Life With a Toddler

A Comic for Father's Day

This comic was first published for Father’s Day a decade ago, when I was a first-time parent of a toddler and my daughter was trying out new words and ways of breaking household objects. Since then I’ve gained years of experience in the antics of toddlers—though not much more patience for them.

My youngest son is now three. He still has the toddler characteristics of exploration, destruction, and cuteness. But I know he’ll soon be past this stage and onto the next one.

What comes next? The Formidable Fours. The Frustrating Fives. The Why-Can’t-You-Put-Your-Shoes-On-Already-So-We-Can-Leave-The-House-Sixes.

And then, mercifully, age seven. Age seven is what many consider “The Age of Reason”—when a child can distinguish right from wrong, separate fantasy from reality, and show flashes of what they might be like as a mature, independent adult.

Unfortunately, this hard-won reason becomes useless again when one becomes a parent of a toddler. Life with a toddler is surreal, absurd, and nonsensical. The only reasonable response to this nonsense is to join in.

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Join me the rest of the summer as I share work from 15 years of creating Incidental Comics.

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