PreTeena by Allison Barrows
- September 20, 2009
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About PreTeena
Remember those transitional years between childhood and adolescence -- the days when you were playing on the swing set one minute, and daydreaming about the fifth-grade love of your life the next? This is the life of Teena Keene -- almost 11 years old, a fifth grader and a good student. She’s an avid inline skater and not quite ready to give up her dolls. But makeup and boys, particularly Gordo Brandt, are beginning to vie for her attention. Teena teeters between child and budding teen, and enjoys being a little of both.
© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate - All Rights Reserved.
Comments (25) Jump to Comments Form
4deerinmyyard
said,
2 months ago
Oh, dear. Not the best outcome.
Susan001 said, 2 months ago
I realize that this is just a comic strip, but I wonder if such situations have happened in real life.
cabrobst said, 2 months ago
Any child that speaks so to their parent, whether 9 or 90, deserves to be slapped.
WORDMAN33 said, 2 months ago
I am 72 …and if I ever slapped my mother…I wouldn”t be.
Macushlalondra
said,
2 months ago
Now Jeri will milk this to see what she can get out of it.
Lewreader
said,
2 months ago
My folk were both shrinks. I never would have got away with this. Why can’t Mom see through her? Daytime TV
Yukoneric said, 2 months ago
Yes, Susan, they have. And more and more with today’s youth.
The_JAM said, 2 months ago
Anyone still questioning that she didn’t deserve it?
4deerinmyyard
said,
2 months ago
Children need boundaries and guidance–and love and respect. Parents should receive love and respect–and, sometimes, a little help with their parenting skills, including their own boundaries.
Ideally, no violence, ever, between any two members of any family. In practice, I can understand, if not condone, the occasional swat on the bottom just to get the kid’s attention, if the kid is doing something life-threatening.
But a teenager is too old for a spanking, and a slap in the face is inappropriate, period. Such an incident in a family is a wake-up call that their relationships have gotten way out of whack, their ability to communicate faltered to a halt some time ago, and they probably could use some pro help.
Yeah, yeah, it’s just a comic strip.
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
JUJUBEANIE said, 2 months ago
what goes around comes around
The_JAM said, 2 months ago
Yes, a slap in the face is domestic violence just as spanking is child abuse. I’ve heard that before. [eyeroll]
IncredibleWerekitty said, 2 months ago
The thing is that it is the stupid that equate a simple slap with domestic violence. The little so and so deserved to be slapped for talking to her mother in that manner. The mother should have lectured her for her disrespect, not crying in her room for reacting in a bad manner to being disrespected.
I was slapped, when I was a kid, when I disrespected my mother.
I have not disrespected my mother, since.
Beaten black and blue? THAT is domestic violence. THAT is child abuse.
A slap? Come ON. It is the mindset that you can’t use some physical punishment in order to back up what one says is the reason why people like Kaye West interrupts other people’s acceptance speeches.
It’s the reason why we have kids who act like little hellions, because they don’t have the fear of Mom.
hildigunnur
said,
2 months ago
IncrediblyWereKitty, wrong. Kids aren’t supposed to fear their parents. Respect them yes, fear no.
A slap in the face - (and spanking, the_Jam) IS violence. Not hard violence but violence all the same. I wouldn’t have dreamt of spanking my children, (and none of them is bratty), only thing it teaches them is that violence is an accepted way to solve ones differences. Slapping someone so it hurts just isn’t a good way.
Jeri’s mom lost control, that can happen to all of us - I don’t think she’s handling it very well though.
The_JAM said, 2 months ago
Hildi, your argument might have had a bit more credibility if you had used proper grammar.
IncredibleWerekitty said, 2 months ago
sigh I’d say a healthy combination of both fear and respect. Fear of punishment, and respect for the position.
The whole child abuse fiasco, with simple spanking being blown out of proportion is what has resulted in the hellions of today.
Ash said, 2 months ago
The_JAM you sound as if you have approximately zero children.
newworldmozart said, 2 months ago
I have been slapped, spanked and abused. When I deserved the slap and spank that was different than the abuse. And the abuse was verbal and emotional. If anyone has had teenagers who acted like this, they would understand why the mom slap her daughter. If you allow your child to treat you this way, they will do it in to there adult life.
I’ve seen it, a friend of mine was abused by her husband and her children were allowed to treat her badly too. Now as adults they don’t have respect for her. Now I was not allowed to treat my mom badly and I have all the respect for her, and try and make her life easier now.
Spanking is not abuse, it shows the child that they have crossed the line, same as time out and grounding. When you go to far, then it’s abuse.
newworldmozart said, 2 months ago
and I would like to mention that I would rather take the quick punishment of the spanking than the grounding. It was cool that sometimes I would be offered the choice too. I offer the same to my child, and guess what, he takes the spanking more than I thought he would.