For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 29, 2019

I’m sure hunger will come first.

When hunger wins out, she’ll go home and probably find Farley already there.

At that age, everything seems so monumental.

He’s probably at home.

And it’s Farley to the rescue.

Trust us, Elizabeth; you can go home. It will be all right.

Lynn’s Comments: “I once spent all day hiding in the lane because I was afraid my mom would find out that I had broken the milk bottles on our front porch. It was an accident. I’d been swinging a hula hoop and hit them by accident. In the end, she was angrier at me because I’d gone missing, and not because I’d knocked over the bottles.”

I had moments like this as a kid. The trouble was that it wasn’t better to go home. If mom did slap me around, I’d get the strap from dad. It’s taken me many years to get my head straightened out from what it is now called “child abuse.” My parents never repented for their overreactions, but then, they were not a happy couple to begin with.

Potential parents out there: Please don’t have kids until you can get along with each other first. Having kids in order to “fix” a screwed up marriage is NEVER the answer. :-(

Betting the dog’s at home.

To date, hunger has always come first. Although cold has made a few appearances as well.

Farley probably went home.

It is dangerous for a young child to walk all but a the smallest dog as a dog Farley’s size can easily pull a full size man down or into a tree. When I took my very powerful boxer to obedience class (30 years ago) the first thing the instructor said is that you should never hold the leash around your wrist as not only can you be pulled down that way but a sudden lunge by the dog can dislocate a wrist or shoulder especially a child.

Farley probably has the same idea…go home when hungry…

Corporal punishment was the generally accepted and common disciplinary method of the day in the ‘40s and before . IMHO. Sometimes taken to extremes. But memorable. These days you don’t dare give an unruly child a pat on the butt to get their attention for fear of being reported to the “authorities”. And now we have little monsters disrupting every public place and parents oblivious to the chaos they inflict on others. Awwwww, for the good old days.

I was at the crossover. When I was a kid, there was no DCFS to investigate blistered butts. My first boy was raised a bit easier. Then a girl and then two more boys. Due to new laws, each kid was raised with less and less stringent discipline. And here are the results:

1. Boy, Grad. U of I, high enough on the corporate ladder he could fire the man that fired me. and twin dtrs. in graduate schools.2. Girl Now a Nurse pract. and dtr that is an RN3. Boy, HS teacher, so well liked by former students at one school, was asked to come back and give the HS graduation speech.4. Boy, Still at home.

Rule at our house was fess up before we find out…worked well…if is was a mess, we would clean it up…if something was broken, we paid by doing extra chores…if it was stupid carelessness, we would be grounded for a week.

If you need to make up a good story, go to someone who also deceived his mother: “Lyin’ Brian” Enjo.