Naked Elly and the Kids
In one respect, today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse is yet another in a long line of comic strips involving poor put-upon Elly, who can’t even get away from her kids long enough to take a bath. I am reminded of my wife’s own travails sometimes. Occasionally, my kids have choices. For example, if we (for whatever reason) have to travel in 2 cars to a place, sometimes my kids are given the choice of riding back home with their mother or their father. My wife will hint broadly, “Oh you want to ride with Daddy”, which means that my kids end up both riding with her. Or sometimes we are in a seating arrangement around a dinner table, where there is space for them both to sit by their mother or with me. Invariably, they will choose their mother. I am not insulted by the matter, as I work a daily job and my wife is a stay-at-home mom. She gets most of the time with the kids and so she is their favourite. This appears to be no different in the Patterson household. Elly is taking a bath, and the kids want to be with mommy, so they go into the washroom to spend time with their mother. Even little Nizzie (now verbal and old enough to be in a bath unattended) wants to have a bath, if it’s with mommy. Kids go through a stage where they want to be with their favourite adult, and would prefer that to almost anything. Later on, when they hit their pre-teen age, that attitude changes. Nevertheless, I can see this strip as a somewhat accurate representation of that stage with Michael and Nizzie.
The difference between Elly Patterson and my wife are the following:
a. My wife has pretty strong beliefs about adults not being naked around kids, and if my son or daughter walked in on her the bath, she would immediately tell them in no uncertain terms to leave. Then she would shut and lock the door to keep it from happening again.
b. My wife would have shut and locked the door before taking the bath.
c. My kids would be in big trouble if they ignored my wife, like Mike and Nizzie ignored what Elly told them to do.
d. My wife would never leave a 1-year-old little girl unattended in a bath.
The difference between Elly Patterson and my wife are the following:
a. My wife has pretty strong beliefs about adults not being naked around kids, and if my son or daughter walked in on her the bath, she would immediately tell them in no uncertain terms to leave. Then she would shut and lock the door to keep it from happening again.
b. My wife would have shut and locked the door before taking the bath.
c. My kids would be in big trouble if they ignored my wife, like Mike and Nizzie ignored what Elly told them to do.
d. My wife would never leave a 1-year-old little girl unattended in a bath.
posted by howard at 10:00 PM
16 Comments:
According to my mom, I actually went through a period when I was about Lizzy's current age (whatever that is) when the person I was most excited to see was my dad. My mom stayed at home with me, and my dad worked, so I liked to play with my dad when he got home. I only started not really caring about spending time with my father when I was about 14, and he became the most annoying person on earth. Somehow, he improved by the time I was 20 :P.
I'd guess that your wife also knows you're capable of watching your kids, and that it wouldn't be terrible of her to ask you to keep them out of her hair for long enough for her to take a bath. In this strip, it seems that John is just Elly's roommate and the kids are only hers.
clio-1,
I'd guess that your wife also knows you're capable of watching your kids, and that it wouldn't be terrible of her to ask you to keep them out of her hair for long enough for her to take a bath. In this strip, it seems that John is just Elly's roommate and the kids are only hers.
We've seen too many examples of this sort of behavior, haven't we? It's all Elly can do to remember that John is more than the guy who goes to work and balances her checkbook for her; he can actually be made to help. No wonder he held onto his old-fashioned attitudes so long; he had Elly's help doing so. As a matter of fact, we're about to be reminded that John cannot look after the kids and house despite having done so before.
ELLY LEFT THE BABY TO DROWN! That was my first reaction to this strip.
I don't share your wife's draconian attitude about small children seeing their parents naked, but I gotta say, if I were a parent and taking a bath, I'd lock the door from the get-go. Everyone needs some alone time now and then. Elly didn't lock it. I'm assuming this is just her martyring herself again. Oh, and TRYING TO DROWN THE BABY!!!
It's a wonder Lynn's kids made it out of childhood.
old enough to be in a bath unattended
Amazing! Suddenly "Nizzie" is now 5 or 6 years old!
:p
clio-1,
According to my mom, I actually went through a period when I was about Lizzy's current age (whatever that is) when the person I was most excited to see was my dad.
I have fond memories of the time in my life when my kids were the ages 2-4 years old, when they came running to the door when I came home and I would lift them way up in the air. Then when they turned 5 they were old and jaded and stopped doing that.
In this strip, it seems that John is just Elly's roommate and the kids are only hers.
Either that, or John figured Elly would know how to lock a door. In our own experience, we went through a very short stage where the kids would try beating on the locked door if a parent they wanted was in a washroom. That habit was nipped in the bud almost immediately.
DreadedCandiru2,
As a matter of fact, we're about to be reminded that John cannot look after the kids and house despite having done so before.
