I know you probably don’t like people responding to their own posts, but
I have some neat ideas for improving Family Circus while allowing it to
remain a good-hearted strip, unlike some of the angst and stuff described in
the Fox Trot and other parodies.  Come on, noone in my family has ever seen
a lot of the violence and stuff you people seem to want for it to be more
"real," or whatever.  Raise kids right, show them love, and they’ll be well-
adjusted, like the kids in FC!  That’s just his point!
     It might be harder for some parents, I admit, but FC can operate in this
system and improve.  Here is what I propose:

     1.  Move to 2 or 3 panels, Mr. Keane.  If you want cute stuff, it can
be 1, but the material isn’t as good as it used to be – even the stuff on
misc.kids would probably need 2;
     2.  Show some real-life stuff, but surround it with love to teach how
nice the world can be.  Here’s one idea:  Have a kid bring a friend home and
ask: "Can we keep him, Mommy?" like you would ask about an animal.  It would
be a cute thing a kid says, but would also lead into how troubled the kid’s
life is.  Have him/her get into lots of fights, etc., but show the child
gradually getting better socially as he/she is surrounded by love and attention.
Have the family adopt him/her eventually.
     3.  Show WHY the Keane family gets along so well in the Sunday strips,
where you have more room to expand.  Show the parents helping negotiations
over a toy or something, which can be VERY funny at times – I know, I’ve seen
it with my cousins.  May be a bit preachy, but you can minimize that rather
easilyby making it FUNYY!  Or, at least cute.

     Life is hard.  Some of you may not have grown up in such great homes.  I
had troubles my first couple years at college because I saw such problems in
the world that I didn’t see in my hometown, but now I’m over them.  I know
that you can improve people – I worked with Big Brothers and Big Sisters for
2 years, and other volunteers and I have seen how such volunteering has
helped children.  Maybe it paints too good a picture, but I think you can see
all hope is not lost for FC, if Mr. Keane would just concentrate on spreading a
little of the love around and showing how it can help others.
—
Doug Fowler: dx…@po.CWRU.edu      :    "Every baby born into the world is
Real home: Canton, Ohio             :  finer than the last."–Charles Dickens
 Trying to follow in the path of our :     "A baby is an inestimable
Lord;anything close will be a success:  blessing and bother."–Mark Twain