For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 04, 2009

Hopefully Lizzie won’t eat him, though she does seem to be sizing up the poor departed little dude in panel 3! :o)

Not only with the knowledge of overfeeding, but the fact that Elly knew the tank needed cleaning too. Michael might be too young to properly clean the bowl himself, and if Elly figured she wouldn’t have time to take care of the fish, then maybe they shouldn’t have gotten the fish?

I didn’t think goldfish bowls were ideal habitats for fish anyway, but I don’t remember where I heard that.

He seemed to have gotten over it by panel 4. I don’t think that kids get too attached to goldfish. Animals with fur are another story…

Today is going to be another Elly-bashing fest, I guess. I don’t see anything wrong with trying to explain what might have happened. We coddle our kids too much. They can handle the truth about a goldfish. We got a free fish at a carnival when I was a kid and it died a week or so later. We didn’t mourn Dirty Firty too long, that’s for sure.

Don’t all hit out at Elly! We’ve all been there before; it’s a learning curve. Next time, they’ll know to be more careful.

teach michael to gut a fish, then you’ll have a nice “frank patty”

Agreeing with lightenup and green_engineer. Elly isn’t a perfect mom, but who is? You do the best you can with what presents itself, and she’s a better example than many (if you’ve ever experienced real “irrational screaming” you know this.)

Who doesn’t remember being fascinated by dead creatures, wet, fuzzy or slimy, as a child! The kids will probably want to study the effects of time on Franks’ body.

These aren’t comic strips anymore. They’re psychiatric sessions:-P

I think you shouldn’t get a kid a pet until they’re old enough to take care of it. Why should Elly be stuck with the care of everything around there?

Poke it with a stick

Thanks Elly for explaining it so good to Michael. This will open his eyes to a whole new life for animals and the fact that you have to take care of them regularly.

Elly is most certainly not at fault. Its a fish, and sometimes they just die!

well kids, goldfish need care andproper feeding, remember to only feed them sparingly

To those on the Elly-bashing bandwagon please keep in mind this is a comic strip so we’re seeing their lives in a strobe light, just four static images. Comforting probably already happened before she took the fish out of the water, or between the frames. Now she’s got a dead fish to dispose of (before Lizzy eats it) and I’m sure once that more pressing task is dealt with, she’ll return to the comforting. She’s not heartless, but the point of the strip was John’s final comment and not the comforting of an upset child.

I hope they do a better job of taking care of Farley than they did that poor goldfish, Frank, if he died from being overfed and lived in a dirty bowl!

Farley was a good dog, and it was sad that he died.

Dirty Firty - I love it lightenup :o)

Hey mroberts88 you DID post it! You said you would, but I wasn’t sure if you really would :o)

Aww mroberts88 I can has explanation? What was wrong with the other avatar? ;o)

I can’t read what he’s saying….

A. Why is everything always Elly’s fault, and why can’t she do anything right? B. Why do we have to keep writing about Farley’s death? – if she goes thru these strips in a chronological order, it is many years down the road.

Sadly, I cannot relate. Im an earlier comic I told my pet story, and we’ve never had a fish, much less have one die. But Ive always thought a bunny would be cool….