Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 06, 2010

She tried not to….

She heard every word!

Weird grain breads? OH NO!

Calvin sometimes are very… how says this… annoying? :)

But if you try, sometimes you get what you need……

That ungrateful little twit. I’d tell him to take it or leave it and to shut up.

Life is full of conflict, isn’t it?

U forgot to say “NOW!!!” LOL

“Oh, this isn’t what you wanted.” Tosses sandwich in garbage. “Tomorrow I’ll see if I can make one you like.”

Bet he catches on in less than a wek.

Jack Nicholson - “Five Easy Pieces”

My mother always did it, how she wanted and I had to say nothing1

caucel, annoying is the right word.

LX013 my Mother was the same, we ate what she cooked. Luckily. she was a good cook.

Oh, she was listening alright! Just eat it while it’s still on the table.

I never got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when I was a kid so I eat them now.

Should have given him what he wanted Mom… Thick real thick “Chucky” peanut butter piled high keeping in mind there was nothing said about a glass of milk to wash it down. Peace and quiet!

Finicky eater! You know how long a dog will not eat a new dog food before it finally gets hungry and starts to scarf down? I’ll bet it’sabout the same for a Calvin.

No tip for her.

Enjoy it while you can Calvin, when you are in college you look back longingly on those home-cooked meals.

wow! Scary eyes! After looking at those, I won’t dare to ask such questions Calvin.

This little ENFP’s reaching all the way down to the demonic pit of his subconscious for this tantrum. Don’t tolerate it, Mom, or you really won’t ever get any peace.

I usually do the rundown of what we have and then there’s a decision. If you change your mind after that then I say, “I’ll do that next time or we’ll have that next time you remind me.” I’ve been at friend’s house’s with their kids or their parents where they’ll toss it and start over again. At my house we have family meals, not like in a restaurant, there’s no take backs!

Wow Mom, if looks could kill!

This ain’t Burger King. You’ll have it my way or you won’t have it at all.

You are being rude Calvin….

Fer Lefer & WoodEye You took the words right out of my mouth.

sjoujke I got far too many more than my fill of PB&J sandwiches as well as those process cheese sandwiches as a kid. That’s why I don’t eat them now.

Ah, Calvin, you forgot the magic word.

sad thing is you see kids talking to their parents like that and getting away with it almost any time you so shopping.

Being that this strip is many years old, I can see where the idea for “Kitchen Hell” came from (or whatever the name of that TV show is, where several contestants-cooks work under the orders of one cheff from hell)

Good idea PaulM. I have a 6 yr. old son that has tried that “‘tude” with me in the past.

So what are you all saying? Kids can’t have preferences too? How convenient for you all to relegate him down to the same level as the family pet. You probably put the kid out on the patio before you lock up and go to bed too.

tell him if he doesn’t want to eat it then make it himself.that could be a mistake with calvin,lol.

Calvin…..the poster child for birth control.

A good way to eat peanut butter is to spread it on a slice of apple (yummy & healthy).

I love the way Calvin knows what he wants & demands what he wants…..if he would learn to use some tact (and the magic word) he might even get what he wants. The thesis for this strip (look at Mom’s eyes in panel four), seems to be “making demands in an imperious manner will get you nowhere.”

Mom heard exactly what you said Calvin. That’s why you got it the way you did.

“Weird grain” breads are the real ‘normal’ (much more nutricious with the germ and bran retained), and I like super chunky peanut butter and jam on toast (preferably open-faced). Cut it any way you want; it tastes the same. However, “To Each His Own”. It’s your funeral, sooner with white bread. :o)

Margue: My mother was a good cook when she wanted, but only then!

You have three choices at this point, eat the sandwich, make your own, or go hungry.

bow, bow, bow.

Wadia want for nuthin? A rrrrubber biscuit?

When my mother asked if I liked her cooking, my response was “I’m eatin it aint I”.

katemonster…exactly!

Calvin should be less demanding and ask politely for his sandwich to be made his way. Whenever you demand anything you will create resentment and the person will NOT want to do it the way you demand.

He’s Andy Capp as a child … check today’s strip.

johnnydoc5 - You consider peanut butter and jelly home cooking? That is so sad, I am sorry.

