Parenting, by the Books
Explanation
The Joke
Two parents sit in increasingly anxious internal monologue panels. One worries: "If I don't feed her the right foods, she won't be a well-adjusted adult." The other frets: "If I don't read her the right books, she'll be an emotionally hollow adult." They continue: "If I don't sing her the right songs, she'll be a stressed adult" and "If I don't play her the right media, she'll be a depressed adult." Their child then asks: "Why are your parents miserable all the time?" and another child responds: "Oh, I think that's just what it's like when you grow up."
The Humor
The comic satirizes the anxiety of modern "optimization parenting" -- the belief that every single choice a parent makes (food, books, songs, media) will have enormous, irreversible consequences on a child's development. The parents are so consumed by the pressure to do everything perfectly that they have become visibly miserable, which is deeply ironic: their obsessive attempt to raise well-adjusted children is itself creating an environment of stress and anxiety that the children will absorb. The final panel delivers the punchline through the child's innocent observation -- the kids assume that being miserable is simply an inherent part of adulthood, not recognizing that their parents' specific brand of misery is self-inflicted through parenting anxiety. The comic suggests that the quest for perfect parenting is self-defeating.