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Baton Rouge dad uses his graphic design talents in lunchbox messages to son


With just a small white napkin and a black permanent marker, Jonathan Palmisano furthers his bond with his 9-year-old son, Jacob.

Every day, Palmisano puts his artistic skills on display, drawing a fun cartoon or doodle on a napkin to put in his son’s lunchbox. He signs each with “Dad” next to a heart.

What started as a way to put a spin on his own mother’s daily lunchbox note has become a special tradition and a social media hit for the Baton Rouge graphic designer.

“My mom used to write me notes on Post-its and napkins, and they’d say, ‘Have a great day’ or ‘Good luck on your test,’ or just be smiley faces, and I thought it would be great to do that for my son,” Palmisano says.

He first began putting the doodles in Jacob’s lunchbox in 2011, when the boy was starting pre-K. At the time, Jacob was still learning to read, so instead of words, Palmisano started drawing characters his son liked on napkins.

Jacob’s beloved Batman was a staple, as was any character from a show the two might have watched together the night before. Soon, anything and everything that made his son laugh or feel joy, Palmisano was drawing on the napkins.

“It’s an unexpected way to continue a conversation with your kid,” Palmisano says. “It’s a reminder that I’m always thinking about him. I can’t call him in the middle of the day at school, but when he sees the doodle, it’s like, ‘Hey, don’t forget that your mom and dad think you’re awesome.’”

A couple years after those first doodles, friends who knew about them nagged Palmisano into posting a few on Facebook. Then more and more of his followers started clamoring to see them, so he made Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram pages dedicated to what he now calls “Lunchbox Doodles.”

Today, those social media pages get thousands of hits and followers, and Palmisano receives nonstop positive feedback and encouragement to keep posting doodles daily. He plans on continuing to draw the doodles and put them in his son’s lunchbox until Jacob deems it “not cool anymore.”

Photo courtesy Jonathan Palmisano
Image courtesy Jonathan Palmisano

Palmisano says that as an artist and graphic designer, he gets an outlet through the doodles to create art on a daily basis—which he acknowledges he might enjoy just a little too much.

“There have definitely been plenty that I’ve spent way too much time on,” Palmisano says with a laugh. “I get sucked into it and think it has to be just right.”

As Jacob has gotten older, the doodles have included messages to motivate him to do well in school and in life, wishing him good luck on a test or giving him confidence to be himself.

Palmisano’s favorites of the more sentimental doodles are the ones he drew during the week leading up to Thanksgiving vacation last year. He and Jacob had recently watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, so the next week, each napkin featured a Peanuts character and a reason to be thankful.

Of course, Jacob doesn’t actually use the napkins his dad puts in his lunchbox. He appreciates his father’s impressive artwork too much to sully them. Instead, he brings the napkins home every day, and his father stores them in little bags.

What makes Palmisano proudest is that through little things like the lunchbox doodles, he’s creating memories for himself and Jacob—and inspiring other parents to do the same.

“Some people say they can’t draw, so I say just write a note or draw a sloppy doodle; it doesn’t really matter,” Palmisano says. “What matters is that it’s from you to your child. I remember my mom doing the same for me, and though it isn’t something I’m consciously thinking of every day, I truly believe it shapes who you are.”

Palmisano envisions an adult Jacob opening a chest full of the doodles many years from now and looking through them, realizing that something as simple as a drawing on a napkin expressed how much his dad loves him.


Image courtesy Jonathan Palmisano
Image courtesy Jonathan Palmisano

Find Lunchbox Doodles online

Instagram:
@lunchboxdoodles

Tumblr:
lunchboxdoodles.tumblr.com

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