Sharing Toys
I was gratified in today’s For Better or For Worse, that Michael Patterson appeared to be a better parent than he was yesterday. Actually in some respects he is a better parent than his mother was in the same kinds of situations. Mike seems to have mastered the grimace of pain every time he has to deal with his kids, instead of reading the paper (in the fine tradition of John Patterson); however, he is not shrieking or screaming at his kids as Elly frequently did / does. I give him points for that.
Of course, his scheme with the timer is destined for failure. When I had to time my kids on these kinds of things, we used the timer on the stove, which was too difficult to get to for the kids. This little hand timer would have been easy for Meredith to alter. However, Meredith opted for the time-honoured tradition of looking at her victim, a trick I remember from my youth.
Now if I were Robin, I would have taken that obviously-portable Galaxy game into my room and locked the door to get away from my sister. My kids mastered this skill pretty early on. However, it has never been clearly presented if Robin and Merrie have individual rooms or not.
The stuff that is difficult for us in my family are the games which are not easily portable, like a Gamecube, for example. When my daughter has a friend over and they want to play on it, it is like a magnet for my son to want to play it at the same time they are playing with it. It is not too difficult to distract him from my daughter because there is always something he would rather do with me than with his sister. The funny part is that now he is older and his sister's friends are older, his sister's friends are not as anxious for him to leave them alone as they one were. My daughter however, still is.
Of course, his scheme with the timer is destined for failure. When I had to time my kids on these kinds of things, we used the timer on the stove, which was too difficult to get to for the kids. This little hand timer would have been easy for Meredith to alter. However, Meredith opted for the time-honoured tradition of looking at her victim, a trick I remember from my youth.
Now if I were Robin, I would have taken that obviously-portable Galaxy game into my room and locked the door to get away from my sister. My kids mastered this skill pretty early on. However, it has never been clearly presented if Robin and Merrie have individual rooms or not.
The stuff that is difficult for us in my family are the games which are not easily portable, like a Gamecube, for example. When my daughter has a friend over and they want to play on it, it is like a magnet for my son to want to play it at the same time they are playing with it. It is not too difficult to distract him from my daughter because there is always something he would rather do with me than with his sister. The funny part is that now he is older and his sister's friends are older, his sister's friends are not as anxious for him to leave them alone as they one were. My daughter however, still is.
posted by howard at 11:28 PM
15 Comments:
Ugh, I really hate the fully clenched face in panel one. How many times have we seen Michael clench in reaction to his children?* :(
*Yes, I understand a high-pitched screech can cause a visceral reaction--it's just that Michael seems to have this type of reaction all the time.
I don't think that they have separate rooms quite yet although I may be wrong. Even then, that would be a problem because if Robin did close the door to his room behind him, Meredith would be sure to start carrying on about how he was hogging her time because, as you said, she'd tamper with that kitchen timer in order to hog as muchg time as possible. It isn't like Mike would check, after all.
aprilp_katje,
How many times have we seen Michael clench in reaction to his children?* :(
Pretty much all the time. That seems to be Lynn Johnston's standard comedic frustration reaction for Mike, just like Elly's is the unhinged mouth shrieking, and April's is the gobsmacked look.
dreadedcandiru2,
I don't think that they have separate rooms quite yet although I may be wrong.
This strip on the time-changing is the only one which gave me the impression Meredith had her own room. Whereas in this strip, they are clearly in the same room.
Your point about how Robin closing the door wouldn't work is well made.
Haven't we established that it's later in the afternoon? Who reads the paper that late in the day? It's not like the Star has an afternoon edition.
Or is this supposed to be a different day?
Michael's choice in news reading is a good tip to his writing style. The Toronto Star is pretty much a rag that trades on tabloid journalism.
I wonder if Stone Soup II will be set on the Vomit Comet as our protagonist finds love coming home from the Toronto clubs at 3 a.m.
dlauthor
Haven't we established that it's later in the afternoon?
Most likely. In Monday’s strip, Mike said he was preparing supper and he is wearing the same outfit on Tuesday as he did on Monday.
Who reads the paper that late in the day? It's not like the Star has an afternoon edition.
It appears to me that Lynn Johnston is trying to mimic the most recent hybrids which showed John Patterson reading a paper at a time which is clearly at the end of the day after he has returned home from work. Lynn seems to be hooked on the idea that the circle of life has turned Michael and Deanna Patterson into versions of John and Elly.
James
I wonder if Stone Soup II will be set on the Vomit Comet as our protagonist finds love coming home from the Toronto clubs at 3 a.m.
I think you mean Mike’s book Stone Season. Stone Soup is the name of a comic strip which occasionally features Elly Patterson as a member of the main character’s women’s book club.
Howard:
I think you mean Mike’s book Stone Season. Stone Soup is the name of a comic strip which occasionally features Elly Patterson as a member of the main character’s women’s book club.
I suppose I want it to be something better than it is. Incidentally, "Stone Soup" is also the title of USA Curling's e-mail newsletter.
On another note, I often read the newspaper late in the day to get caught up on local happenings.
Solution: send them outside to play.
Since it's winter and cold and there's a river back there, he should be sans children in no time.
