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Reading all the comments about going back to the beginning days of the strip made me appreciate how younger readers might view them as anachronistic. Well, that really was the way things were and it all seemed natural at the time. I am really glad that today's women have a much better chance at getting into the professional schools like medicine and law, get equal pay (almost) and other things like dramatically increased executive and leadership roles.

In some ways, life was a bit easier in the early days. Stay at home Moms VS. Daycare/2 incomes needed to live a good life now/didn't kill ourselves with overwork and ambitious career striving that often mark the current era. Lynn's big message of warm family love, coping with daily joys and sorrows coupled with gentle humor make FBFW very appealing to me.

Personally, I stopped looking at the Washington Post's comic section when they dropped the strip and therefor I really appreciate this website so I cantinue the journey. Every new "old" strip is a joy for me. So, even though the days-gone-by setting is dead-on accurate and maybe it's chief value should be its use as a lens for us all when we remember with mingled nostalgia and some regret the way things used to be.

Peter B, Fairfax, VA

Normally, I love reading the daily script and wouldn't miss logging in and enjoying the gentle humour....But the episode today with respect to the potty training has left me revolted. One of the worst things that I think we ever do is descend to this horror of "baby talk". You can express the deepest love and concern in plain and simple English and even our own two children (34 and 36)are glad that we did just that and will tell you so. Oh sure, this is just my opinion. Others who think that "baby talk" is essential will disagree, but then I disagree with them too. Apart from that, please keep on drawing....Let's face it, one item of friction in 15 years or so isn't bad.

Tony Y, Queensland, AU

just a comment on rotary phones, I had a off white princess cradle rotary phone from 1980 to 1988. I had problems with the dial tone so I had to discard it and buy a touch phone. My parents also had a rotary phone until 1984 when my dad had to get a hearing impaired phone. Those phones were only touch tone.

When Lynn started to write the strips she was living in Lynn Lake , Manitoba. Being a fellow Manitoban I can relate to living in rural Manitoba . My sister presently lives in northern Manitoba . My grandparents had a partyline as late as the mid seventies.I have friends who grew up in such northern communities as the fictional Mtigwaki. I urge readers to read up on life in Manitoba and in northern Ontario and you will understand where Lynn is coming from. Alot of the northern communities in Manitoba and Ontario are accessible by plane and the way of life was depicted in Mtigawaki. Once one goes outside the perimeter of Winnipeg, many communities are small fa!rming communities.

I am a nurse and I have taken care of people from the reserves in nothern Manitoba. The women sewed beads on mocassions by hand and women did have back cradles to carry their babes in just like you see in the old western movies, Yes Winnipeg , Toronto, and Vancouver are all big urban cities but the towns in the rural area are alot like Lynn has depicted in her strips.

Cindy, Winnipeg, MB

I am so happy that you are rerunning the Pattersons. I am 65 and have read the Pattersons since they were first offered in the Long Island Newsday. I have lived and laughed with them so long that they are like my family. When are you going to show the story of when the frozen turkey fell on the husband's foot and he have to do his dental practice with a cast on? Thank you, thank you, thank you for all these years. And now I have bookmarked your website!

Lois H, Queens, NY

I began following the strip since you began in the 70's when my own children were the same age as yours. This week's strip is about Lizzy's potty training. My absolute favorite strip goes back to the 70's where Lizzy uses the potty successfully and proudly carries it to you for approval, odor wafting as she passes through a crowd of guests. I know you're starting the strip from the beginning with memories, but I would LOVE it if you would rerun that strip.

Jane M, Buffalo, NY

Well, I have given this "go back to the beginning" bit a fair chance but I can't say I'm digging it and I am sorry to say that I don't look forward to reading FBFW anymore. Like many people here, I had been an avid follower and emotionally attached to "just a comic strip"...it was fun and relevant to read everyday. But, for me that is gone.

