For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 27, 2009

If he could sound more sincere when he isn’t, at his age I’d be worried.

In the last panel, Lizzie seems happy with his apology… or maybe it could be that she’s grinning about Michael being sent to his room!

Gotta love that artwork in panel 4! Sure made me smile :-)

First thing you do is learn to fake sincerity.

Good move sendiing him to his room.

I think we had this exact same experience yesterday in my house. They seem to learn to say mean things way before they learn the good sense not to say them (at least not when the parents are around) or fake an apology

Why force the kid to be a hypocrite? What kind of values does that teach?

That’s right Giant Brain. My sister stole my chocolate covered cherries. My mother told her to apologize and she gave me the fakest “apology” on the planet. She should’ve been made to buy me a new box of chocolate covered cherries. If the situation had been reversed that’s what I would have been made to do.

It’s good to see John actually parenting … you all did notice it wasn’t Elly right? He made the right choice - if you aren’t sorry for what you did, then you should be grounded for a few hours/days

After perfecting this, Michael will be ready for politics.

When a parent grounds a child for a few days, he quickly learns HE is the one who is actually grounded.

All dad needs to do is give Michael a good paddling, and he’ll learn his lesson.

Oh wait! He can’t do that. If he does, the politically correct thought police will come out screaming, “Child abuse!!!” because “(name of deity deleted to placate the politically correct) forbid”, the poor dear will be traumatized for life.

Silly me. Far better to do what the Beach Boys said and “Let Him Run Wild”.

Father (John) knows the difference between sincere and fake apologies.

maybe because he’s faked a few in his time?

I think Lizzie is very happy that Mike got sent to his room. OH she knows, she KNOWS. ;)

Hey! I knew I was being watched as a child. This just proves it.

my goodness, john finally took control. instead of putting it off on elly.

and yes i think lizzy is happy with the outcome

All dad needs to do is give Michael a good paddling, and he’ll learn his lesson.

Not necessarily, BlitzMcD. To paraphrase an old saying, “a child convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

No, Michael has to come to understand from within that what he did was wrong, and why it was wrong – and not just “because Dad said so;” otherwise, he’ll never agree that it WAS wrong, and will only continue to do it, except that he’ll simply do it when Mom and Dad aren’t around to call him out on it.

And speaking as a survivor of actual physical child abuse (and having watched my younger brother get beaten so hard once by my father that my brother’s nose started bleeding), I REALLY take offense at the rest of your comments. Child abuse is a very real – and potentially deadly – abomination that goes on in families, and there is no way of knowing just what effect it can have on a young child. I still remember the beating my brother took as though it had happened yesterday, even though it really happened about 45 years ago – and it was only because my brother was having a problem with getting soap in his eyes while my mother was washing his hair! Nope, that was Dad’s answer to everything: Whip off the belt, and swing it as hard as he could, and if it happened to miss the intended target (as it often did), oops, too bad, but maybe the kid will learn the lesson that much more thoroughly that way! It makes my blood boil to this day just to think about it.

To me, your comments only demonstrate the ignorance and lack of empathy that most people have who have never undergone the trauma of extreme physical or emotional abuse suffered daily by children who are being assaulted by the very people whom they have the right to expect to protect them from such assaults. At least now I know with whom I should never leave a child unattended.

Whether one is a child or an adult, saying ‘sorry’ immediately after an obvious goof is not wise as emotions are still stiring at that moment. Not only is an immediate ‘sorry’ seldom sincere, but it is seldom felt sincere by the other person. Best to wait a few moments before expressing regrets, and make sure you really mean it inside.

Thank you, Burgundy2 and Susan001 for being the voices of reason. You are both most kind. I couldn’t have said it better.

Thanks, Legal Eagle; well said. Moreover, a parent need not administer regular beatings to generate lifelong abusive effects. My mother exploded very seldom. But when you are small and in the power of a giant, out-of-control, raging animal, once is enough. You can spend the rest of your life walking on eggshells, never daring to hope for decent treatment from anybody. If your own mother doesn’t think you’re worth that much effort, why would anybody else?

Spanking doesn’t do anyone good, neither on a small scale or large. The only message it sends is that it’s OK to solve things with violence (and yes, flat hand, outside clothes IS violence, even though it’s not of the extreme sort).

FYI, I have 3 very well behaved and balanced kids, and nobody’s ever lifted their hands to them. There’s no need whatsoever, there are better ways to punish (yep they do need to be set straight sometimes, of course).