That’s only fair. The vast majority of the 1980 strips show Elly cannot look after the kids and the house for comic effect.
qnjones,
I don't share your wife's draconian attitude about small children seeing their parents naked, but I gotta say, if I were a parent and taking a bath, I'd lock the door from the get-go.
draconian?
Everyone needs some alone time now and then. Elly didn't lock it. I'm assuming this is just her martyring herself again. Oh, and TRYING TO DROWN THE BABY!!!
Well, Michael is there to watch her, and, as everyone knows, he is a model of responsibility. It’s been awhile since a Patterson tried to drown someone.
Anonymous,
Amazing! Suddenly "Nizzie" is now 5 or 6 years old!
It was funny how a girl who has been communicating with raspberries, hand gestures and crying; is suddenly forming complete sentences, can undress herself and get into a bath tub.
1. Howard- the word "Draconian" has been abused for so long, I'm not surprised to see it used here to describe your rule that kids do not see their parents naked. Just seems sensible to me.
2. Clio- I posted pretty much exactly what you said at the Foobiverse's Journal- John acts as if he's not part of this family at all (I said that he acts as if he lives in another house.)
3. I agree that deep down, Elly is probably perfectly happy to have been interrupted by her incredibly rude (because they have never been taught to be otherwise) kids because that gives her chance to hate her husband some more. And that this strip desperately needs another panel inserted- the one that shows Elly putting the kids to bed or at least hustling them out of the bathroom. Instead we are left with the image of Mike and baby Liz in a full bathtub- insane.
Oh and Howard- thanks for the flashbacks to The Selfish Pattersons and their Trained to Perform like a Seal landlady, whose only response to every conflict between Mike and the Kelpfroths was "you're right, they're wrong, I wish they would just die already." Ugh.
ELLY LEFT THE BABY TO DROWN! That was my first reaction to this strip.
This was my reaction, too! It's a wonder those kids survived to adulthood.
There's another one where the kids are left in the bath: it starts off-panel, with Mike calling something like "because it's *different*, that's why", "because you don't have one - hey cut that out - mooommmm" as Elly looks more annoyed, then stalks over and the last panel has her pulling a silent Lizzie out of the water and saying "That's it. From now on, you two take separate baths."
As a kid looking through old collections, I thought it was a bit funny, but from the point of view of anyone in charge of kids - eeek!
As a teenage babysitter, I knew a toddler/ preschooler too young to to understand boy/ girl or boundaries shouldn't be left alone in a bath for even a minute. And a slightly older kid DOES NOT COUNT.
Now I can only think of the case of the negligent mom who went off to internet-shop "for a minute" and shortly thereafter, the older kid was trying to tell a grade-school age sibling that the toddler wasn't getting out of the water - far too late to be saved.
April Patterson,
It's a wonder those kids survived to adulthood.
Or a facsimile thereof.
Or a facsimile thereof.
Good point--I should have specified chronological adulthood. ;)
Now I can only think of the case of the negligent mom who went off to internet-shop "for a minute" and shortly thereafter, the older kid was trying to tell a grade-school age sibling that the toddler wasn't getting out of the water - far too late to be saved.
*shudder* That's just horrifying! I live in Arizona, and the news always has the news anchors say this one phrase, "Never leave your kids alone around water", everyday to beat it into our heads to not do just that. We still have drownings anyway...
back to Elly...why does she look so horrified when her kids come in and want to talk to her? All she had to do was tell Michael that's nice, Mommy's taking a bath, go show the boat to daddy, and take Nizzie with you. If Nizzie cries, then call for John to come and get her.
But yeah the whole thing could have been prevented by turning that little tab on the doorknob. Also, John knew that Elly was taking a bath, so if the kids did beat on the bathroom door, he could have come and gotten them.
But yeah, yeah, doing things perfectly doesn't make for a funny strip. Perhaps we should come up with ways to make it funnier? Like mom wants to rest, but she can't rest because she's in always mom mode. Have Elly relaxing, then she hears one of the kids cry, she leaps out of the bath and runs downstairs only to see that Michael only wanted one more cookie and was crying for it. Something like that...instead of Elly being so annoyed and weak-willed that she does whatever the kids want her to do!
One last note...I agree with Howard...no parental nakedness for me! If it was an emergency, then it would be ok. But having your kid in the tub with an adult is just weird to me. Save it for the swimming pool...
All I meant was "strict." My family is sort of in between on the nakedness issue. We weren't a naked family, but my parents didn't freak if we happened to see them naked either. They didn't want us to feel that naked bodies were weird or wrong or "dirty," etc.
Also, I guess I don't know what activities you all participate in with your kids, but we did a lot of swimming. And the dressing rooms were communal (but sex-segregated). Everyone saw everyone else naked while changing. I saw lots of naked adult women as a child. Just not a big deal to us. So I don't get why it is something to be upset about for a child to see a parent naked once in awhile. Seems kind of extreme to me.
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