Natasha was born and raised Brazilian, but for the past 10 years, she has been living in the Netherlands. Her husband is Dutch-Iranian, so they form quite the international household. The family live in a small town in the east of the country and have 2 daughters: Madeline, 3.5, and Livia, 1.5—the parents chose these names because they wanted something that sounded good both in Dutch and in Portuguese.
"During the maternity leave after having my second daughter, I was home for months, only busy with the kids. It was great to have this time for them, but I felt such an urge to do something creative," Natasha told Bored Panda about the origins of her comics. "When I would come across funny situations with the kids, I would write them down and sometimes share them with my friends, and we would laugh about them. One day, I decided to start illustrating them, and out of the blue, I made an Instagram account. I shared the first illustration about a year ago. I just wanted to share [the strips] with my friends and never expected it would grow so much!" Now, over 15,000 people follow Natasha, waiting for her new comics.
The mom said her drawing style is very much a reflection of her outlook on life. "Taking care of small children is very demanding, so I try to illustrate the situations we deal with every day in a funny way. Making these illustrations helped me to get through stressful moments and now I am happy that sharing them is helping other parents too—hearing from followers that my illustrations are relatable is very rewarding. I avoid the 'complaining mom tone' often seen on Instagram and try to show things as something we should laugh about and not take too seriously."
That being said, Natasha acknowledged that parenting is extremely challenging. "My husband and I often ask ourselves if we are doing it right, and what reasons are we giving our kids to complain about us when they become adults. But being anxious about it does not make us better parents. We research a little, read a little, but carry on parenting in our own way, which can be summarized as a balance between being gentle and empathic and setting the children clear boundaries," she explained, adding that she and her husband both work part-time and spend a lot of time with the kids. "We have the right by law to work part-time in order to see them more, and it's amazing."
Almost all of Natasha's illustrations are based on her experiences. "I draw mostly myself and my daughters [and] the ideas for these illustrations come to me all the time. ... I realize that the illustrations are solely based on my life and my perspective, and therefore too biased. I would like to make them more inclusive, adding others' ideas and points of view too. I just need to find a way of working. The first concrete step will be illustrations featuring a dad and the kids—my husband and I share the household and childcare equally, it should not seem otherwise."
Everyone is different, Natasha said, and raises their kids in whatever way they see right, and that's perfectly fine.
