For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 12, 2015

Oh, what an inconvenient timing.

Neither of my parents would have tolerated smart mouthing like that from any of us…

Why that little…lol!

Michael, you are about ready to end up in your room because of your impertinence… ;)

It’s hard to say no to both Mom and Mom’s cooking. Even if I said no, thanks to my mom, she’d get upset unless I ate. A difficult situation…

Michael has been around John way, way too much. Plus, he should learn that things adults ‘get away with’ saying to other adults shouldn’t be uttered by people under the age of 21 1 ! ! !

John has been known to be a Bulk Male at times.

noted. :) Peace.

Snark by a kid is soo,em,er..funny here. :) Peace.

Hmm. Not nice. I would not be very pleased about my kid saying something so rude to anyone, let alone his mother. This is one of the few FBoW panels that I dislike Michael.

I doubt if many kids Michael’s age would get a joke like that let alone lob it back to his mother…..and live to tell it.

Like father, like son. Hence Elly’s “rages”.

I am well aware some have only read these “new-runs” and not the original, so I tend to avoid story spoilers. However, there was one where Michael was despicable. (Fans probably know which one). If the ship was to go down, Michael would not care if everybody else went down with it. In that story arc where there was a potentially fatal danger to the family, Michael’s only concern was for Michael.

If I had said that to my mom, my dad would have been very angry with me. In fact, the ONLY time he spanked me (and not hard) was when I was “sassy” to her. Taught me a lesson, believe me! It took only a look from him to straighten me up. Now parents do a lot of threatening, which in time becomes useless, or hitting (ditto).

It has NEVER been OK to be “mean” to a child. Just because you do not agree with corporal punishment, it does not automatically become child abuse. A well timed swat on a padded behind does more to deter a small child’s (sometimes dangerous) misbehavior than any “talking to” or time out. There is a HUGE difference between abuse and such a swat. Once the child is old enough to understand why restrictions on behavior are necessary, then they are ready for reasoning and time out.

Mike better quit while he’s ahead!

My parents used the “good cop/bad cop” method of child-rearing. Mom was the voice of reason and when that didn’t work, Dad was the voice of discipline. I got swatted a few times (slipper or doubled-up belt the preferred tool), but I always had it coming. “Timeouts” don’t always work.

Mom and Dad had zero use for trying to be my pal because they were trying to teach me that there are limits and I appreciate that…now.