When my little brother was about Calvin’s age the only thing he would eat was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They had to be made with the peanut butter spread on the piece of bread to the left and jelly on the piece of bread to the right. He would supervise the making of the sandwich. I usually got the honor of making the sandwich, so I randomly switched the pieces of bread back and forth. He got really upset during the times it was wrong (hee-hee). And then it had to be the jelly piece of bread on top, another opportunity to cause upset (hee-hee). But he was always fine once it was switched back, and I did cut it the right way or I would have gotten in trouble. Hmm… I wonder why I didn’t get in trouble for messing with him.

His behaviour is maybe cute but a fantasy it does not happen that way

I know how Calvin feels. I don’t like bread with grains in it either, but my mom buys it anyway (for the record, I’m 16 and don’t have my first job yet)

Gosh. What a picky little kid. But I was like that too. :P

do you want to eat it or wear it

“Weren’t you listening?”

Sure she was. Now, if you want a sandwich made for you, here it is. Next time, you make your own, and you can get it exactly right!

And, if necessary, clean the kitchen up afterward.

@LuvH8, maybe it’s like that line in, I think, Freaky Friday–the daughter answers her mom’s question about why the two kids fight so much, and whether they will ever stop by saying, “Probably not–it’s too much fun,” or something to that effect.

No substitutions!

I always told my kids democracy ended at the sidewalk so they did not get a vote (for anything, including food served) & I did not run a restaurant.

Although I agree saying please would have helped Calvin in this case.

There were no menus in my mom’s kitchen….and no complaint department either.

This strip is funny.. But your guys’ “serious” comments on the subject and Calvins’ manners are WAY funnier!! IT’S A COMIC STRIP!!! READ IT, LAUGH AT IT, GET OVER IT….

On another note, I love Calvin and Hobbes. Since I was a young young boy, (I am now 29.) Nothing but great happy memories with those two… What a great experience being a kid was. The C&H strips make me wish I would have taken advatage of it more. sigh.

The author recently told everyone he quit writing hobbes because he wanted to go out on the top of his game. I guess RESELLING you best counts as the top of the game. The yuks keep on coming, like a replay of Marx Bros. movie.

I never even see white bread anymore, except when served with BBQ.

I can’t believe a peanutbutter sandwich got 62 (well, now 63) responses. By the way, when Roseanne gave DJ a peanutbutter sandwich, he says, “Mom, I like the jelly on the top.” Roseanne stares at him and flips the sandwich over on his plate with a plop right in front of him. There! Problem solved.

Yes, it’s a comic strip. Yes, it is funny. But analizing Calvin and his relationships adds to the fun. Comments are often nostalgic for one’s own childhood or that of children now grown. I appreciate all comments except the ones that are rude to other readers.

I was a very compliant child. I enjoy Calvin’s clear sense of who he is and what he wants, as obnoxious as it might seem. I think he speaks for all of us who ignored our needs and desires in order to please.

Oh yeah, she heard you Calvin. How else could she have created the perfect anti-sandwich?

Why couldn’t she just make the stinking thing the way she already knows he likes it? It would have been easier on everyone. Throw some peanut butter on a piece of paper, I mean Wonder Bread, and cut it. But no!

Poor Calvin.

@freeholder1, a couple of other reasons to quit:

Refusal to license the images when the syndicate keeps on pressuring him to do so–i.e., he didn’t resell them!

Growing irritation at the limits of the drawing, especially as Sunday strips keep getting printed in smaller sizes.

No, mrslukeskywalker, I don’t particularly blame Calvin–except for his lack of manners or gratitude. THat makes this a teachable moment, I think.

The new bride has just prepared the couple’s first meal. As she serves it, she says, “My mother taught me how to cook. My best things are meatloaf and apple pie.” The new husband looks at his plate and says, “Which one is this?”

[Sorry. I know that’s a chauvinistic joke.]

It would have been exactly as you wanted if you’d kept your big mouth shut.

I agree Bunnyface (bmonk).

