For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 31, 2022

What he needs to learn is where the freeway exits are. Can’t do that when grounded.

Compromise. No driving for 10 days and no access to his car for 2 months.

Let’s get this over with already. Go ahead and give in, John, and let’s switch arcs.

I am reminded of Steve Martin’s solution to world overpopulation: death penalty for parking violations.

Mike got lost guys. He couldn’t help it! Get over it!

John should have just bought him a used Pinto or Yugo

At least John’s back is no longer hurting.

How about they unhook from the argument and consider the actual effects of what they are proposing to do?

Marriages have broken up over less than this.

Michael, get a part-time job (after school and weekends), save up your money, and buy your own damned car!!

My folks would have knocked the stuffing out of me and let it go at that.

All i ever got was “we were worried because you were later than expected” talk. No other consequences, Didn’t even get restricted from going out on a school night after getting home at 5 am the same morning. I guess being the youngest child has its perks.

Elly telling John how much Saint Michael will be allowed to drive John’s own car…. Here’s a tip… Once you start negotiating about things that are yours, then you’ve already lost.

Two weeks is getting off easy. I’d have given him a month.

My husband was an abused child. When our girls were really young, he sometimes struggled between being a “stone” or “marshmallow”. How hard was too hard, and how soft was too soft? I must say that he did an incredible job at it tho.

Mike is the expression of a normal teenage boy and their love of cars. He just had to try the freeway with the sports car. John should just not let him use the sports car again until he is older and wiser.

Ha!! Okay, that there’s funny, I don’t care who you are.

Can’t imagine why ‘John’ is making such a ‘big deal’ out of this—Michael is home and ’John’s ’ car is in one piece. Sure he made a mistake but that happens ! ! ! !

No driving for a week and permanently banned from the sport coupe.

If you take away his driving privileges, you’ll have to drive him everywhere. And he won’t be able to run errands.

My dad would send me to pick up a case of beer on the weekends when I turned 18. Funny thing was, I was never carded before I turned 18! I believe the first time was on my 45th birthday, bless that clerk :)

My mom was more the hothead than my dad. So my dad would insist my mom wait until the next day to impose punishments. Take some time to cool off. She would want to sentence me for months right after something occurred. But the next morning, it would be for weeks instead.

He can’t drive for two weeks, and then can’t use YOUR car for six months? If I were Elly, I’d be offended by that. If he’d put it as “he can’t use the FAST car” or “he can’t use the FLASHY car”, that’d make some sense. Make him drive the dorky car, not the one that tempts him to show off. But “MY car” shows he’s more worried about his metal baby than he is about teaching Michael a lesson.

I would make it: he loses the use of the sports car until he’s 18. That’s it.

Mike is still between a rock and a hard place. Elly’s 1/3 option is still going to be hard to endure for an older teen.

Maybe John needs to grow up a bit. If having a sports car is such a liability he should just get a boring small car to take to work. No one will fight to use it or cruise around in it. He isn’t 21 anymore. And judging by his attitude he was never young or fun and his sports car doesn’t make him fun in middle age either. My dad would never have carried on like I cracked up his car just because I got lost.

Neither parent has bothered to listen to Mike, and that’s a parenting failure.

Off topic, but this reminds me of a Faith Petric song, about the importance of being kind. It’s called “The Rock and the Egg.”

My parents never let me drive their car, I had to buy my own. Mainly they didn’t want to pay for insurance on me

I think 2 weeks on driving and 4 months on access to Dads car.

United fronts can fail, as evidenced by the Axis. A concerted effort by the japs, the krauts, and the dagos failed to stop the Allies.

that’s parenting alright… tough decisions

Did anyone notice how quickly John got better?

“You can’t be a pushover!… You can’t be a hardass!! … You can’t always be sunshine and rainbows!… You can’t always be gloomy and dark! …. Stop being so generous!… Stop being so selfish!… He needs discipline!… He needs his freedom!… Class B misdemeanor, 30 days in the brig!… Class C misdemeanor, 15 days restricted duty! … It’s Care-ah-BEE-an! … No, it’s Cah-RIB-be-an! …. It’s CAR-mel! … No, it’s CARE-ah-mel! …. (so who’s on first??”)

Well, thinking back I’m glad that our kids never got into such scrapes, and we, as parents, never had to get into such a “debate” about punishment.

Over all, though, I do think that John is overreacting, seeing as we know how Mike realized that he made a BIG mistake, and he already paid for it in being scared out of his wits a few strips ago.

Oh, and by the way, in real time, this is only about three hours later, counting the leaving home time, dropping off time, driving time, getting home time, and he got home before Elizabeth (and her practice time might have been two hours, since she’s in a show troupe of synchronized skating, so it would be a longer practice than regulation lessons)… probably the big argument time is longer than Mike’s misbehavior…

Were John’s parents still alive? If they were, Ellie should have called them for some of His sixteen year old hijinks, that might lighten the Wrath of the " never did anything wrong one"

Dad is the rock and Mom is the soft place…as it should be!

Send Lawyers Guns and Money

I’m A desperate man

Has Michael ever demonstrated to his parents that he was mature enough to be trusted with somebody else’s sports car?

If that was the punishment for getting lost, I wouldn’t ever want to take the car again. Dad’s just mad because he had the “midlife-crisis” car.