For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 31, 2010

So are the pants… and your allowance.

He did only cut the pocket, it won’t show when he wears them. And really Elly, what parent doesn’t check pockets?

I don’t have kids but I check my husband’s pockets. Sometimes there’s a bit of change in them.

I also (after an incident with loose change banging around in the washer..) I call those bits of change tips:-) And the pocket can be fixed. I laughed when I saw this, any of our three could have done the same thing!

never checked pockets, house rule was if they’re in the laundry then they are ready to be wash… pockets emptied by the wearer…

Well, Michael did cut to the chase.

\\//_

How come my lady finds dollars and quarters and I only find washers? And what’s with these drier sheets? do they do anything but cost money?

if i ever did that my mum will not allow me to go on the web for weeks!

literal children…..

several Mothers have discovered this - and all one can do is have a good laugh.

@ Susan001 - peanut butter will remove gum from hair, but doesn’t work as well with clothing. Best way is to freeze the gum, then peel it off. However - doesn’t work so well when the gum’s been melted all over everything by heat.

howtheduck said, about 8 hours ago

The strangest part is where it looks like Elly expects Michael to come up with a solution to the problem. There are a number of ways to get gum out of clothing, but I don’t expect a 6-year-old to know them

She didn’t, howtheduck. It was a rhetorical question; Michael is just too young to recognize one when he hears it.

Very creative, Michael. Now it should be his job to check the pockets of his clothes before they’re washed. My kids do that and straighten out the balled-up socks before they’re laundered. If you do everything for your kids, they will never learn.

Definitely rhetorical- if kids mess something up, they need to see the consequences.

Taking notes… yes, children should learn to check their pockets, though the implementation of that rule and the penalties still escape me. Though I think I may do second checks for a while yet. We don’t have the “stuff-in-pockets” problem yet, but it’s coming….

Michael just did what his mom told him to do, he got rid of the gum that was in his pants pocket. At least he didn’t cut more than the pocket in his pants. I and my family had a really good laugh at this one. I agree with longandgreen, if it’s in the laundry, then it’s ready to be washed. The wearer of the clothes have been told to check their pockets before it goes into the wash. If anything is left in the pockets they will be kept accountable for what’s in them and any damage it does.

@ Lewreader, dryer sheets are great for removing dog hair. I’ll throw some clothes in the dryer for 2-3 minutes with a dryer sheet if they have lots of dog hair on them.

HowtheDuck, I do not check the pockets of my kids before I wash their clothes, because they have been washing their own clothes since they were five. I do wash my husband’s clothes, but he checks his own pockets before he puts them in the wash, since my rule is “Whoever does the laundry keeps anything in the pockets.” I get my latte money that way.

My husband constantly leaves his Listerine breath strips in his pockets and, as I don’t check pockets - after all, he is 50 - our clothes are often minty fresh. I’m just glad the strips dissolve and the case falls to the bottom of the washer to be found as it is being emptied.

The strip is so funny especially the last panel is so outrageously funny!

Susan001 said, about 4 hours ago

I’m not sure, but doesn’t peanut butter remove gum?

That was what I planned to post the comment about the peanut butter to remove the gum from the clothing. catlady1 said that it would not work well to remove the gum from the clothing.

Ice placed on the gum, then shatter the gum is supposed to work. Goo Gone works sometimes, but you have to watch out for stains.

Never put food in your pocket! He’ll learn that someday, probably when he puts something like chocolate in there. ;)

Maybe if she taught him something for a change, instead of screaming like a maniac, he’d have a clue how to solve a problem every now and then.

She once again blames the kid for her own laziness. She should know to check pockets no matter what, yet she flips out on the kid once again. She must have been too busy daydreaming about the grand life she thinks she should have, instead of using a little common sense. She never does anything to avoid the opportunity to end up screaming and yelling in the first place, which means that she secretly enjoys being a wackjob that isn’t as smart as she likes to think she is. Yes I called her a wackjob/idiot. She is one, and I have no sympathy at all for her.

Have fun getting melted gum out of the dryer!

When my husband and I first got together I would give back the cash I found in his pockets, after a couple of months I told him if I found cash it was mine. I found almost $15 one time after a camping trip and used it to do all the laundry instead of only what was needed as I had planned. He started cleaning out his own pockets after that.

I learned to check pockets after two laundry disasters… once I did a load of laundry with a pen in one of the pockets, and another time I washed my husband’s paycheck. But I still forget sometimes!

My husband’s pretty good about checking his pants pockets before throwing them in the hamper. If anyone forgets something, it’s usually me and it’s usually a kleenex … and while it shreds and makes a mess inside the pocket, at least it’s nowhere near the mess that something like gum makes!

Well, the gums gone. She really needs to check, and not assume.

My mom expected us to check our own pockets. I got in sooooo much trouble for the crayon through the dryer incident. Orange crayon on EVERYTHING in the dryer.

I’d do what Michael did, cut off the damaged part, then sew a new seam, it’d be shorter but it’s not like he carries a wallet!

Elly was in a good mood there for about five minutes, wasn’t she?

about five minutes longer than mrslukeskywalker was.

Smart and dumb move at the same time, Michael. If you put a wad of gum in the remaning pockets, you won’t have any pockets at all (that’s the dumb part; the smart part is that now he won’t have to put gum in his pockets).

ribbie149 said, about 10 hours ago

Do any of you people have lives?

~~~

We all have lives but we read the comics and comment on them because it’s FUN. Ever heard of it? If not I suggest you try it sometime.

Michael thought he was saving Elly the time and trouble of fixing the pants. I think it was sweet of him!

The rhetorical question was, “How many times have I told you…?”

really, its not that hard to sew a pocket.

Hey YYYguy, what about the rest of the comments? They seem to agree with me, but you don’t take issue with them by name. At least my comment was about the comic, and wasn’t trying to pick fights with anyone else.

She never asked him to get rid of the gum! She asked how could she!!!

Stick the pants in the freezer. Next day the gum will pop off