For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 25, 2018

you’re welcome, kids, for letting Mom take you clothes shopping (it will be even worse when they through the new clothes onto the floor instead of putting them in the closet and/or dresser)

I recognize her expression in the final panel. :P

You leave the stuff in the car except your purse. Go in the house and tell them to haul their fannies back out there and grab two bags each. You get treated like this because you put up with it Elly.

Elly can only blame herself for letting them run off without helping. TEACH them. You are the parent. It’s YOUR job.

When I was a kid, I would ALWAYS carry my stuff inside. Not so much because I wanted to be helpful, but because I wanted to unpack my loot!! Toys, clothes, games and snacks – who could afford to wait for a parent to carry them in? Not me!

Clothing does not freeze—-let them get their own stuff out.

Ellie should practice one particular sentence. “Your stuff is out in the car.”

Our shopping “tradition” is, when we get home, one of the girls takes a bag or 2 and goes unlock the door while the rest of us take the rest of the bags. If trips have to be made, the one on “Door Duty” stays & holds the door. The girls take turns at “Door Duty” and always remember whose turn it is. This is true of any kind of shopping.

Oh El. If you could only read these comments, you might snicker and say “but what would be the fun in that for the readers”.

There have been strips where Elly makes it clear they look after themselves.

Michael: “MA! Where’s my jacket?”

Elly: “Right on the floor where you left it.”

Michael: “On the floor? How come you didn’t hang it up?”

Elly hands Michael a document

Michael{talking to himself}: “The Emancipation Proclamation? That doesn’t mean anything here, we’re in Canada!”

Does Canada have Black Friday as well?

I’d make them come back and at least carry their own parcels inside. But they should help with the groceries too.

She let them get away with it. It’s her fault. Suffer the consequences.

IMPO every kid should have to take care of their own clothes. I did, starting when I was 11. I was also taught to place the dishes I used at meals in the sink and to fill glasses with water to make them easier to wash. That was just about 60 years ago. Before dishwashers became common, when color TV was in its infancy, when all phones were landlines and owned by ATT. Before computers and when the only TV you saw was over the air.

I learned to be responsible for my clothing when I went off to college. There was a Laundromat in the basement of the dorm and luckily I had a room mate who’s mother taught high school home economics. He showed me the basics.

Got another Canadian question: Do yo’all have a “Black Tuesday”?

Speaking of Canadian “holidays” — Everyone have a great Grey Cup (Super Bowl) Sunday!

Not getting this. Why would she put up with that behavior for one minute? Is Elly a Doormat Mom?

First of all, my kids hate shopping for clothes with me, so Elly should count herself as lucky her kids seem to like it.

I also do this thing that Elly doesn’t do, which I believe is kind of crucial. I remind my kids to help carry things into the house. I find it is remarkable how easily I can get help from my kids if I take the time to ask. I can only assume Elly prefers the martyrdom or she would have asked for help.

There are two good supporting images for Elly liking it this way:

1. She is not parking her car inside her two-car garage.

2. She looks like she is carrying everything at once.

So the children have yet to develop empathy for their mother. Though its supposed to be rule of funny here.

I would have left them in the car and told the kids to bring them in.

This is one thing that drives me a little nuts about Elly. She never communicates. They’re kids, you gotta teach them what is expected of them. If you don’t say “don’t forget to grab your stuff” then you say “get your butts back here and get your stuff!”

I think most kids perceive that because the parents bought their stuff that they still belong to the parents so they wait until they are given their “gifts.” So they seem to absent-mindedly leave their stuff for parents to lug them into the house and drop them in their rooms which to them say “now you can have your stuff to use.” Mike will change that perception in a few years and become more possessive of his things even if purchased by parents. He will begin to gain a sense of oneself and identity and his possessions are reflections of that. He will begin to take better care of them – the development of that range quite widely though – from tween well into early adulthood – the 20s.

Well, Ellie, now you know how John feels.