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

Uh oh…I smelled a sneaky little rat

Oh, we, the readers, would know of one person, Elly, and it ain’t John.

Little pitchers have big ears. Anything to get in good with big brother

When I was a kid my father gave me a huge cloth map of China with each province’s flora and fauna as well as folklore costumes of the provinces. My mom pasted it on my bedroom wall.When I went to camp my mom wrote me that she painted my bedroom walls and wouldn’t I be happy. Of course, this meant tearing the map to pieces. She also emptied out my bank account. ($70 was a lot of money to a little kid, especially in 1948).A parent should NEVER throw away a kid’s things without the kid’s permission.

Ellie’s not being fair to Michael. That junk just may be stuff he got for birthdays, Xmas etc. etc. she’s best to simply stash it n the basement till he has the chance to go through it and keep his favorite things. Am disappointed in Ellie.

Of course Lizzie is going to tell all and gloat about his loss. That’s what sisters are for…lol. She’ll be the first to cry when Michael gets sad about his losses, too.

Poor Michael! My mom would at least let me have a say in it.

Only time I ever got rid of my sons prized stuff was when he skipped on an apartment I had co-signed on and I sold all his Star Wars collection to pay the re-let fee and the additional rent he owed. He still talks about that and tells me how much more the stuff would be worth today……..his bill he had to pay somehow.

I agree, put the stuff in the basement and then ask him when he gets home what is important. My daughter just did the Clean while they are Gone thing to my grandsons while they were at camp but the stuff is all in bins waiting for them to ok it before it goes out, and then it will be given to charity.

It has taken most of the summer to clean out my daughter’s room (and we’re still not done). Unfortunately she doesn’t want to get rid of things, so I’ve asked her if it would be better if I do it on my own when she’s not there. Communication is important.

And all the comic books I never saved…I could be retired for REAL now

Birthday money is yours, not your parents. Doing chores and being paid for them is not your parents’ money. According to your theory, your salary is your employer’s money.

I agree that it should be put in the basement for him to sort through when he gets home. Hopefully he will not want to keep most of it. If she just gets rid of it before he gets home he may have a hard time forgiving her. I remember a friend of mine telling me when she was younger and still living at home she had a job and one day she went to work and came home to find that her younger sister had taken all her books from her bookshelf and sold them in a yard sale. The mother was ok with it saying my friend wouldn’t miss her books. I was utterly appalled. What a horrible thing for the sister to do and the mother to countenance!

But it was GOOD junk, Mom!

Our clinging to “stuff” is what fires the “hoarders”. Don’t let “stuff” rule you. Why we even pay monthly rent to house our extra stuff! Then that treasure trove is sold at auction on TV to the highest bidder after we stop paying the rent to let it live in it’s very own condo.

I’ll bet you don’t think a kid “owns” his toys or clothing, either. When a kid has money in a piggy bank, it is HIS and taking it is wrong no matter how you look at it.

My daughter is a hoarder. I begged her to let me take the outgrown children’s clothes to Goodwill, but she said she was going to sort them and take them to church for a rummage sale, or take them to our weekly village sale, or, or . . . . Now that I lack drive, energy, and ability to break my GoComics addiction, she’s allowing things to be given away. I’d gotten up a bunch of things to donate, but while I was gone someone set them outside. Now they’ve been rained on multiple times.

When I moved out of the house my mom did this. I went back a week later and found out that over $2000 worth of my electric gear and several boxes of tech manuals had just “disappeared” without a trace. Sadly to say I never forgave her for that.

uh oh

uh oh

Parenting is a learning process too. We all make mistakes. I “cleaned” my daughter’s room once too, throwing away mounds of “art projects”. Did I learn a lesson! Now on a cleaning day I take a picture of my child with said art, and usually my children can part with it.

When eBay came along, I replaced a lot of sentimental items that had been lost, damaged or thrown out along the way. One favorite doll, though, I never found, sob.

Parents who do that are just plain cruel…and stupid.

So, where did you "get’ or “earn” $70? Most likely it belonged to your folks to begin with.

Okay. So even if Arye Uygur DID get most [or all] of his/her money from their parents for birthdays, chores, etc., when they were a child . . . so what? That made it all right for his/her mother to just go in and empty out their bank account without permission? Are you serious?!? What drugs are you on? Because anyone who thinks doing something like that to a child is okay simply because the money originally came from their parents to begin with must be high on something!

I don’t know what they call it on the planet you’re from, but here on planet Earth, that’s called theft and just because it’s your parents taking it from you without your permission instead of a stranger doing it, that doesn’t make it any more right for them to do so. As a matter of fact . . . I consider it even more wrong because this is your CHILD you’re stealing from! How could you ever expect them to love and trust you ever again if you do something like this to them?!? :-(

Little ears have big mouths!

This is why you train the child to clean his own room. He keeps what is truly important to HIM, not what YOU think he would deem important, and the room is decluttered.

Some parents believe that kids are creatures that should NOT have money(they might waste it). If I worked and was able to buy something, it was his by default, he could do as he liked with it. This is a bad thing for a child, knowing that saving up(delayed gratification), could have negative consequences. Children are individuals, and anything that you do with them affects their lives.

Parents do certain things at their own risk. Raiding your kids bank account, taking their possession, or reading their diary are all things that might permanently damage their ability to trust you.

Does not matter who if first belonged too, once it is given it should under not be taken, especially without a conversation. Do you take back gift that you gave. It was more than likely bday money, christmas money or even an allowance. The point is, the money was not theirs to take.

That’s a mother for you. Ellie must be a Virgo. :)

I WAS THE FINK THAT DID THE EXACT SAME THING FOR MY BROTHER WHEN HE CAME HOME!!!!!!