe I can be an artist – kind of demystifies being an artist. Was that something that was important to you, like breaking down a barrier?
CR: Oh, yeah – absolutely. I think all children are innately creative. And we all start off, you know, with a box of crayons or whatever – a pencil, pen or whatever you have available to you, just sort of creating and making things and experimenting and being curious. What happens when I put this color with that color, and what happens if I try to make this shape? But I think, of course, we all lose that along the way because maybe it's not encouraged in us. Maybe we don't feel we're as good as that other person. But I try to make sure that I'm bringing it back around to not being so attached to – is it the best? Or – am I better than someone else? Or am I getting all this positive feedback from it? It really is just this thing that – should just be kind of coming from a place of just fun and curiosity and just doing it because it makes you happy, recognizing that mistakes are just a part of the game. Yeah.
[10:54] AMB: Yeah, I feel like what you're doing in your episode is really like art therapy for kids, because they are – over the last couple of months, like so many emotions for all of us, but for kids. And I think that they have a hard time sort of knowing what to do with them – with the emotions. So I really feel like you're providing art therapy for them, as a way to kind of do something with their feelings and frustrations and an inability to kind of articulate them.
CR: Yeah, it's interesting. I, like everyone else, struggle with finding that courage to believe in myself and affirm my own self. And I even like the idea of creating Making Space, you know, I thought to myself – who am I to hold this space and do this thing? I'm not a child psychologist or even a parent, really. But I communicate with kids for a living, through pictures, and through words, and I know firsthand the power of creativity and how it can heal. And so I felt like, you know, I've been given something. So I just wanted to give back, and offer what I could.
[12:04] AMB: Coming up, Christian tells us about a time when art changed his life as a kid. And, how your children can use art to tell their own stories in challenging times. Stay with us.
AMB: And we're back, with author and illustrator Christian Robinson. During the pandemic, Christian is doing a show called Making Space as a way to help kids process emotions through art. Christian says that drawing and creativity helped him get through difficult times when he was a kid.
[13:17] CR: Growing up, I kind of lived in a busy, chaotic household. I was raised by my grandmother. She was my caretaker, but she not only took care of me, she was raising my older brother, two cousins of mine and my aunt. And we all lived in this really teeny tiny one bedroom in L.A. And art and creativity was the one space that I had for myself. I had some say over what happened on that piece of paper. For sure, drawing helped me process the world around me, have some say in what the world could look like. And it gave me some sense of control and power.
AMB: And what kind of stuff did you like to draw when you were a kid?
CR: I basically just copied and mimicked all the things that I loved. I grew up on Disney movies. So, I was drawing Aladdin or I was drawing The Lion King. Or if I watched Jurassic Park, I would draw a dinosaur. So, yeah, it's definitely a lot of this copying and mimicking and I think that's important.
[14:20] CR: I oftentimes get out and times get asked by parents, you know – what can I do to encourage my child to stay creative and keep making things and let them know that there is maybe a potential career out of this. And I'd say – oh, goodness gracious, don't put all that on a child just yet. Just have fun. Just let them do their thing. Let them know that you love what they're doing. Maybe offer different materials if they want to work with them. But really, just kind of step back and let them do this thing that they're gravitating towards, you know? Because it shouldn't necessarily be about being motivated by that validation. It really should just be this thing that they do just for fun. One of my favorite quotes is, actually, from an artist that I respect and admire – Miles Davis, a famous trumpet player. He said something like – it took me a lifetime to learn how to play like myself. And I think that's so cool. Because that's where creativity sort of comes from. Like I think a large extent of what we do is just kind of copying and absorbing the world around us, and interpreting it in our own way. But it can take a lifetime before you really find your own voice and find that thing that is, you know, most you, that you want to say.
AMB: You went to art school. You studied animation. You worked at Pixar for a while. Can you talk about what you did there?
[15:48] CR: Yeah. So right after I graduated, I was able to work with Pixar. Actually, they were my first ever book job. My first ever book illustration job was through Pixar. There's a book out there in the world. It's called Beware of Doug. And Doug is the dog from the movie Up. And I got to do a little 10x10” book with that character in it. It's called Beware of Doug. Yeah. But Pixar let me go. And that's okay. I always like to let young people know, you know, things don't always work out the way you planned or you hoped. But, obviously it was really devastating at the time because I thought – oh, my God, this is the dream job. What am I gonna do? But, it gave me that time and space to realize or ask myself, what is it that I really want to do? And I kind of just kept drawing and making things and sharing what I was making. I always tell young people to make stuff if you want to, but share what you're making also. So I had a blog where I used to just kind of keep an online journal of little projects and I was making for myself just for fun. And then one day I got an email from a guy who's an agent of children's books, and he asked me if I wanna make kids' books for a living. And I said, yes, please.
