For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 03, 2013

Little four year old kids worrying about bombs???? Sounds grotesque. Perhaps adults are talking much too deeply around their very young children. And, the TV shouldn’t be tuned to such ultra serious topics when kiddies are present. Wow! They grow up fast enough as it is. This strip is a real eye opener.

As I recall, at that age they were teaching us that the Soviets were going to bomb us at any moment and we could save ourselves by crawling under our desks.

there is a hydro electric damn about 3/4 of a mile from my old high school we had bomb shelters and did fallout drills

Fantasy isn’t what it used to be.When I was a kid, comic book super-heroes were idealized, and the stories were escapist. Now a lot are filled with bloody violence.DC Comics has revamped Wonder Woman to take the Amazons – once immortals living in seclusion from “man’s world” – and turned them into rapists and murderers.

@NightShade09 – I would like to think that you are just making a sick joke, but I know that DC has killed off Superman at least once as a main storyline and I have seen parts of what has been done to Batman in the movies, so it is not a hard stretch to believe that DC has dropped the Amazon’s original connection with Greek Mythology.

Luckily when I was a kid in the late 50’s and early 60’s we had none of the Soviets will be invading at any moment hysteria, no hiding under the beds, no lunatics like McCarthy. Oddly we did know of the concerns but we didnt worry about them as kids.

Now my kids have “Code Red” drills where they have to practice what to do if there’s a crazy person on the loose. They also do fire drills and tornado drills. :-(

Lynn’s notes at http://fborfw.com/strip_fix/

In the UK. There were no drills, no practising. We had what was called the V force which was designed to meet any threat by air. The nearest we got to the reds under the beds were certain members of the trade unions who were suspected of being funded from Moscow, but they were ineffective. There were defectors of course, people like Burgess and McLean. Later more people who were passing things to Moscow were discovered. People looks Anthony Blunt. But none of this filtered through to school pupils. We got on with the school term and did the work without any interference from politics and the fear of being vaporised by nuclear weapons.

All together now. Everybody sing!Duck – (ffshwit!) – and cover!Duck – (ffshwit!) – and cover!The first thing you must learn to do isDuck – (ffshwit!) – and cover!And that means you and you and you and you

After reading, go hug your kids!

In my school days (the 1960s) we didn’t have air raid drills. We had occasional fire drills, where the buzzer – not a bell – made noise to literally drown out everything else. Then the teacher – well, you know the drill.=But every Saturday at 11:00 A.M., the local sirens would blast for three minutes, as a test. You could set your clocks to it.

During the Reagan years all you needed to survive a nuke attack was a door and a shovel Talk about deluded.

No, sadly they play in the world they know.

Wait a minute! I was a kid in school in the 50s and 60s and we had “duck and cover” in the schools and we had Korea, wondering if they were or were not going to declare War. If you dont remember that, ou wern’t paying attention.

You said: “During World War II, Korea and Viet Nam comic characters fought in those wars so you must have lead a sheltered life.”-————————————————————I wish. Yes, I read those stories – Capt. America vs the Red Skull (during WWII, and in the 50’s – when the Skull was a Communist agent ), Blackhawk, The Invaders, the Sub-Mariner, Sgt Fury. etc.But those books had fantasy villains and none of the blood of todays books, which compete with first-person shooter video games for the male dollar.(During the 60’s, few titles were set in Viet Nam; the most notable exception being the origin of Iron Man.)I was a big collector of comics from the 60’s -80’s, including those great reprint “Giants” featuring stories from the Golden Age, and I also managed a comic book shop.

Should we build bomb shelters again??? lighten up!! this for better or worse today !!!! more to the point is the unemployed Dad !

he’s gonna lay a bomb? gas!!!!!!!!!!

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5G92-5u1rI

The other day, I watched an old 50’s “duck & cover” documentary that was shown when I was in elementary school. Kids were told that if they saw the “flash” of a nuclear bomb while outside to dive into the gutter and cover their heads. Inside, duck under the desk and cover the head. They honestly thought this would protect them from the blast.

interesting that so many comments are from the perspective of North America and the sheltered life we lead where bombs, etc are only seen on tv – there are many, many children this young that are living with this reality and seeing it daily.

the reality that the NA kids see daily is the out of work dad, single mom with 3 kids, and divorced dad. Don’t need tv’s folks, kids aren’t stupid, deaf or blind…

Bombs, unemployment divorced broken homes this si all so real.

I remember as a youngster playing house with my firiends. One would actually say she was with another man. One would pretend to be an abusive mother. I think it was too much TV and and hearing about these things in the neighborhood.

bluffwood: Cuban missiles in Canada? 1. the “branch plant mentality” in Canada, 2. most Canadians live in fallout range of major targets in US, 3. paranoia is contagious.

This was the late 1970’s… early 1980’s. “The Cold War” was still a threat. It was a time of strife. I learned about the same things at the same time. It was a time of joy – even in schools – when the Berlin Wall came down, and when the Cold War was “officially” over.

During the Cold War in the 50s they tattooed schoolkids’ bloodtypes under their left arms. My dad had one.