For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 19, 2019

harsh

Didn’t she just go through a bad perm not too long ago?

Mike wants a hip mom. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. He thinks his friends’ s moms are hip and his mom is not. Classical teen – all about perceptions. Elly is not trendy – she is the traditional and classical type and wears what is familiar and comfortable to her. Mike sees some moms who could pass for his friends’ s sisters and is wishing his mom looks like that – he’d be the cool guy with a hip mom.

When your kid is being disrespectful, respond by being even meaner right back. That will teach him.

Michael has it reversed. It’s when women get older and start cutting their hair shorter, maybe to make caring for it easier is when they start looking older to me. That was my perception of Sharon Stone when she started wearing hers short. In contrast, Goldie Hawn and some others kept wearing their hair long and styled the same way they did as when they were younger, and they always get complimented on how young they still look.

That’s not set in stone….just my observation.

Gosh Mike, rude!

If you can’t take it, Mike, don’t dish it out. It’s rude anyway to say those sorts of things to your mother anyway.

Speaking as an older woman, I think long hair makes you look old. Short and sassy is the way to go! We also have a lot less patience to deal with all that hair.

Not set in stone…just my observation. :)

If you’re going to go around criticizing people Michael, (especially your mother) you’d better learn to take it. It’s the parents’ job to raise the children, not the other way around.

Hypocrite, oblivious to his own faults while attacking those he claims to find in others. He vastly improved as he became an adult. Or did he?

Growing up is about learning Michael and you just learned a lesson, though you don’t know it yet.

Such a tremendous ego of Mike’s!

I understand the criticism bit – the one who always criticizes is the one who gets bent out of shape the moment the criticism is aimed at him.

A lot depends on the shape of your face. If you have a long chin along with a thin face, long straight hair is going to add at least 10 years.

Lynn’s Comments:

Readers were always suggesting I give Elly a more modern hairstyle. They were right…she really did need a change. The trouble is it’s hard to change a cartoon character’s established “look.” Elly’s hairstyle was part of her trademark; her recognizable image. Even in sitcoms, the characters tend to keep their “look.” I managed to placate the critics by giving Elly a bun or a French roll from time to time, but her hair remained long for the length of the strip!

Source: fborfw.com/strip_fix

Pot. Kettle. Black. Sauce. Goose. Gander.

The character ‘Michael’ often reminds me of why I was right to decide not to have children…

living with a teenage boy is a special kind of hell.

The particular cartoon, as cute and funny as it is, most certainly describes the ‘younger’ generation today – and that is not funny! Snowflakes is about the best term I have ever heard that describes them.

We used to refer to it as “getting your ears lowered” when someone with long hair finally got a haircut.

I’m a card carrying baby boomer, and I have below the shoulder length, dyed mousy brown hair. But I wear it in an up do. Gives the face a little lifted look. My face is absolutely round! (wide cheek bones)

Oooooh. Poor Michael, getting criticized. And just what does he think he was doing, pray tell?

Swear to God, what is it with this kid? The only comment I ever made about my Mom’s appearance was when she took to wearing cute little hats during her last years. I told her she would’ve looked appropriate sitting on a large mushroom and playing a flute.

Hahaha, take that, Michael!

I get the irony here is that Mike can dish it out, but he can’t take it. However Elly (sp?) was a bit mean with her comment. He just called her old fashion, not compared her to anything like she did with him.

In the meantime Farley is thinking, “Hey! Does this mean she wants me to get my hair done, comparing me to a teenage boy?”

I still remember when one of our kids told us that our taste in music was old and we should really become familiar with the new stuff. I asked, “like what”. He had no good answer.

One evening when the family was getting ready to go to some event at the high school, one of my younger brothers commented to our mother, “Please put on plenty of face makeup, because I don’t want the other kids to know my mom has pimples!” (She did have a bit of left-over acne, but no big deal.) I wanted to clobber him! But Mom said it was okay, not to worry about it. Sure enough, he grew up just fine!

Right there in one installment of this strip you have a poignant commentary on what was wrong with the ’70s and much of the ’80s. Instead of thinking outside of the box, professing individualism, etc., the sheep followed the flavor of the month and strove to be in lockstep with whatever fad came along. “Old fashioned?” “Out of style?” More like, “I bow the knee to whatever trend comes along, because I am afraid to be myself because I am in terror about what others might think about me”. Pitiful.