For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 25, 2010

invite her to dinner you idiot. Two karma points - being a neighbor and letting her see the results of her indugence!

though I think Elly needs to lighten up a bit. Have dinner an hour later fer crisssake.

Say that after you’ve worked away at a meal for an hour and a half only to have to grow cold when no one’s hungry because they snuck snacks. And that still wouldn’t solve the base problem. The lack of respect the other woman’s showing.

let her read this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289376/British-children-getting-fatter-twice-rate-Americans.html

not always easy to change your dinner hour.. and a parents wish should always be respected in regards to their children. even when it’s only a treat, most have a good reason even if you don’t know what it is.

Agreed longandgreen!!

The kids don’t have any grandparents nearby. Mrs. Baird is acting like their grandmother. Elly needs to have another talk with her. Instead of asking her not to give the kids treats just before dinner time, set a time when she can give them treats - maybe 2:30 or 3 o’clock. I agree that changing dinner time won’t work. For one thing, it might interfere with the kids’ bedtimes, esp. Lizzie’s, since she’s only 2.

This is bizarre. Here are a bunch of women (not men, as is [stereo]typically the case) treating another women (who isn’t even a real person, but a comic strip character) who is venting as if she were soliciting advice. I am missing one of my X chromosomes, and even I know better than that.

Elly should think about the reason behind her kids wanting to go to the neighbor’s house in the first place.

They get welcomed like they are special!! They get treats!! Who wouldn’t want to go there every chance they got! Elly is such a control freak in all areas of her life. I tend to want to avoid people like that. Lighten up a bit….life is short! (and can be sweet)

I totally disagree about the whole lighten up argument (ironic, I know) because this is a health and a respect issue. Elly is trying to give them normal food habits and have a nice dinner at home with the family, but this other woman isn’t respecting that, even after being asked not to. The kids can be welcomed by their friend without food. She can play with them or talk with them or just hang out without the food. Really, stop making excuses for other people disregarding Elly’s requests. Food isn’t always the answer to making life fun.

Nothing quite so fearsome as a mama determined to stick to a schedule.

LOLs! Elly wished that she could blow Mrs’ Baird’s fridge up. I think it is silly to do that. At least, Elly needs to be firm and warn Mrs. Baird not to give Elly’s kids the treats before the suppertime. Or tell the kids not to go over Mrs’ Baird’s house for more treats before the suppertime. Whatever!

Maybe she gives them a treat as a signal to go home. If dinner at home is at 6:30, set a curfew of 5 to the children to return home. Mrs. Baird needs some time to prepare her evening meal, too, without someone else’s children underfoot. This is a solvable situation.

Why hasn’t anyone mentioned that a 2 year old is next door on her own, without mom. (does Mike count as help? Maybe, maybe not)

yawn – the lame-o-meter on this arc is in the red zone. but it would be interesting if passive-aggressive elly actually did blow up the fridge.

I do agree that the neighbor should respect Elly’s wishes. But maybe she is older (I’m not sure of age, don’t remember seeing her in the arc) and the only way she gets company is when the neighborhood children come over for snacks. And a two year old following the older sibling to a neighbors house was no big deal about 30 or so years ago. I like the idea of setting a time limit of when the kids can get the snack. Mrs. Braid gets her company and the kids are not too full when they come home.

mom resorts to terrorism.

…story at 11pm. :-D

First of all, people should respect a parent’s request when it comes to things of this nature. Why would anyone give a child a snack like this so close to their dinner time? And the fact that Elly has already had this talk with her neighbor – several times! – makes the problem even worse. It’s just very disrespectful.

As I said yesterday, if the neighbor won’t respect Elly’s wishes on this subject, then Elly just needs to do a better job at watching her own kids and keep them at home instead of letting them go out on their own and roam the neighborhood. Michael’s what? Six years old? He’s not old enough to watch himself let alone his 2 year old sister without proper parental supervision. There are just too many bad things – and bad people – out there that he’s just not equipped to handle on his own.

Second of all, kids can have allergies to almost anything (peanuts and strawberries are probably the biggest) and giving them food that may contain something they’re allergic to without first checking with the parents could trigger an allergic reaction that, at best, could cause an ugly, itchy case of hives … and at worst, send the child to the hospital or even the morgue if it’s that bad.

No matter how much I liked a neigborhood child, I’d never dream of giving them any kind of food without first getting the parents’ permission. I wouldn’t want to upset my neighbors by giving their child unwanted food (junk or not), ruining their lunch/dinner time, or accidentally triggering an allergic reaction of some kind that I didn’t know about and I’d hope that they’d respect me enough to do the same for me.

Luckily my kids are good enough to respect our wishes on such things. They come home at dinner time with ice cream bars and the typical response is “that’s great. Why don’t you stick it in the freezer and you can have it after dinner.” They never have a problem with that. They eat their dinner, and then still get their special treat.

I’ve sometimes given local kids candy that I’d bought for grandchildren if they asked for it, but never near dinner time. I can always offer some pretty feathers instead. Local kids often hang out in my front yard (especially in “winter” months with highs in the 60s and 70s). That’s when I may spend an afternoon reading in the front yard while my bird enjoys the sun. I still don’t need glasses to read (in my 70s) in bright sunlight ;-)

Communication lets me down, and i’ll never tell.. but i still love the chocolate cake and ice cream, with the cookies and the peach-mango pie.. i’d better cut down on those calories for a while.. oh, bugs bunny, dinner is ready !!! yeah, what’s up for supper, doc?..

vldazzle: Out of curiosity … where do you live so that it’s in the 60s and 70s for highs in the wintertime? Because I live in the midwest and I’d definitely like to have your winter temps!!!!!