For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 17, 2023

Need to put a lock on the gate

If you have even a tiny teeny common sense, you’d put a lock on it, not just a latch.

So—are you gonna do anything about it, Elly??

When I was about 5 and my brother 4, he was a typical Aries—straight-ahead, goal oriented, and letting nothing stop him from reaching that goal. He wanted out of our fenced backyard! So he climbed up the water heater next to the house where the fence joined it, then crawled for some 20 feet along the 2×4 along the top of the fence to the gate where he could reach the latch installed at the top where we couldn’t reach it (hah!), and out he went to explore the wide world, with me following after him, repeating fruitlessly: “No, no, Johnnie, we’re not supposed to leave the yard.”

I feel something bad is about to happen

Nothing is truly “child proof.”

Watch out for that bus!

Oh, no…it’s getting to…THAT…

Of all the strips I follow this is the only one some commenters take seriously and continually get their knickers in a twist over the behavior of the comic characters. Do they think these are real people???

Busted!

Ohhhh, is this how the Farley storyline starts? I was too young to remember it the first time around.

Just wait until she’s a teenager. I used to find our picnic table sitting beneath my daughter’s window.

Heck, some people’s dogs can do that trick…

They learn fast at that age… move fast, too.

Time to change the lock on the gate, Elly.

Is Elly constipated?

OMG!! THIS IS IT!! THIS IS IT!! SOMEBODY GO GET THE TISSUES!!!!

Smart Kid. Better get ready for a precocious one.

Childproof latches would help, also prolong Farley’s life expectancy. Also if Pattersons would hire a nanny. Kids like April need constant supervision. Could be worse, some school might have Elly as a playground lady at recess.

There is the an electronic monitoring system called Invisble Fence. If Farley tried to go beyond the Patterson’s property line he would get a jolt. Could that also be used to give April shocks?

It’s amazing what little kids can sometime teach their parents. Usually he parent are too ignorant to learn the subtle lesson being taught.

Nail that gate shut,maybe you can change history

April is Elly’s property. Seen running away from the Patterson residence, which is also Elly’s property. The solution to keep one’s property on another piece of property may be an old-fashioned but effective one:

Put April in chains!

Don’t turn around, Der Kommissar’s in town!

Mom surveylance at it’s finest.

From the time they are born, a child’s mind is always making scientific discoveries, and solving math problems, that’s for sure…and the parents, or care giver, have to be one step ahead all the time…

This one reminded me of my own kids when they were babies, and just at the rolling/sitting stage, and they were figuring out how to use one toy to slide another toy toward them when something was too far for their little arms… I thought to myself: “what a little monkey you are”, after I saw a doc about how they reach for grubs using a little branch…

Love that look on both their faces! :-D

Sometimes you gotta give your kids the space to figure out how they’re getting themselves into trouble. ;-)

I think the most amazing thing is that Elly knows this is happening by opening the window and sniffing the air. Her nose must be incredible. Me personally, I would have to open my eyes, but not Elly.

she learned from Rugrats

Most kids are smart. Parents tend to forget their youth.

Uh oh!

Elly either bumped her head on the window, or she’s constipated.

I had a dog like that. lol

Now, that is one clever little girl!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️