For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 29, 2009

Nice try, kid.

I feel like that sometimes, Mike…

What would it matter?

Since I married her, she’s changed as much as my waistline.

Sure she’s your real mother since every mother hollers at their kid to clean their room.

Seriously, Michael. You’re not exactly Cinderella, you know.

Yes, she is. Start cleaning your room, you ungrateful brat.

LOL, legaleagle48! And the point is not the water drinking, howtheduck. Every kid (and most adults) will find something else to do that’s more interesting than what they’re supposed to be doing. Heck, I’m supposed to be cleaning up also, but here I am reading the comics.

Elly at her mom screaming best, reminds me of my daughter-in-law. The Gkids and I call her “the fire breathing dragon” behind her back.

No. We only have you because we lost a supid bet.

All I can say, Michael, is mother’s excuse is PMS , and my advice is do it!

When I was a kid and made a mess of toys all over the floor, my mum did not have to holler, yell and bawl at me for not cleaning them up in my bedroom. All she did was cleaning the mess in my bedroom while I was in the deaf school in Wash. state. I’d appreciated her to do that for me. :-)

My sister had a similar problem with her daughter not keeping her room clean. She solved it by doing her own cleaning… anything that was not where it should be was given to the local thrift shop.

My sister had a similar problem with her daughter not keeping her room clean. She solved it by doing her own cleaning… anything that was not where it should be was given to the local thrift shop.

Hahahahahah FishStix that’s classic! xD

There really should be more visitors logs.

Hmm, now perhaps this is why there are not….. ;o)

FishStix - Great! There is a visitors’ log at my husband’s place (which he told me to not bother signing - may be that’s why?) His papers are overflowing his desk, but I know better than to mess with them. I do vacuum his carpet when I visit, because we bought it to cover up the cold vinyl floor. I also go around and set out mouse traps, because mice keep getting in the plant, and finding their way to the office area.

I love Elly, she is so real. Every one of my friends and I had this yelling every now and again. Kids are so good at trying not to do what they don’t want to! And you forget that when you don’t have kids age 3-6. They push every button, they are masters.

If there was a strip with a perfect mother in it (family circus maybe?) I would avoid it. Real mothers don’t do everything right, they just do the best they can, which I think in the end is better than the stepford-wife-perfect-mother. Anyway, if your mother was perfect, you’d be neurotic because you’d never come close to measuring up.

Love the nagging via visitor log. That’s a great Mom!

Elly sometimes reminds me of my mom too but not this time since I know other moms also expected their kids to clean their rooms and had the same struggle to get them to do it as my mom did. But when I actually did clean up my room and get it in order I liked it a lot better. It feels good to know where stuff is and not have to search all over for it.

I have two audlt kids but when they where young I solved one problem of cleaning their rooms I told them to treat it as finding hidden treasure. It worked more on our son. And when they got older I taught them to wash clothes. I think they realize by taking care of their belongings it’s their room and took pride how much better it looks after and they would show us and we give them praise. My sister always wanted children after she married and could not pets are their children. Our mom does a lot of speach reptitution just to drive us nuts at times. But we adore her and assist her. My brother-in-law really gives back at her in fun like to joke with her.

@kab2rb, I think the most important thing you said was “and we give them praise”. It’s easy to remember to make a big fuss when people (children, employees, whoever) are doing things wrong, but it’s much more important to make sure they are praised when they do them right.

I suggest the following experiment: when you see something that really pleases you (it won’t work unless you mean it), say so. Standing in line to get the vaccination for the swine flu, I saw an elderly couple who were both wearing really beautiful sweaters. The more I looked, the more I liked them! So I told them that I liked both their sweaters! They were surprised, since I was a complete stranger, but what beautiful smiles I got! And now, whenever I think of those sweaters, I have a pair of beaming smiles to go with them!

@susan001, I feel sad that those scars did not heal.

@maizing, at a certain age, a kid ought to take responsibility for their room for themself. If it looks bad, just keep the door closed, so their mother doesn’t have to see it. But I’m curious how your sister’s method worked out. I can imagine two ways it could go:

your mother gets rid of the mess and everyone is happy;

your niece wants to keep her stuff so she starts cleaning up on her own.

Which way did it go?

Susan001 Please don’t allow your mothers mental illness to deprive you of the joy that comes from a marriage of whatever variation and children. I never had kids, didn’t want them when I was younger. Now I wish I’d have grit my teeth then and had some grandchildren now. Oh, the wasted years that can’t be recovered.

howtheduck: No, the point is not the water drinking. Has he spent several hours drinking one glass of water? Just because that is what he was doing when his Mom got mad does not mean that’s all he did in those hours.

This strip reminds me so much of my DAD when I was growing up. If he had spent as much time telling me that he loved me as he did constantly yelling at and grounding me for little things that didn’t really amount to anything (such as keeping my room as clean as *he* thought it should be), I probably wouldn’t be the painfully shy, timid, insecure, unsure-of-myself person that I am today (it’s a wonder I was able to trust a man long enough to get married!). And I wasn’t even a “bad” kid either. I guess my only real “crime” was that I wasn’t born the son he always wanted so that was my “punishment” for all his frustration and disappointments in life.

But despite all that, he was still my dad and I still loved him. And I don’t really blame him for being the terrible parent he was. Both of his parents had died by the time he was about 11 or 12 years of age and times were really tough back then anyhow. I don’t know what kind of person my grandfather was since he died LONG before I was born but I’m guessing he probably wasn’t all that great at parenting either. My dad just didn’t have a good, strong, positive male role model in his life to raise him and teach him how to be a (future) loving husband and father. All my dad had was 4 older sisters who, I’m sure, did the best they could to raise him after their parents died but, as I said, times were tough back then and they just didn’t have what it took to keep a stubborn, headstrong boy out of trouble. And they certainly didn’t have the skills OR the qualifications needed in order to teach him to be a good husband and father. But despite all that, I’m sure he did the best he could. I don’t hold anything against him except for the fact that he smoked himself to death 7 years ago at the age young age of 63.

Waaaay too much analysis for a cartoon.

gretchensmom- you seem like a very loving & forgiving person!

lol i remember seeing one of my friend’s mother just hollering at him and i asked my mom if she was his real mom.

howtheduck- your comment made me laugh loll.

love this strip, reminds me of my mom…she’s very good at tellin me she loves me too though..