Brent Almond wanted to make his son’s first-ever school lunches special, so he enlisted the help of a few super-friends…
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Any new parent can tell you that sending your kid off to school for the first time can be a really hard thing to do. You don’t want to be the helicopter parent, never allowing your kids to have their own lives, but, at the same time, as they venture out into the world alone, you want them to know that you’ll always be there for them. Facing this dilemma, Brent Almond, creator of the fantastic parenting blog Designer Daddy, came up with a novel solution. When his superhero-loving son started preschool last year, Brent sent him off to school with some of the coolest lunchbox notes we’ve ever seen, forever cementing Brent’s role as the Alfred to his son’s Batman.
Rather than scrawling “Love you” on a hastily ripped-off sheet of paper towel (like so many of us do), Brent, a graphic designer by trade, creates a miniature work of comic book art for his son’s lunchbox every morning. Each “Super Lunch Note” features a smiling hero or villain (and normally some solid superhero puns) happily encouraging Brent’s son to have a great day at school and reminding him that his family loves him. When outlining the origins of his Super Lunch Notes on his blog, Brent commented that, “I’m never going to be my son’s sports idol. I don’t have vast carpentry or mechanical or bronco-busting skills to pass down to him. What I have is my love of superheroes and my talent for doodling. This is my way to instill in him a love of those things, and to keep being his superhero for as long as possible. Or until all my Sharpies run out.”
It’s an amazing project and Brent’s lunch notes are beyond charming. Every week, Brent updates his gallery of new notes on his blog Designer Daddy and you can check out the full collection of notes on his Instagram account, Super Lunch Notes. There are over 120 notes so far and they definitely deserve their own gallery in the Geek Dad Hall of Fame. Here are some of our favorites:
Brent’s drawings make me wish I could draw more than stick figures for my kids. Or circles.
Yes, I’m jealous.