SpazGirl Wisconsin

The park is overtaken by a cloud representing June’s anxiety over her mom being sick and going away. June is forced to face adult responsibilities and is concerned her remaining parent dad will not be able to function without her. That’s fine. What bothers me is she repeats the cloud destroying her childhood is her fault. She says she created the cloud. She has to stop it. But is that how we message mental health? That a depressed person can just turn off the depression? That an anxious person can just stop worrying? What message does that send to kids who can’t turn off their minds? They should be told it’s ok to ask for help. It’s okay to not know what to do. Not to just buck it up and fix it. There’s even a main character (piece of June’s mind) who retreats and hides amongst stacks of candy. He feels he has to sort the candy and it’s safer inside than outside. Those deep anxieties are not something we should tell kids they just need to fix. I think it sends the wrong message. Thankfully I turned it into a teaching moment for my nine year old that we can talk about these things and it’s ok to ask for help (unlike the main character)