Childproofing: It's not Rocket Science.....

For a purportedly family-FRIENDLY strip, Lynn seems to make use of a troubling source of 'comedy', doesn't she? I don't know about her merry band of sub-literate worshipers but I don't find child endangerment especially entertaining. We sort of got the impression she thought the children of the late twentieth century had life too soft when, through Elly, she exposed Elizabeth to a walking, talking hazard to her well-being: MICHAEL! Elly made token efforts to discipline the little monster but for, quite frankly, the wrong thing. She was much more focused on keeping the noise down than making certain her daughter was safe. We all know how Elly's failure to childproof the back gate nearly caused April's death and the lack of concern for the well-being of children that inspired it. Another area of concern is that Jim's second wife seems to think that child safety laws should be ignored simply because she sees them as an unnecessary inconvenience. We also see Robin constantly exposed to potentially life-threatening injury because his parents can't be bothered to safeguard his life. This is, of course, another reason why the dreaded Others shun the Pattersons: their reckless, selfish inability, an inability bordering on refusal, to protect the lives of the most vulnerable members of the family.