Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for January 15, 2018

Mom and Dad were hoping they wouldn’t have to talk about this for another 4 or 5 years.

Dad: Do you want one?

Patient uncle Max!!

Mom now appears interested in what Calvin has to say.

I had absolutely no idea what this meant when I was a kid. I was an adult before I finally figured it out. “OHHHHHHHHHHH- it’s a comment on how many single parents are in TV shows”.

And this was in 1980-something! Imagine his comments now…

I never got this when I was a kid – my parents were never married, so I was deeply confused.

The shirt is a dead giveaway.

By the time he leaves that place, he’ll be glad he doesn’t have a kid of his own.

Max has a point – TV really changed the social perception of family. The odd part is it was the comedies that did it, choosing situations where wackiness was easy to write. It seems like children’s attitudes have been molded to the wacky situations for at least as long as I have been alive (post-Lucy) and not at all for the better. I don’t think we foresaw the importance of restricting TV for children, but for behavioral reasons we have to limit our grandkids’ watching to five hours per week, with absolutely no Japanese-style flashing illumination and rapidly changing scenes.

An un-wed mother used to be a shame, and the child was known by the true term for that. (Clue: Starts with b)

An un-wed mother used to be a shame, and the child was known by the true term for that. (Clue: Starts with b)

Calvin is a child of his generation. My generation was brought up to believe you should be married if you have kids (and not necessarily before you had them). Today’s generation doesn’t see the need to get married. Both my son and daughter have kids and are not married. Also I don’t know about other countries but in Canada if you live with someone for a couple of years you are considered common law married with all the legal benefits and pratfalls that goes with it.

I used to never understand this.

Gee, remember when people even cared about having a child without being married? Society has gone from arguably judging far too much to not judging at all. One extreme to the other.

Wow Calvin :o

I was born out of “wedlock”

There, I said it.

xxx

Both my children got married before they had children