For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 23, 2010

ohhh I hated Parent/Teacher conferences!

Teachers are just as anxious about Parent - Teacher conferences.

What’s so bad about them? I look forward to them because teachers see your kids for most of the day and they seem to know a different side of them. I think they’re so interesting.

(I’m sure there will be the usual comments on Elly being competent and sensitive… sigh. Let’s get ready to rumble.)

We usually really enjoyed the PTCs. It was one time when we could put forth our side and learn their side. Sometimes it was an eye opener for the teacher, sometimes for us but always something neither of us wanted to miss (just one or the other had to at times because of work schedules) And with our youngest we were able to correct some bad assumptions on the part of her grade K teacher, which made things easier on both the child and the teacher.

I always thought that Elly is probably not incompetent or insensitive. Each strip is sort of a single slice out of a day, it doesn’t show the whole day. And all parents have those “oh crud, I could have managed that better” moments, those are what she draws because people with kids can relate to those moments. That’s what makes them funny.

Okay, now picture Elly shaving and dentist brushing his teeth. That would’ve been the funniest last panel ever.

I remember my teenage years and early 20s telling my mom I’d do things so differently than her. I knew better and my kids would be great. Now I have a child and I had a conversation with my mom. She said “now you understand.”

howtheduck, my husband just bought a corded electric razor a few years ago because it was the cheapest razor at Walmart :p

lightenup (That was worth skimming this page for, have fun & good luck!)

As a homeschool mom, I always enjoyed Parent-Teacher Conferences. (Usually that meant my hubby was taking me out for a dinner date!)

Teacher’s fear me as a parent.

Elly and John Patterson, good luck for your first PTCs!

I am a teacher; believe me , the conferences are pretty hellish for us too.

Summerdog, “teachers” is a plural, not a possessive, lose the apostrophe, please. And write 50 times, “TEACHERS FEAR ME AS A PARENT” correctly.

The age old question>who is it more unnerving too, the parents or the kids?

That frumpy grandma dress says it all about her for the rest of time, and she’s still in her 20’s here.

Hey, LuvH8, good to hear from you! :-)

I hated those….I still do.

Thank you lightenup I may start reading this strip again now that we are over most of the angst. I see you stuck through it. Congratulations on your fortitude!

I found a “FB or FW” comic I had saved. It must have been at least 10 years old. At the time I found it, Mike was in his 20s but the strip that I came across, he must have been a 10 year old.

Can someone please tell me how Lynn Johnston ages her characters when you’re following her strip on a day-to-day basis?

Okay, jaeldid. When do you want me to turn it in to you?