[16:58] AMB: One of Christian's most popular books, Last Stop on Market Street, which won a Newbery Award, came about in a similar way.
CR: Last stop on Market Street is – it's a book about gratitude. It's about this boy named C.J. And he and his grandmother are basically going on a journey on a bus ride. C.J. is kind of noticing the world around him, and mostly complaining about things – things that he wishes that he had. He wishes he had a car, wishes he had like, you know, headphones or something cool. But his grandmother is always kind of reminding him of the things that he already has.
[17:37] AMB: The book was inspired by an illustration that Christian made, of himself as a kid with his grandmother. The writer Matt De La Pena saw the drawing, and built the story around it. On the book cover, there's a boy holding his grandma's hand, about to board a bus.
CR: And it's really close to my heart because, yeah, I was raised by my grandmother. We rode the bus everywhere in L.A.
AMB: Christian wants to encourage kids to make art about whatever they're going through right now. So they can draw a self portrait, and who knows? It might inspire a book.
AMB: Now, you also have a new book that was just released earlier this month. And you wrote it and did the illustrations. Can you tell us a little bit about that book – You Matter?
[18:20] CR: Yeah. So, You Matter is a book that kind of came out of a question. I asked myself, you know, what is it that I most want to say to young readers – to anyone who picks up this book? And the answer was, You Matter. It's also a result of recognizing that, you know, not everyone is – receives that message. Not everyone is told they matter. And as we're seeing in our world right now, not everyone is even treated as if they or their life matters. I wanted to not only say it, but I learned to show it, through pictures and by using the things that inspire me, which are nature and science and history. So it's kind of like the story that follows the history of our world. And it kind of – each thing kind of has a voice, like a little microscopic organisms that maybe feel too small to be seen, which maybe kids know what that feels like, to feel too small. I think what I wanted to say in this book was – you matter – not for the reasons that you might necessarily think. You don't matter just because of how big or important you are. You don't matter because of how great your grades are or how many trophies you won. You matter simply because you exist – just because you're here. And I wanted to put that into a book.
AMB: You said you like to show all sorts of environments in your work. Even some grittier scenes in your illustrations – not all streets lined with trees. I was wondering if you could talk about why that's important to you.
[19:55] CR: I think it's important for children to see their experience in books. I think that's the thing that's going to make any of us feel seen or like our story matters. You know, not every child lives in a tree-lined street or with picket fences and – or has their own bedroom and their own bed, or has a family that looks a certain way.
AMB: Christian hopes that children of all backgrounds see their experiences as worthy of being in books. He really feels that way about his next book, which comes out sometime next year.
CR: This book is probably the most personal book I've worked on. It's titled Milo Imagines the World. It is a – it's my third collaboration with author Matt de la Pena. And it deals with a boy named Milo who is on a subway ride with his big sister. And they're headed to meet their mother, who is actually in prison. She's incarcerated. And I think this is an important story to tell, now especially, because in our country, we have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. And there are many families who are going through this experience.
AMB: That's an experience that you had as well.
[21:16] CR: Yeah. My mother was incarcerated for most of my childhood. And it's one of those things that, yeah, as a child, you feel a certain amount of shame and embarrassment over. And I wish I had something out there to help me process it. And I'm excited for this book to be out in the world.
[music]
AMB: Author and illustrator, Christian Robinson. You can find his show Making Space on Instagram or YouTube. And we've got a link to it in the show notes for this episode. Don't mind me, I'll just be here continuing to make those angry icebergs Christian taught us how to make.
AMB: Let us know what you think about Making Space, and Parent Trapped for that matter! Write to us at parenttrapped at common sense dot org. Oh, and this week's screams came from the lovely Thompson family from Havertown, PA.
This episode was produced by me, Ann Marie Baldonado, with Dennis Funk. Our editor is Hillary Frank. We got production help from Natalie Price.
Our engineer is Pete Karam, and our theme song was composed by Casey Holford. We get editorial support from Andrea Silenzi, Fred Graver, Kyra Reppen, and Jill Murphy and Ellen Pack.
Common Sense Media is a national nonprofit that rates media based on children's developmental guidelines. To learn more visit commonsensemedia dot org where you'll find age-based ratings and reviews that are written by experts and trusted by families everywhere.
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