Ask Jackson: What do I do when they laugh?

ASK JACKSON is a new art advice column run by my best friend's dog (that's him, peering at you at the top of the page). Besides being good at eating pine cones, Jackson is also great at answering kids' questions about art. I (Betsy) might also kind of help him sometimes since he has a hard time with the keyboard. You can send your own Ask Jackson questions to: mail@betsystreeter.com. Here we go!

QUESTION: The other day, I drew a picture at school and a couple other kids looked at it and laughed. It made me feel really bad. What should I do?

JACKSON: There are lots of reasons people laugh, and they are not all bad. But it can feel bad if you think someone is laughing AT you. First of all, when people see something that makes them feel good, they might laugh. This is good. You made them feel happy. Often grownups will do this when you show them art. They are not laughing at you, so don't take it that way.
On the other hand, sometimes other kids laugh in a mean way. This is because they are not as brave as you are, putting your ideas out there on paper like you did. These people would probably be mean no matter what you were doing, and are not worth bothering with. If they are a good friend, you can say, "Hey, that hurts my feelings. I didn't mean for this to be funny." If they are a real friend, they will listen to you and apologize. If they are not, they should go fall on their head on the playground and leave you alone so you can draw.