Hey, it's me, Mr. J, and welcome to today's drawing challenge. Do you have a couple minutes? Because today's challenge is draw a friendly mountain. So grab something to draw on and something to draw with, and let's do this.

(Describer) A title is handwritten on a white background: Drawing with Mr. J. A drawing of Mr. J, a smiling man with glasses, sways back and forth.

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So, a mountain. It could be a pointy mountain or a rounded mountain or a flat-topped mountain. I wonder what kind of mountain you'll do. I'm gonna do just kind of a rounded mountain. So I'm gonna go up and down. And maybe I'll make mine snow-covered. So I'll put a little snow up here at the top. And have you ever seen a mountain with arms? Well, my friendly mountain is gonna have some arms.

(Describer) He draws.

There he is, just waving. Looks pretty friendly so far. Now, you could add trees, skiers. You could draw little mountain goats. What kind of details do you think we should add? I'm gonna add a couple trees, just a couple little trees here on the mountain. Ha ha. Yeah.

(Describer) He draws five tiny trees on the side of the mountain.

Now, that's a pretty good mountain, but maybe we need a face for our mountain. I'm gonna add on a little face. Yeah, a pretty friendly mountain.

(Describer) With animated Mr. J.

So, let's check in. My mountain has a smile and a happy expression at the very top. You might see its face and think, "I want to spend time with that mountain" or "I want to be its friend." But it is also important that we realize there may be a lot more going on below the snow-covered peak. Underneath that smile, there might be some difficult emotions going on.

(Describer) With Mr. J.

You know, it's ok if our friendly mountain doesn't feel like smiling all the time. That doesn't make it any less friendly. There was a moment recently in my life when I had a big smiley face but was so very sad inside. A friend of mine passed away, and I was so very, very sad. It felt like my whole body was heavy with sadness. This feeling has a special name. It's called grief. Grief is when you lose someone or something that you love. And the sadness doesn't just go away because you want it to. There were moments when I would cry or just want to lay on the couch, and it was hard to talk about how I was feeling. It felt scary because I wasn't sure what to do with my feelings, and I just wanted to be happy, like a smiley, friendly mountain. Has this ever happened to you? Though it may seem scary, experiencing grief is natural and a part of loving other people. And it is always important that you share how you're feeling with a parent or trusted adult. It is especially necessary when we lose someone in our lives. Talking about someone you miss doesn't mean you have to forget them or move on. But it is an opportunity to remember and hold onto great memories. It may be hard to start a conversation, but using a drawing is a great place to start. You might even want to spend time drawing out some of your favorite memories together, the ones you want to remember and want to hold onto. Well, here's my mountain.

(Describer) He holds up his drawing and points to it.

Thanks for joining me for this important discussion and as we drew a friendly mountain. I look forward to seeing you next time for another drawing challenge.

(Describer) Titles. Host and Education Specialist, Jon Juravich. WOSU Public Media, original production. Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.

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Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.