I never could quite understand why Lynn wanted to go back and re-do it from the beginning. I think the idea that made FBFW so intriguing to so many people was the fact that time passed and characters grew and changed. I read Lynn's letter about why she decided to do this and I respect her thoughts and feelings about her decision. If Lynn wanted to go back to a simpler style and less complicated storyline, I wish she would have taken that twist with Michael and Deanna's life and kept it contemporary, perhaps setting other characters less in the main story although they would still exist and occasionally come back.

I don't find any of these outdated "the way things were" ideas humorous at all. And, yes, I lived through those times, too.I realize people here sometimes get pretty emotional about any criticism toward Lynn but I am only voicing my opinion and I am quite aware many do not share it.

Sue S, CA

I've been reading the complaints concerning this strip's place "in the past" and not reflecting current society. You want 2009? Turn on the news. I want a sweet family I can peek at once a day and smile. There are timeless family "truths" portrayed daily in this strip which will keep it firmly placed in current times. Also, it did not take me long to start enjoying the simpler drawings. Charming!!

Rosemary K, CT

As I recall from several theme lines, Elly didn't graduate from college. How could she have majored in English?

Mark, Alabama

I just wanted to point out that FBOFW began it's run in 1979. That's 30 years ago folks. We're talking about the late 70's..not the 80's here. Michael and I are right around the same age and I'm loving these "old" strips. My mom was a stay at home mom as I am today. The new "old" strips have me nostalgic for my own childhood yet are still relevant to my life as a mom and wife in the present day.

Jen, NY

Somehow, the art work appears more detailed and sophisticated than in the earlier strips. Is this just my imagination, or is there a difference?

As to the social and marital values and sex roles shown in the strip - yes, things were changing in the late 'seventies and early 'eighties and certainly Lynn's real life in those years reflects this.And, yes, the roots of those changes can be traced to the turbulent years of the 'sixties, although they did not begin to become middle class mainstream, I believe, until well into the 'seventies.

Thus, my first point: the situations shown need not reflect accurately on every point Lynn's real life, or even necessarily all of her present values and beliefs.

Secondly, especially in small towns and more rural areas, the full-time, stay-at-home wife, especially the younger wife with young children, was still common enough. This was true of my own family between 1975 and 1982, for example, when my wife resigned her full-time, professional position to be a full-time mother at home until our twins had left kindergarten and were into Grade 1. During those years, she was entirely dependent on myself as the traditional "breadwinner," and I was entirely dependent on her to keep the home, prepare the meals and do 90% of the details involved in raising infants and very young children. We both did our jobs, and harmony reigned, most of the time.We believe to this day our children benefitted and, as adults today, they say so as well.

As neither of our adult children has thus far produced a child, we must wait and see if they will make the same financial and personal sacrifice as we did - if they do . I see no reason why Lynn should alter her strip story line or character relations to reflect what some say is the new norm of the present century. Perhaps, in time, a reaction will set in against this new norm as well. After all, what is "socially constructed" can certainly be "socially deconstructed."

As to the strip character, Ellie, bemoaning the apparent waste or irrelevance of her university studies in English Literature, we should all keep in mind this is not actually so. Her university experiences will give her a deeper understanding and better comprehension of her society and her own potentialities, especially for the coming years, than may at first be apparent in the midst of potty training. I wonder if the language experts and cognitive psychologists in the audience have any technicalopinions as to whether one should address young children in "baby talk" or in ordinary language.

As to sending Michael, at his apparent age, to his room without an evening meal, I see no problem with this. As "John" correctly observes in the strip, Michael is a well-fed, healthy child, and missing one evening meal will have no impact on his health at all. Of course, it would be different if he was being denied food or consistently being improperly fed, but this is clearly not the case. To those correspondents who used the term "child abuse" in relation to this matter, a piece of advice - moderate your language, lest very serious matters be trivialized by inappropriate and perjorative labels.

John P, Canada