#but dang I want to treat Camila to coffee she could use it

[stories-and-chaos]

Okay I just got into The Owl House and I have a shit ton of thoughts and feelings but right now I wanna talk about Camila. Because I get where she’s coming from.

You know you’re old when you start relating to the parents in cartoons. It’s weeeeeeeeird. I’m not about to say Camila did nothing wrong because she has, but she’s a good parent trying her best imo.

My kiddo is neurodivergent. He’s a smart, sweet six year old on the autism spectrum. I love that he loves monster trucks and marbles and hot wheels cars. He’ll tell everyone about time trial races on his marble run and his favorite version of the GraveDigger truck. Did you ask for that information? Doesn’t matter he’ll tell you. At toddler groups he was in his own world, he had a plan for how playtime was gonna go and he was going to stick to it. I could do a huge post about what we’ve done to help our son but the point is, we knew he needed help to learn how to deal with other kids. We got him that help, from specialists in programs for people like him. He’s in first grade and while things aren’t perfect, he’s got the foundation for coping and interaction with others.

Back to The Owl House. We know Luz marches to her own drum. “Luz has always done things differently,” Camila says. Whether Luz is on the spectrum or not (I’d say she is) she definitely has a learning curve to interacting with her peers. She likely would have benefited from similar social therapy programs when she was young. But with Manny’s illness and death, sadly that probably wasn’t a priority for the Nocedas. And to go out on a speculative limb, if Camila had similar experiences as a child, she may not have realized therapy could have been helpful for Luz. She didn’t have specialists teaching her how to cope and navigate the neurotypical world after all, why would her kid need that?

Until said kid is a teen struggling with high school. And Camila is a single parent who’s still grieving and seeing her baby start to have problems just like she dealt with. She loves Luz and her quirks but she knows most kids don’t use sausage links as theater props. But she doesn’t know how to help her daughter. Camila will call people out on people badmouthing her girl obviously. But how to stop the badmouthing in the first place?

Camila doesn’t know that. She can’t teach her daughter to be “normal” because Camila isn’t “normal.” But here’s someone from the school system (presumably someone with more experience of kids like Luz) offering a solution. A whole group of people experienced in helping similar kids be “normal.” Who better to make sure Luz has an easier time at school than her mom did?

Now, summer camp is not cheap. Average overnight camp cost this year was around $450 PER DAY. And that’s for a “cabin life with activities” sort of camp. A specialty (or behavioral) camp could be more. But it’s worth the cost, right? Maybe. A reputable camp with professionals could very well have helped Luz figure out the tools she needs to deal with neurotypicals. A less reputable one focused on churning out results to justify taking all that money from desperate parents, not so much. Either way, fees have already been paid, non refundable, parent testimonials and staff say this place works, so the kid is gonna go.

Well, a kid goes. Vee attends, makes friends, learns how to act human, comes home. Camila likely sees Luz acting like a mature teenager. She’s not using escapism to cope with her dad’s death anymore. Her interests have changed but kids grow out of things all the time. Her daughter seems collected, stable, and ready to fit in at school. Camila is likely grateful that camp helped and Luz won’t have the same sort of hard time she did now. It was a tough, expensive decision and with life going smoothly she’s not going to question the results. Even in “Yesterday’s Lie” Camila goes along with the “game,” happy that Luz has a productive, social outlet for her creativity.

Except it’s not a game and now Camila knows she messed up. She didn’t realize “Luz’s” change in behavior was her being an entirely different person. Not only is her only child trapped in a different plane of existence, she had the opportunity to come home and chose not to. Having my kid prefer my partner’s company over mine the first time was hard enough. Finding out Luz chose to stay in the Demon Realm probably felt like she was being eviscerated. Another limb on my speculation tree here, but it looks like Camila doesn’t have much of a support system herself. Obviously there’s her staff at the vet clinic but they’re employees. No mention of friends or family nearby. Just Manny and Luz. But her husband’s gone. Of course she’d beg Luz to come back and stay.

When Luz does get back (+4) Camila is determined to be a better parent. She messed up before and thought she probably lost Luz forever. She’s going to get it right this time, from figuring out how to feed otherworldly adolescents to learning everything she can about LGBTQIA youth. She’ll even fight demons with her chancla and bat to bring her daughter’s friends home, like she’s escorting them back after a weekend trip. Mama needs a cocktail, a geeky book club, and some parent friends and I really hope she gets some of that in the Boiling Isles.