For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 30, 2017

That’s because, Michael, that’s fiction and this is (fictional) reality. (Locker money?)

Never take examples of life from a sitcom.

You’re lucky she only ragged on you Michael. Had you been my kid you’d have been grounded for a week, on your first week back to school!

When my mother got done with me my father would have kicked my butt….and rightfully so! Add to that no car and grounded for a week with no TV privileges. If there were cell phones and electronic games then I would have lost those, too!

“Strange … they don’t react like that on TV.” In TV mobster shows they do. The moms grab their sons by the throat, scream in their face, and then they knock the son senseless so he doesn’t forget to respect his mother! Mike is lucky he got away without Elly beating the snot out of him, because it looks like that’s just what she wanted to do.

LOL- great one. Mike being flippant and sarcastic and absolutely gets REAMED out for it. Probably the most “violent” you could show a mother being in the funnies, too. Now, a husband could get a smack (and still could!).

“Look kid, I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it!” — was always my favorite… (and no, my mother never said that).

I don’t blame Ellie for losing it on Michael. My mother would have decked me, and I probably would have decked my daughter.

Everyone worries about spoilers. But the top banner of the strip gives a lot of things away! :’-)

Michael learned that summer camp is not like Meatballs. Now he will learn that the difference between the public schools shown on the likes of Saved by the Bell as opposed to the government school he is forced to attend is the same as acting is to reality.

It might be time for Michael to start making his own lunch – and if he has a brown bag lunch, what does he need lunch money (locker money?) for?! Maybe to pay off the inevitable bully that was so predominant in school in the 80’s (and more so now, I gather).

My mom would have handed me my head. And don’t forget to put your hat on!!!

When I was in high school, (1967) we had a deposit on the combo lock for your locker, returned at the end of the school year.

I’d have been headed to school with a fat lip, if I ever talked back to my mother.

We argued, at lot, but I was always careful how far I pushed it, and how I framed the argument. Same thing with my father, I learned ( the hard way ) the boundaries of dissent.

LMAO @Michael and Lynn!!!

On the other hand, ELLY, Michael has a point. He’s 12, not five. Try treating him like it and maybe he won’t roll his eyes every time you nag him like that. And getting physical with him like that? Not cool. Ever. Just try it with me, and you’ll find your head being handed to you!

Been there. Don’t tell me "kids grow up’’ or “times change.” The requirement to respect and honor for one’s parents does NOT change.

And there’s the problem…

Lynn’s Notes:

Yes. I remember this very exchange. It was an impressive insult…my son had “the gift” and it was being used on ME!

Too bad parents don’t do that more often. Kids don’t respect themselves….much less any one else. No discipline. I would have never said anything lioke that to my mother. If I had, my Dad would have rearranged my teeth.

When my son was Mike’s age, he tried something like this on me. He was being scolded for something he had done, and he interrupted me and asked if I was on my period. He got slapped for that and told not to every ask ANY woman that question again.

When my oldest grandson was about 7, my daughter was on him about something he’d either done or not done. As she continued her incessant rant, he turned to me and earnestly asked: " Can’t somebody turn off the Yappomatic ? "

Couldn’t discipline him – I was laughing too hard, and his mother was ( for once ) rendered speechless.

So Canada has free medical but kids have to pay for their lockers?

Pay your mother as much as those TV moms get, Michael, and maybe she’ll let you sass her.

Growing up, we would a switching if we did something bad. Our property was covered in gallberry bushes, (a member of the holly family), and the thin, upright branches made perfect switches. When we got to be 7 or so, we’d have to go cut our own. You wanted to avoid getting a switching to begin with, but having to get your OWN switch was such an insult… Learned PDQ to fly right. By the age of 10, our parents would sit us down and talk things through with us. It was not abuse, not by any means, just the way they knew to deal with whatever we did wrong.

This isn’t TV, Michael… This is a comic strip. Try to remember that.

Oh come on Michael. You were on a roll with Martha. Do not drop the ball by freshmouthing your mother.