Life — September 18, 1924 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a humorous four-panel sequence titled "LIFE" showing children on a wooden dock or pier. The comic illustrates a child named Skippy attempting increasingly risky dives while two adults watch nervously from the left. The sequence escalates from a standing dive to a progressively more dangerous belly-flop into water, ending with the child falling off the dock entirely. The caption's dialogue addresses safety concerns: one adult questions why Skippy didn't use proper diving technique ("dive with his hands over his head"), while the other responds that they "maybe get 'em busted—when he don't know if it's rock bottom or not!" The satire mocks parental anxiety about children's water safety and the tension between allowing kids physical freedom versus protecting them from injury.