My parents had us very young. We lived in a modest house. We built forts, we hiked, we went camping and they wanted us to be independent. It's how children grew up in the 1940s and 50s: outside all the time, playing in the dirt, riding your bike around.
I think it's a novelty for cartoon characters to cross over into another strip or panel occasionally.
Religion is organized to satisfy and guide the soul - politics does the same thing for the body.