Dad creates wholesome comics to teach kids empathy, kindness, and love

Father-of-two, Chris Grady, has been turning his experiences as a dad into heartwarming comics for the past six years. What started as a way to combat anxiety and depression by focusing on life-affirming aspects of everyday life, has since grown into a huge social media success with over 657k followers on Instagram alone. While his artworks often reflect a humorous take on classic parenting struggles like noisy toys and toddler tantrums, for someone going through Grady's Lunarbaboon project for the first time, the main takeaway will undoubtedly be his earnest messages about tolerance, empathy, and striving to be a force of good.

"I needed a positive place to focus all my thoughts and found that when I was making comics I felt a little bit better," Grady — an elementary school teacher in Toronto — told HuffPost. "After posting the comics on social media for a few months, I began getting messages from many people about how they connected to the comics and it gave them hope and strength as they went through their own dark times. I think it is impossible not to be influenced by the world around you. There is a lot of bad things happening in the world, but there is also a lot of good. I try to find the good or humorous in the difficult things that happen to us every day."

"The comic is my outlet and the place I go to express how I am feeling," Grady told Bored Panda. "It’s not really a cure for anxiety and depression. There is none that I know of at this point in time, but it definitely helps channel some of that energy. Instead of letting my mind cycle over and over on negative thoughts I try and let it cycle on comic ideas." The artist admitted that a lot of the inspiration for his comics comes from his family members. "I am very lucky to be married to a very smart, strong, opinionated person who is constantly fighting against injustice," he explained. "A lot of what she and I talk about on a daily basis makes it into the comics."

Grady revealed that — as a father and educator — he strives to mold young minds into caring, thoughtful members of their communities. "I want both my kids and my students to grow up to be good people," he explained. "Kids are always watching adults, and they look to the adults as role models. I try to show them that even with all my flaws and weaknesses, I am still a good person, and I can still make a positive change in the world."

"Nobody is powerless in this world, as humans we have the ability to change another person’s day by what we put out," Grady added, noting that this mindset sometimes reflects in his comics. "Although we don’t have complete control over our thoughts and emotions as we go through life, we do have control over our actions. So do good things with your life." Speaking of developing his comics, Grady shared that the best ideas are often the ones that connect to something more universal. "Usually, I try to simplify something that happens to me by elongating language and try to tell it with as few words as possible. If I can do that and it makes sense then usually it will make for a good comic," he said.

"I have a bunch of comics that deal with the isolation we are all feeling, but I try to make them less specific to the moment we are living in and more general to the feelings we are feeling in this moment," he stated. 

Here are some more of Grady's wholesome comics: