parenting-technique

A two-panel SMBC comic comparing parenting styles. Panel one is labeled MODERN PARENTING: a child shouts "I don't wanna brush my teeth! Why do you make me?!" The bespectacled parent sighs and patiently begins a scientific explanation, "Listen, there are bacteria on your teeth, and when they consume sugar they excrete-" but the child cuts them off, screaming again, "I don't wanna brush my teeth!" Panel two is labeled OUR WISE ANTECEDENTS: the child starts "I won't wanna-" and the smiling parent immediately interrupts with, "Have you heard the story of the kid who didn't act right and then got left in the woods and eaten by witches?" The joke is that old-fashioned terrifying folklore is more effective than calm modern reasoning. Votey: a serenely smiling face adds the gruesome punchline, "The neat thing is they ate the children's skin while they were alive. Wow!"