Seriously though, my one friend with children has kids exactly Merrie and Robin's ages. If they fight over a toy, she or her husband takes it away so no one can play with it. Guess what? They have learned to share without parental intervention and are a pleasure to be around.
james,
Incidentally, "Stone Soup" is also the title of USA Curling's e-mail newsletter.
I don't suppose I should ask how it is that you know that?
qnjones,
Solution: send them outside to play.
Barring the issues with the ravine and the river, I loved playing outside in the snow in the winter time (something I don't get to do in Arizona). That wouldn’t be a bad choice.
If they fight over a toy, she or her husband takes it away so no one can play with it. Guess what? They have learned to share without parental intervention and are a pleasure to be around.
I remember trying that one with my kids. It worked some of the time, when the toy really was the issue. However, I have learned that sometimes kids are in the mood to fight, and the toy is just an excuse. In the case with Meredith and Robin in today’s strip, because Meredith not only wants the toy but is determined that Robin will not enjoy his time with the toy, it appears to me Meredith is in a mood for a fight and the Galaxy toy is just an excuse.
Howard,
You're right that kids are sometimes in the mood for a fight. My friend just separates them, if that is the case.
Of course, her kids are unusually well-behaved because she and her husband are both elementary school teachers and know all of the tricks.
Video games are banned in their house, too, which eliminates sooooo many behavior problems.
Can I say again what a joy their kids are? And I don't even like kids.
Also, while playing outside in the snow is fun, depending on the temperature, Mike might have to monitor pretty closely (even if the river weren't there). Little kids get frostbite pretty fast if the temperature is really cold. Still, one hates to see two kids sitting on their butts inside, playing a video game, when they could be outside, romping and using their imaginations.
qnjones,
Of course, her kids are unusually well-behaved because she and her husband are both elementary school teachers and know all of the tricks.
My Asperger’s Syndrome son might challenge that idea, but it would not be a fair comparison. Elementary school teacher tricks work on the majority of children.
I remember when my boy was almost 1 years old, and he was wearing out my wife and me, and we had no idea what was going on with him. He was rarely a happy, smiling baby. My sister had 2 children who are practically angelic in their behaviour -- a daughter slightly older than my son, and her son, who is 4 years older. They were great kids from the start. They slept through the night within a few weeks of being born. They hardly ever fought. Their parents told them to do something and they did it. They are now 12 and 16, and my sister has never had any more trouble with them more than a little smart-mouthing.
I remember well back when my son was almost 1, my sister told me that if she had some time with my son, she would be able to straighten him out. We went to visit them in South Carolina during her daughter’s first birthday party. My sister said she had never seen a child that angry before.
Video games are banned in their house, too, which eliminates sooooo many behavior problems.
Video games are my son’s saving grace when it comes to making friends. He has terrible social skills and we (and other professionals) have to work with him on them constantly, but if he knows how to play a popular video game or knows some secret with a popular video game, that is his “in” to breaking the ice with kids.
I say these things not to downplay the good job of parenting your friend is doing or what a joy their kids are. However, whenever we see Meredith and Robin in For Better or For Worse, they are rarely happy and it reminds me a lot of things I had to go through with my son when he was little. Lynn Johnston may be playing it for laughs about how awful these kids are, but if I see kids constantly going at it, there is a certain point at which I have to think, “Even if Michael and Deanna were good parents, they may have problems with these kids.”
You're right that kids are sometimes in the mood for a fight. My friend just separates them, if that is the case.
There have been times when my boy has been in the mood for a fight with his sister, where this technique would not work. He would get the idea in his head and simple separation would not get the idea out of his head. He had to be occupied with something else to replace that idea, before he would stop.
Howard,
Obviously, kids with special needs are a WHOLE different ballgame. What I say about my friends as being good parents cannot in any way reflect on you in the way you parent your son, because the situations are totally different. Believe me, I can recognize that you too sound like an excellent father to your children, even though you have different parenting techniques than my friends. :)
But, when it comes to "normal" kids, my friends have noticed a real pattern. The students who 1) do not have involved parents and/or 2) whose parents allow a lot of video game time have a really hard time in school, behaviorally and scholastically. These are the two biggest "out of school" issues their students face that interfere with classroom work.
Another thing is that they have noticed is that their friends' and relatives' kids are always fighting over the video games in a way they didn't fight over other toys. Possibly because video games are often the one big, flashy toy in the house. So they just didn't want to have to deal with that.
You mention that Merrie and Robin always seem unhappy, which is unusual for kids. We know a Patterson could never be "special needs," so that's not the reason. I can attest from personal experience that the other big reason for kids to be miserable and angry is due to neglect and/or abuse by parents. Of course, I am sure that is not what Lynn means to portray. But that is the first thing that jumps into my mind. Dee and Mike always seem to be annoyed by the things their kids do. And believe me, if the primary emotion that parents express is anger/annoyance, kids pick that up and begin to act and feel that way too. When have we ever seen Dee or Mike express happiness or pride about something Merrie or Robin has done? Very rarely. No wonder these kids are miserable brats.
One thing that occurs to me is, Lynn got so obsessed with drawing a perfect family (one boy, one girl) that she never really thought about giving them personalities. They are pretty generic children. Even though young Mike was a turd, at least he had a personality. So we are left with generic brats. Not very appealing fodder for a comic strip. I really hope the Pattersons Redux strip never comes into being.
Laura
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