Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 01, 2012

When I was a kid a belt to the @$$ was policy.

But Calvin, kids like you need more of those things than almost anybody else, because otherwise you’ll try to find loopholes in the policy.

No loophole , Calvin?

@gmartin997: Your generation may be “the sandwich generation”: Your own parents may have dictated to you, but under new thinking of how to raise kids,you can’t dictate to your own kids.

On the other hand, when you DO tell him something the first thing he says is “WHY?!”

A new policy is definitely in order; in this case, I’d recommend term life.At the rate Calvin’s going whole life won’t happen and the rates are cheaper for term.

Quick’neasy

OK, so you’ve succeeded in becoming a rebel and have your own life now. Suppose the unthinkable happens and you become responsible for raising a child of your own. Are you qualified? How would YOU handle it? History proves it can and does happen, after all, and kids are all unique and don’t come with manuals. Are you prepared to handle it?

I honestly don’t see why not.

Linus’s attempt to limit Lucy’s speech was also unsuccessful:Click here: Peanuts (1964)Snoopy had better luck with Woodstock:Click here: Peanuts (1981)

Yes, me too. I’d love to use that one now, but maybe I’m better off not having children in this bleeding heart liberal environment.

Plenty of kids who are disciplined, spanked, yelled at also do drugs, act out violently, and get into trouble with the law as well.

In my observation kids are most likely to be like their parents. If their parents are loud, disrespectful, chemically dependent, violent, etc, then so will the kids. It’s rare that bad parents have good kids or good parents have bad kids (though I’ve seen exceptions both ways). That is they tend to follow the example before them, even if they don’t want to.

My 1st grade nuns policy was hit for distance!

I’m surprised it’s his ears and not his butt that he’s holding.

To be fair, most of the time Calvin’s Dad really is as dull as a 20 year old headlight and about as entertaining to listen to as reading the dictionary out loud. I still wish Watterson had focused more on showing Dad as being responsible, but with a hilariously sarcastic side, which we see every so often (Hamster Huey’s alternate ending and “Dad Science” strips) but not nearly enough.

I raised 4 children, 2 boys 2 girls, when either of them did something wrong, I would take something they liked away for awhile, I never Had to hit or spank them to get my point across. Now they have children of there own and I’m happy to say their great grandchildren :)

Here in Florida there are exams for daycare workers. Some are actually very difficult. All of them are quite relevant to both the physical and mental health of children. So there is a standard out there. I certainly think all parents should know these things – we force people who take care of our children to know this stuff but don’t know it ourselves?

Calvin’s got it made. I was “raised” by a dysfunctional, alcoholic family. I was taught everything that a person should not do, by experiencing all those things first hand.

Unfortunately there is only one test, and there’s no “practice” exam. And, of course, probably not, but I don’t have any.

‘Sound bites’ can hurt, but they don’t leave visible marks!

Calvin’s ears pick up everything they hear!

Poor Calvin. He’s going to have to learn to do what most kids do: tune out the lecture while apparently paying close attention.

No facts, context or subtleties allowed, just sound bites! OMG! Calvin must have grown up to set policy in the current Republican Party!

I was in on old school discipline when growing up. (though spankings at school had been abolished by then.)This philosophy carried over to the first kid, but times were changing and disipline was more “modernized” with each one – a span of ten years.Now ther results:1 M Employed, Degree in Mechanical Engineering U of I2 F RN and studying to go to the next level.3 M Degree in education from WIU – teaches HS4 M Failure to launch

This may be an urban legend, but in the days that spankings were common: Girl gets sent to principals office.Blabber-mouth boy runs home, stops by girls parents house on way and announces their girl had been called into the principals office.Girl gets spanking when she arrives home. (For being sent to the principals office)Only later did the girl’s parents learn that the reason for being sent to the principals office was to be congratulated for the excellent job she’d done on an essay!(and they wondered why she lost interest in schooling)

Changing every body around you to suite your ideas only works in movies .

My dad had a razor strop, and he shaved with an electric razor.

If you aren’t reading The Lost Side of Suburbia, check it out. You’ll have to go back a bit to catch up on the story though.

@Nabuquduriuzhur(Paraphrasing)“Unfortunately, one can tell which kids were disciplined and which were not. Completely different mindset. A portion of Gen Y has no self-discipline, don’t respect the rights of others and since they’ve never been told “no” when they actively rebelled, they are pretty messed up. (thus) Failures in life.Those who didn’t discipline their kids say “I didn’t spank, but my kids turned out ok” but it turns out their idea of OK is drug use, violence toward others and usually run-ins with the law. Sometimes jail time. How that is supposedly “OK” I do not know."

My whole ex-village seems to be of that mind-set. Mixed in with a generation of "Miss PC, the Delicate Young School-Teacher,’ who parrots far too-big and incomprehensible sentences, presentations and admonitions to her young charges, it becomes a morass of misunderstood young hellions bound on self-destruct, non-controllable, non-punishable sorts filled with the ‘nyaah-nyaaah can’t touch me, my mother has a lawyer boyfriend’ attitude., in conjunction with a terrified school board…To this I dump my school taxes down a bottomless rat-hole.. Bah plus humbug.

Be thankful that your father doesn’t have the ability to breathe fire, Calvin….what would Suzie think if she saw you looking like the burnt end of a matchstick? Maybe we shouldn’t ask that question in the first place…hmmmmm….

Good policy Calvin’s… ha ha

calvin and hobbes was my childhood.

Poor Calvin… ten second sound bytes and mental bubble gum is what he gets on TV. Then his dad expects something more. Life is so confusing for a kid; let’s go back to encouraging them to read good books.

Spank oww spank oww spank oww spank oww spank oww. There’s a ten second sound bite for ya Calvin. Hahaha

Just in case there’s any confusion, I’m not a liberal (or a conservative), and I wasn’t condemning spanking. I’m just saying I’ve seen a lot of kids (and work with the professionally) and spanking doesn’t seem to make a difference by itself but rather the examples kids have to go by. Some are spanked and turn out fine and others don’t, some aren’t spanked and turn out fine and others don’t. I’m going by observation rather than dogma.