Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for September 06, 2016

The 1980s were a barbaric time; a kid in the car and no one called the police or children services.

No, he can’t, Mom. You know how hyperactive he is and how easily he gets bored!

They honk the horn to help mom find the car

Mom had to horn in on their fun, and Calvin may find himself on the horns of a dilemma.

Mom actually left Calvin (and Hobbes) ALONE in the car???

This is what happens when you leave children all alone. That… and many other things.

Sounds like they had a party bus in there.

“That’s o.k., mom, just wait until I (and Hobbes, of course) put the car into the ditch! That’ll be great fun!”

I used to “play drive” like this. Mom’s car was an automatic. She could never understand why every time she came back after a while the brakes were flooded. I’d been stepping on them, of course. Quite hard, just to see how far down the pedal would go.

The ‘Hobbes puts on the windshield wipers’ is for me one of the most hilarious moments in C&H history.

She left Calvin with the keys?! When my mom left us in the car, she took out the keys and left the windows open.

Now I remember a time where the sunroof was wide open and it started raining, but I couldn’t close it. That got me wet, for sure.

And we know in today’s nanny state, Calvin’s mother would be cited for child endangerment…..

We were always left alone in the car ‘back in the day’. Windows had crank handles and we would just roll them down if it got too hot. Car seats didn’t exist. We were instructed to close the windows and lock the doors if anyone came along acting creepy. But that never happened, not even once.

While there were many ills in the 50s and 60s, child endangerment wasn’t at the top of the list, especially in my small town. We had a motto, “It takes a village to rat on the neighbor’s kid”. We had a grand time, dawn til dusk, but later I realized that everyone knew everyone. We couldn’t get away with doing anything wrong, but we were also protected by this “surveillance” network.

Why do I feel that what Calvin describes is what he’s going to end up doing when he learns to drive?

I don’t think blaming a stuffed animal will help.

Our cars didn’t have seat belts or air bags. We rode bicycles and horses without helmets, we roller skated without protective gear, we went out to play in the morning, with a peanut butter sandwich in our pocket and didn’t come back until dinner time. It was safe to leave your doors unlocked and your windows down when you parked your car. You didn’t lock your house. Your yard was probably not fenced, and your pets ran loose. Yet we survived to be the grandparents of today’s helicopter parents and the great grandparents of their overprotected children.

The police ticket Calvin for speeding through a school zone; Hobbes giggles and doesn’t help pay the fine;

Calvin grumbles by having to pick up trash that ironically isn’t his.

Aw, fond memories - Nowadays, she would’ve had to take them into the store with her for what should be a 5 minutes grocery trip but will now be a 20 minutes haha.

A clutch? Mom drives a car with a manual transmission?

Who knew…

The first time I drove, out in the country of course, was sitting on my Dad’s lap, “steering” the car while he worked the gas and brake pedals…

I don’t understand Mom’s concern; after all, Calvin can drive a spaceship…

I grew up in 1950’s Brooklyn. I did the math: there were 600 kids playing in the street. First of all, it was too crowded to get in trouble. In a sense, we policed ourselves with the older kids looking out for the younger kids.

Secondly, someone’s mom always had her head out the front room window usually talking with the neighbor in the adjoining apartment. It was the urban equivalent of talking over the backyard fence. They knew all 600 kids and their moms’ telephone numbers.

Mom doesn’t stay home anymore: she works.

I thought the same. Probably the parking brake on full

It is never okay to leave a 6 year old alone in a car out in public.

Sure. Blame it on the Tiger.

xxx

When all else fails, blame Hobbes! :-)

Nowadays she would get thrown in jail & family services would take custody & make Calvin a ward of the state temporarily. Boy, have things changed.

I recall a time back in the late 60’s, when Mom left me in the car alone while she went into the fabric store where my Granny worked. I played in the car, and figured out how to get the car out of gear, and it started to roll backwards. I managed to get my foot on the brake, but couldn’t figure out how to put the car in park. I was crying in panic until some lady came and helped put the car in park. Someone else ran in the store and got my Mom. Needless to say, she didn’t leave me in the car alone again until I was way older…lol.

Those days are gone forever.

maybe it[’s better n Canada