Seven Children Draw Their Perfect Day

A version of this article originally appeared on VICE Mexico. Leer en Español.

Some people spend a significant portion of their time imagining what would need to happen in order for everything to make more sense and let them enjoy life more. Sometimes, we devote so much energy to these possible scenarios that we allow real life to pass us by, which means we inevitably miss the little episodes that—when we add them up—could give us the fulfillment we so desire. It can be that, as we get older, we lose sight of our blessings and the positive things in the world, and focus instead on the slightest negative stimuli we encounter.

All adult existential crises aside, kids complain about things too—it’s just that our threshold for problems was lower back then. Our concerns rarely extended into the following day: not embarrassing ourselves in tomorrow’s gym class, our chores at home, broken toys, peers who cheated at games, and scraped knees.

But what did we want back when we were kids? To jog our collective memory and see if our desires were similar to those of today’s kids, VICE Mexico asked seven children to illustrate their perfect day.

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Emilia, 8 years old

Emilia’s ideal day is filled with water, birds, sun, a garden, several cacti, and lots of trees. She’d love to have a room near a stream, with a vegetable garden and a library.

Elena, 7 years old

A perfect day for Elena is one where she’s surrounded by dogs, balls to play with them, and plenty of time outdoors with lots of sunshine.

Fabián, 8 years old

Fabián’s perfect day starts at Jurassic World and can be further customized with stones, wood, and other materials from Minecraft, the video game that incidentally allows players to design their own world.

Jorge, 9 years old

On Jorge’s perfect day (which extends to the rest of the world, apparently), there’s better education and more advanced technology in apps, phones, and entertainment. Public transportation is also faster. In short, Mexico as a whole is better.

Valentina, 12 years old

Valentina’s perfect day is one where dogs are well-loved, there are no wars, her family is united, there’s a rainbow, and there’s no problems with the US-Mexico border.

Rafael, 5 years old

For Rafa, the perfect day—no, the perfect life—is one where he’s at the beach. He wants to live by the ocean, go surfing everyday, befriend sharks, and play in the waves.

Roberto, 9 years old

Roberto’s ideal day is Friday because that’s when he gets to see his dad. The two spend the entire day together, which includes playing tennis.

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