Times of political crisis take a toll on human minds and, especially, mental health. During and after the global pandemic, young people in particular experienced impaired well-being and various mental health issues. Even before the pandemic, eco-related anxieties were affecting young people, adding to their mental load and raising questions about how to support their capacity to act.

However, little research addresses young people's views on themselves in their everyday lives in such an open way that their own perspectives and perceived obstacles are revealed, rather than framing problems and challenges from an adult standpoint. Consequently, our understanding of how they currently view their lives and how the multiple crises are reflected in this view is limited.

In our study with children’s drawings, we asked primary school children in Northern Germany in 2025 to create drawings in response to the prompt “This is my life”.

Using reconstructive picture analysis, we aim to reconstruct the inherent socio-cultural narratives and power relations that children draw on when creating their drawings, including prevailing discourses on childhood and the Western self. On an explicit level, little in the drawings recalls the dark times in which they were created. On an implicit level, however, it is precisely the omission of problems and challenges that raises questions, which we will discuss to explore potential avenues for supporting children’s well-being and agency.