You don’t always know when you’ve been deceived, and that’s exactly my point. There are probably many more times you were deceived by someone you trusted and continued to be deceived by them., but you wouldn’t know, because you were deceived.

Bullied. At least then I know where I stand and who to avoid.

Yeah. I’m going to say keep trying with the therapy thing.

If you actually read it (or at least half of it, it was too long for me to finish) the author isn’t letting them play tag in a museum or anything crazy like that. There are people that do that kind of stuff, and there are limits to how wild your kids should get, but the author sounds like a reasonable parent comparing themselves to an unreasonable standard that they assume others are comparing them to.

Don’t have to deal with this anymore, because mine are all at least tweenage.

It’s a balancing act, and sometimes running around a little is fine this day in this space, but not another day in a similar space.

I’m not going to act like I’ve never given my kids an iPad to keep them quiet for a while, but it would be refreshing to see MORE kids playing trains and Hot Wheels instead of sitting in front of a screen.

It’s much harder for the kids to create their own fun when a device just spews nonstop entertainment at then. Why use your own imagination, when there’s always someone else’s available to watch, play, listen to?

There’s a HUGE gray area between “children should be silent and invisible” and “HOW DID YOU GET ON THE ROOF OF WALMART?!?”. Neither of those extremes are good, and sometimes, as parents we learn during or afterwards that maybe this wasn’t the best place to play Hot Wheels. But a lot of the time, it’s not hurting anyone.

I think you should talk less and listen more in this thread. There is a lot for you to learn.

I’ll give you a head start, and then I’m coming after you as a ghost!

Why is there so much setup just to tell a bad joke?

First frame is irrelevant.

Second frame text could be reduced to fit into the third frame.

Third frame is just there to warm us that we’re about to hear a bad joke.

Fourth frame tells the bad joke, and then assure itself that it really was a bad joke.

If you really wanted to tell a Village People joke, why not put it in one frame? Have those three uniformed people walk up to the counter and Bear can say their joke.

I never claimed that the thoughts were always relevant to others.

The reason they don’t know what’s happening is because they’ve already moved on to thinking about other things. They’ve gone down a mental rabbit hole so fast, it’s going to take some time to get back to that conversation that was happening moments ago.

Alcohol makes you act without thinking, pot makes you think without action.

Those are just assholes who happen to smoke

There’s some in every crowd.

That’s funny. That was the first thing that popped in my head. I don’t know how to pronounce any of your favorite Scandinavian bands’ names, but I think we’ll get along just fine.

“We need to talk when you get here.”

If we’re not going to talk about it now, why not wait to bring it up until I’m there?

I think I might be okay with this one. If I think I’m going over there for a fun get together, but I’m ambushed with a serious discussion (almost always very bad) it’s going to be more challenging for me. I think the warning would prepare me for what’s about to happen.

Share fun pictures and interesting conversation topics!

This probably isn’t for me then. Dad lore IS my childhood.

Can you explain? I don’t know what that means.

Nice.

People can’t disappoint you when you just assume everyone’s a piece of shit!

Love is one of those things that is ruined by logic.

It doesn’t make sense, and you don’t “decide” to love someone, love chooses you.

Don’t worry about it. Live your life. You may be perfectly content not having a romantic partner, or at some point you may get lonely enough to go out and meet more people, and find someone who fits you. Don’t force it, and don’t feel like you need to “have” someone just because other people expect it.

Good luck, and have fun!

Don’t get me wrong, but there’s two things I often hear around these parts.

“All content should be in one place”

And

“Don’t like it? Create your own community!”