A parent-teacher conference took a wild turn for one mom in California, after she came across the self-portrait her son had drawn in class.
Christine, from Los Angeles, was there to get an update on how her son Michael, aged 7, was getting on at school. However, she also ended up getting an unusual insight into her son’s creativity and, perhaps, his frame of mind.
“It was my son’s parent conference and I was sitting there [waiting],” Christine, who only gave her first name, told Newsweek. “I hadn’t seen his drawing yet but I had seen other kids and I was thinking OMG where’s Michael’s?” because I already knew he had probably done something crazy.”
While parent-teacher conferences are an essential part of school life and the most effective way for a teacher to communicate a child’s educational progress and any potential obstacles to learning, it can have a mixed effect on the two parties involved.
A 2025 study published in the International Journal of Educational Research Open found that while one hour of communication with parents helped increase teacher self-efficacy, it also heightened parent-related stress.
Christine didn’t come away from Michael’s parent-teacher conference stressed though. That portion of the evening went fine. But she did come away asking questions after seeing the portrait he had drawn of himself. Christine had been expecting something wild. “Sure enough when I saw it, it was completely what I expected,” she said. “He loves drawing scary stuff.”
Alarmed and amused in almost equal measure, Chrstine decided to share a video of Michael’s portrait to her TikTok @chriss_nicolee, comparing it to the other, more ordinary efforts of his classmates.
Writing alongside the clip, Christine’s question was simple: “Should we be concerned?”
Posted alongside the video, purely in jest, the clip ended up having quite an impact. At the time of writing it has been watched over 280,000 times on TikTok, with viewers flooding to the comments section on the video to have their say on Michael’s artwork.
Some shared similar experiences. One user wrote: “I swear this is something my son would do because he hated being told what art to create, so he just always wanted to be ‘shocking’ and get a reaction.” Another said: “My daughter drew Pennywise and his balloon. She said she didn’t know how to draw herself.”
Others expressed moderate concern for Michael. “I know it’s meant as a joke, but it would cause me to pay a bit more attention to make sure it’s an artistic choice and not tied to something deeper.”
But the replies, for the most part, were full of praise for his inventive, if a little scary, efforts. “He’s the coolest kid in class,” one fan declared with another writing: “That’s a true artist right there.”
It certainly made for an interesting parent-teacher conference, and Christine will be keeping a closer eye on Michael’s artwork from now on.
