For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 12, 2023

Feel guilty. Feel shame.

True

My kids always greeted me with " when’s dinner"?

Hard to believe this is the same Connie who used to dump her child on the Patterson’s so she could chase after Elly’s brother Phil!!

Liz is a freshman in high school. I came home alone at age 8 or 9.

You need to let go of the control sometime. Now is as good as any time.

Funny how men never experience guilt. Only women. Why is that?

Panel 4: That ranks about middle of the road on the “Crappy Pun-O-Meter”.

It’s the eternal balancing act, even these days. I’m lucky, most days of the weeks I’m working from home.

It’s a good strip. I was cooking dinner for my working parents and minding my younger sister from age 13.

Anthony sure is showing wisdom way beyond his years!

It’s the SAME way for Fathers!

Looks like neither of them have grasped the concept of opportunity cost. If you do one thing, you must forego everything else. We cannot be two places at once.

Am probably remembering this wrong but Edna St. Vincent Millay used to take care of herself and three younger sisters from the age of 12 while their mother went away for months to earn money. And they lived in New England where I hear it’s cold!!!

Elly has solved the problem by foisting Elizabeth on Mrs. Enjo. Really, what Elly should be feeling is gratitude to Mrs. Enjo for being willing to take on her daughter every day, while she spends her time working for free at the bookstore.

What? I couldn’t wait to get the place to myself…lol

What’s the big deal about going home to an empty house? At her age I preferred it. Still do in fact.

I didn’t, my kids were home one hour before I got off work, I worked local, they were responsible and knew the rules, they were fine. Age 10 and 12 with neighbor, Gpa, and Aunt to call.

I was lucky enough to walk over to grandma’s house after school and stay there until mom got off work

Wah!

Well,at least s he’s not going to Candace’s house

My husband and his brother stayed at a neighbor’s house while their mom was working. Neither of them did figure out that she was a paid caregiver until after they stopped going. They just loved that lady and liked spending time with her. It helped that she loved to bake and always had fresh cookies and bread.

Don’t be ashamed of doing something you enjoy.

Around the late 1980s or so, an evangelist did some research on that subject for a series of messages he gave on the subject of marriage. He came up with what he called The Mom Bomb. Long story short, for the so-called Working Mom at that time, after taking into consideration outside meals, babysitting costs, transportation expenses and higher taxes for the family, not to mention the loss of family time. The end result was that more often than not, the Working Mom of the day was spending more on those expenses than what her salary brought in to the household income. Not a one size fits all result, of course. But quite a motivator at the time to climb up the corporate ladder if one wanted more than a bit of aesthetic gratification.

Personally, I think it is a good thing to learn how to be on your own sometimes. Self reliance is a good thing.

Elizabeth is not Elly’s biggest problem. Elly’s biggest problem is the kid who threw a temper tantrum in public because she could not be a candle at the pageant.

She came home. Be glad!!

We never had to worry about coming home to an empty house, Mom was a atay at home Mom so she was there everyday when we got home.

Makes a little more sense than being irate that she went somewhere with friends instead of fixing dinner.