For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 16, 2017

riiiiiiiight

I am still like Michael when I do not take my ADHD drug.

Humorous.

My answers to Mike’s questions and comments:

Where’d the green on my thumb come from?

Answer: Normally I would say, “the colourist,” except the colourist apparently forgot to put that green in there, so it messes up my joke.

If you stare at the wallpaper long enough the pattern disappears.

Answer: I don’t see a pattern either, but I would be more concerned that the colour of the wall changes in every single panel. If my house did that, it would freak me out.

Mom has an oreo crumb on her chin.

Answer: That means there are no more oreos. Don’t bother looking for them. They are all gone.

She blinks a lot. I wonder if everyone blinks that much.

Answer: Not without eyelids they don’t.

I think all kids do this. I definitely remember doing exactly the same thing when my piano teacher would natter at me during lessons.

Elly is just happy that Michael wasn’t smart mouthing back at her.

Elly should have asked before leaving, “I know you heard what I said, but do you know what I was talking about?”

Michael’s training for marriage.

Well, she obviously wasn’t talking about the birds and the bees…

In one ear and out the other and didn’t hit a single brain cell during the trip!

Don’t just lecture, engage them in the conversation. Make them respond to what you are saying. It’s the only way to know they are really listening.

Like father, like son. John never listens either. A whole lot of problems in the world would be solved if you could just get the males to really listen!

My mother would stop every minute or so and ask me what she’d said. No escape route!

When I get bored I count how many lights are burned out, how many ceiling tiles have water damage, the patterns on the carpet squares, etc. I did that once during jury duty and got embarrassed as hell!

It’s kinda telling that Ellie is the only one getting to say anything, and she defines that as “a nice long chat.”

Elly is so clueless. If the teen is non-responsive, the teen is not listening. Mike was quiet the whole time and Elly should have caught on.

It seems that almost everyone finds looking at or near your eyes quietly with listening. I usually listen best when not looking and when fiddling with something. Numerous teachers (not the best ones, of course) and bosses and co-workers have struggled with that truth.

I tend to watch for signs of comprehension, ask questions, etc. But most of us who’ve worked in education pick right up on that through painful experience!

In 1988 when this comic strip was originally published, Lynn Johnston’s son Aaron was 15 and discovered one of the benefits of having a multimillionaire mother was he had an easy supply of money. Like many rich kids with ready money he started smoking pot. This was a habit that would continue for about 20 years.

While Lynn Johnston has admitted smoking pot during her hippy-dippy days of her young 20s, she did not approve of Aaron’s smoking and apparently did nothing to stop him aside from putting things in her comic strip.

SPOILER this part: In later years, she will introduce a character nicknamed Weed as an avatar for Aaron, and that was her way of letting her son know that she knew he smoked pot in a pretty unmistakable way.

Today’s comic strip is a lot subtler. It is the earliest I have seen where she hints about the subject as young Michael’s thought balloons are obvious stoner speak.