talking-to-children
Original: talking-to-children on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
A young girl stands beside a stack of blocks. A woman (her mother) speaks to her.
Mother: Good job!
A second woman (a grandmother figure) reacts sharply.
Grandmother: No! You're not supposed to say that!
Panel 2:
Grandmother: Now she'll feel she needs your approval for all actions! She won't self-motivate!
Panel 3:
Mother (to the girl, backpedaling): Oh. I mean, uh... Wow, you're so smart... NO!
Panel 4 (the grandmother, close-up):
Grandmother: If you say she's smart, she'll think intelligence is intrinsic instead of seeking self-improvement.
Panel 5:
Grandmother: Come on! You have to say something! She'll perceive your silence as indifference!
Panel 6:
The mother, overwhelmed, addresses the girl in a flat, exhausted monotone.
Mother: Goon...
Panel 7:
The mother reads from a document to the girl.
Mother: This document shall govern the implications of the following statement which shall only be construed as a response to the construction of a block castle between the hours of 9 and 10am today.
Girl: It's nice.
Votey:
A woman's face in profile, looking weary.
Woman (thought/speech): I wonder how parents used to manage.
A young girl stands beside a stack of blocks. A woman (her mother) speaks to her.
Mother: Good job!
A second woman (a grandmother figure) reacts sharply.
Grandmother: No! You're not supposed to say that!
Panel 2:
Grandmother: Now she'll feel she needs your approval for all actions! She won't self-motivate!
Panel 3:
Mother (to the girl, backpedaling): Oh. I mean, uh... Wow, you're so smart... NO!
Panel 4 (the grandmother, close-up):
Grandmother: If you say she's smart, she'll think intelligence is intrinsic instead of seeking self-improvement.
Panel 5:
Grandmother: Come on! You have to say something! She'll perceive your silence as indifference!
Panel 6:
The mother, overwhelmed, addresses the girl in a flat, exhausted monotone.
Mother: Goon...
Panel 7:
The mother reads from a document to the girl.
Mother: This document shall govern the implications of the following statement which shall only be construed as a response to the construction of a block castle between the hours of 9 and 10am today.
Girl: It's nice.
Votey:
A woman's face in profile, looking weary.
Woman (thought/speech): I wonder how parents used to manage.
Alt text
A seven-panel SMBC comic about overthinking parenting praise. A young girl builds a stack of blocks. Her mother says 'Good job!' but the grandmother snaps, 'No! You're not supposed to say that! Now she'll feel she needs your approval for all actions! She won't self-motivate!' The mother fumbles a correction: 'Oh, I mean, uh... Wow, you're so smart... NO!' The grandmother keeps piling on rules: 'If you say she's smart, she'll think intelligence is intrinsic instead of seeking self-improvement,' then 'Come on! You have to say something! She'll perceive your silence as indifference!' Overwhelmed, the mother flatly says 'Goon...' and finally reads a bureaucratic legal document aloud: 'This document shall govern the implications of the following statement which shall only be construed as a response to the construction of a block castle between the hours of 9 and 10am today.' The girl simply replies, 'It's nice.' Votey: a weary woman's face in profile thinks, 'I wonder how parents used to manage.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.