For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 21, 2012

good idea! They grow up awful quick.

How is it that Elizabeth is three going on four, yet she still talks like a baby half the time?

This is SuperMom week- 2 days of making great decisions that many of us struggle with (well, at least everyone I know)

Enjoy while you can, You will missTHEM when they move out.

Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts! When she grows up, things will be different.

Awww!!

They move out? When?

I know I miss my mom.

Be glad Elly..when she is a teen she will want nothing to do with you!!

My mom never did that to me. I give my now adult daugther hugs and evan when she was a Elizabeth’s age and growing up I would give her hugs. Now her brother he is not a hugger was when he was small. Mine are young adults and cannot move out no jobs to support themselves.

My mother beat me with wooden spoons, her hand, and her shoes more than she hugged me. She hugged my sister more than hit her.When she got married (shot gun wedding) her husband took over beating me, which was worse. She would pretend then, to care, and would come in after a beating and “pretend” to show love. After two years of being married, she finally had enough … and had Children’s Aid take me away. 8 years later (in 1998) she told me she wished I was dead. Than, 12 years after that (2010) she said she was better off without me.I know, that living in foster care for a year, than grouphomes for 6 was the best thing that happened to me.

Wow Allan, I had no idea and am so sorry for what you went through. My mom and her sisters and brother grew up in an orpahnage back in the 20’s until their mothers sister could afford to take them out one by one. She already had 5 kids of her own, and they were immigrants from Italy, so you know they weren’t rich by any means. They were in the orphanage because my grandfather put them there after he killed my grandmother, which today would be murder or at the least voluntary manslaughter, then turned around and married a couple years later, another Italian woman who was a widow and had 6 kids already. But my mom, aunts, and uncle still remained in the orphanage. One by one by age, they went to live with my great aunt and her family. The oldest sister ended up in an arranged marriage at the age of 16.

Good lesson for parents, Lynn! Something I’ve never seen discussed, that I’ve noticed in myself and intuited in others, is that many of us are enamored of our trains of thought and don’t like to have them interrupted. It takes a lot of self-discipline for me to rip my attention from ME to someone who seems not to fascinate me as much as my own precious self (irony alert).

These were sad stories I just heard. Trust in Jesus and He’ll turn your lives around for the best. My younger son was a real mama’s boy. He always wanted me to cuddle him and wanted to be right beside me. Now he’s in college and we hardly ever hear from him. Parents: enjoy your kids while you can. Hug and kiss them every day and tell them you love them.

Please note folks. I didn’t post what I did earlier, to get sympathy, to get pity, or for you to feel bad. I posted it, to ‘clear my thoughts’ a bit. TO help others understand ME. I know this isn’t probably the best place, but sometimes, someone says something, that triggers a small rant, and/or “requires” me to respond in that manner.To those who don’t like it, than I apologize. To everyone else, I’ll appreciate your thoughts.

ALLAN, A BIG HUG BACK TO YOU TOO!

“My observation over the years is that Lynn Johnston adjusts the language of the child character to meet the requirements of the punch line.”Pretty sharp, howtheduck

Bless you who have gone through such hard circumstances and have come out in one piece. Glad we can help a bit.