You’re Going to Hate Me, Ma! and other accurate predictions
Today’s For Better or For Worse plays off the old premise that it is better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. People are more inclined to forgive than permit. I have had some parts of the strip happen to me with my kids, specifically the part where the child is afraid to tell me what happened when they get in trouble. With my Asperger boy, oftentimes it is the teacher recounting the tale, and it takes some doing to get my son’s version of the story out of him. With my daughter, she tries to hide the evidence if she can. She has a tendency to lose her temper and destroy things. I remember on one occasion she decided to take her Girl Scout emblems off her vest, and physically tore them off, leaving gaping holes in the vest. Then she hid the vest, and it became a problem for when she went to the Girl Scouts. Eventually we found the vest, and figured out what happened, and explained to her about how to take things off her vest without destroying them.
Now the occasion of either of my children anticipating my reaction to something and then trying to head that off by playing the pity card before I found out about it (as in today’s strip); that has never happened to me. In fact, Mike plays the pity card either so skillfully or with such sincerity, I have to wonder what has happened to induce that much fear in his mother’s reaction. As it turns out the joke is that little Mike was completely correct what Elly’s reaction would be; and it stands out in contrast to the words she says about trust beforehand. In other words, he was right to fear her anger and hatred. However, this assumes I am correctly interpreting Elly’s reaction in the final panel. The face is so distorted, I honestly cannot tell what emotions are being expressed on her face.
These days, the parental answer would be, “Well, Mike. That’s why we only buy the washable felt pens. Let’s me get you something to wash that off with.” But back in 1979 what you have is evidence why it is futile to have nice furniture with a kid in the house. My wife and I have garage sale trash for furniture in our house with a promise to buy better stuff when the kids are older, for precisely this reason.
Now the occasion of either of my children anticipating my reaction to something and then trying to head that off by playing the pity card before I found out about it (as in today’s strip); that has never happened to me. In fact, Mike plays the pity card either so skillfully or with such sincerity, I have to wonder what has happened to induce that much fear in his mother’s reaction. As it turns out the joke is that little Mike was completely correct what Elly’s reaction would be; and it stands out in contrast to the words she says about trust beforehand. In other words, he was right to fear her anger and hatred. However, this assumes I am correctly interpreting Elly’s reaction in the final panel. The face is so distorted, I honestly cannot tell what emotions are being expressed on her face.
These days, the parental answer would be, “Well, Mike. That’s why we only buy the washable felt pens. Let’s me get you something to wash that off with.” But back in 1979 what you have is evidence why it is futile to have nice furniture with a kid in the house. My wife and I have garage sale trash for furniture in our house with a promise to buy better stuff when the kids are older, for precisely this reason.
posted by howard at 10:26 PM
6 Comments:
There was no Scotchguard back then. Personally, my philosophy is to expect stuff in the house to be broken and/or mangled by children. But maybe I'm patient with that stuff because my boy is only a year old. And maybe it's leftover from years of playing hockey, where everything gets broken, including housewares.
But I think Elly's reaction is realistic. You can show those bug eyes without going ballistic. . . . but she can't.
As I said yesterday, it's another example of Elly's poor parenting. Mike is naturally going to interpret her loud, violent and possibly profane tirade, what with all the talk about children are always bad, as proof that he cannot trust a word that comes out of her mouth. The cycle of unintentional destruction or over-the-top verbal abuse led inevitably to his becoming a sullen jerk as a teenager and her wondering why she could neve get a word out of him.
As it turns out the joke is that little Mike was completely correct what Elly’s reaction would be
Well, Mike is not entirely correct. Elly is furious but she doesn’t shriek and continues to embrace him. That, to me, is wonderful parenting.
I like the last three strips but I’m still troubled with the one from last Sunday where Elly is totally out of control and is incapable of reassuring Michael that she cares for him.
Anon NYC
Anon NYC
Elly is furious but she doesn’t shriek and continues to embrace him.
That's the way the strip ends, so that is the presumption to be made; because we saw no follow-up. However, for those familiar with the history in the strip, like the strip from last Sunday, where we also saw no follow-up, there we are left with Elly not comforting Mike. Which one is the true Elly? Certainly Michael seems to fear one like the one we saw last week. If it is a true-to-life creation, then both answers are correct. Sometimes parents do great work, and other times they stink. To really judge Elly as a parent, you would have to see her over a period of time and see how the kids turned out. Fortunately for us readers, we have that evidence readily available. The young Michael, afraid of losing his mother's love for something he did, turns into a grown Michael who goes to great lengths to avoid confrontation. However Elly was as a mother, Lynn wrote a Michael who never seems to have gotten over the confrontations with Elly where she did not do so well. On the other hand, Michael took his writing to his mother for her opinion and her editing skills, and it is unknown how much of a contribution she actually made. Back in the monthly letters, Michael gave her a lot of credit; but the letters are not canon.
To really judge Elly as a parent, you would have to see her over a period of time and see how the kids turned out.
Human relationships are complex, but the fact that Michael has chosen to live near his parents speaks volumes.
Anon NYC
Anon NYC,
Good point. He has not run away from them, trying to get as far away from them as possible. Or were you making a point about how Michael still wants his mother's love and has started a bizarre sequence of imitating her life by moving into her old home in order to finally get it?
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