Dear bmonk, I love your new theme!

jrbj:

No one is saying that Calvin can’t have preferences regarding his PB&J sandwich and that he’s no better than the family pet. It’s the obnoxious way he expressed those preferences that tend to rub people like me the wrong way. I loved PB&J sandwiches when I was a kid (I still do!) and while I preferred the chunky kind of peanut butter, I ate whatever (and however!) it was put in front of me — no sarcasm or smart remarks allowed! I just don’t believe people should talk that way to other people (it’s demoralizing, it’s dehumanizing and it’s just plain wrong), but no child, especially, ought to be allowed to talk that way to their parents! If I had talked that way to my mother, not only would it have made her cry but once my father heard what I had done, I would have gotten the SPANKING of my life for doing so … and I would have DESERVED it!!!!!!!!!!

mrslukeskywalker:

It’s people like you that make the world as bad as it is today! Yes, it would have been easier to do it the way he wanted it but what if the way he wanted it this time was different than the way he wanted it last time???!!! Should he still have been allowed to talk to his mother that way??? Children should be listened to, of course, but they should NOT be allowed to be disrespectful! They need to not only be taught proper manners but they also need to be taught how to treat others the way they want to be treated. Too many parents today are just allowing their children to run amok and raise themselves. The word “no” is not being used nearly enough, if it’s even being used AT ALL!!! Kids don’t know right from wrong unless they’re taught it. Kids these days are given what they want, when they want it. And if someone else has something they don’t and they want it, then they just take it. Who’s going to punish that kind of behavior? Certainly not the parents! That’s when the law has to step in. It’s no wonder that we have so many juvenile offenders who then grow up to become hard-core offenders! The jails are so overcrowded that more and more keep needing to be built all the time! Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen to Calvin when he grows up but he certainly seems to be heading in what I consider the wrong direction where his attitude is concerned!!!

Most of the time, I appreciate Calvin’s precocious behavior and intelligent mind. I wish I could have been one tenth that smart when I was his age! But I was raised by old-fashioned parents who believed in everyone behaving properly and civilly … so when it comes to the subject of children being allowed to talk to their parents any way they want to no matter how disrespectful it is, then this is where we’re going to have to agree to disagree.

Friend of mine told me about how he used to be a brat. His grandmother cured him quickly the first day he spent at her house. She asked him, “Would you like a peanut butter sandwich?” “Sure, grandma.” “Good, you can fix me one, too.” He said he learned not to be spoiled very quickly after that.

What a fuss over a comic! Of course Bill Watterson couldn’t have planned the comic to be abrasive and confrontational, could he? To get a rise out of both sides of the audience? Nah, he’s not that clever.

Is he?

GretchensMom said, about 2 hours ago

You are absolutely correct.

JP Steve: Of course Bill W. was (and he said so). And, I hope, most of us realize that. That’s why a lot of us are talking to Calvin and Mom, not to Bill W.! :))

Might have been a good opportunity for teaching some manners (whatever they are). If Calvin asks nicely he could have what he wants. Wouldn’t probably kill her to cut it on the diag. Wouldn’t probably kill him to say please.

Must say I agree with Gretchen’s Mom. Manners are the oil that greases civilizations’ wheels. (a misquote from somewhere in the depths of my memories, sorry).

Hey, folks, this is a strip based on a little guy’s interpretation of the world around him! Hobbs is a stuffed tiger to everyone except Calvin, and the under-the-bed monsters exist only in his imagination. Give the little guy some breathing room here. So far as he’s concerned his demands are reasonable and fair, he’s just not figured out the real world yet, much to our delight and glee. If he were what everyone seems to want him to be, there wouldn’t be a strip for us to read.

Hey wanna trade for an anchovy, marshmallow?

OK. OK. and a quarter……..

Wow, so you people agree with, and think what GretchensMom said was mannerly? Proves what I say about comprehension here.

This is mannerly to some of you? “mrslukeskywalker: It’s people like you that make the world as bad as it is today!”

Her account won’t be here long.

If Bill Watterson did make 6 year old Calvin with manners and rational thinking, this strip wouldn’t be funny. At least I can understand that and don’t need to rattle on everyday against the main character. He is what he is for a reason. He’s 6. A lesson in manners in the next 4 panels just wouldn’t be funny. This IS A COMIC STRIP.

calvin is a picky freak

A lot of people apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed on Saturday! Maybe it’s time you all stopped looking to Fox News for cues on civility and good manners!

Reading this strip makes me wonder (providing it could happen) how Calvin and Cartman would get along if they were in a situation where they were hanging out together. Calvin’s Mom is very much the opposite of Cartman’s crack-whore Mom.

not all Grain Breads are “Wierd” some are actually quite good.

The Magical words:"Please and thank you, Calvin.