But I Like Sleeping in my Clothes
I remember when my daughter was little and I was trying to rock her to sleep, all the things that would disrupt that. We see most of them here in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. Farley is in the room. Michael is in the room talking to his father. The light is on. It’s a wonder Lizzie can fall asleep with all those distractions. My daughter never would have. I had to shut the door and turn the light off.
The humour of the strip is not based on the unrealistic situation with John putting Lizzie to bed (too bad), but John’s use of reverse psychology to get Mike to put on his pyjamas. The scenario works, if you assume that Michael wants to wear his clothes to bed for no other reason than to be defiant or if you assume that Michael suddenly develops a fear of sleeping in hot, uncomfortable and itchy clothes. My son has argued for sleeping in his clothes before, and I don’t remember any complaints from him about being hot, uncomfortable or itchy when he did it. Of course, in Tucson, Arizona, we have a tendency not to buy those 100% itchy wool kid clothes. The story with Michael developing the fear of sleeping in his clothes only works if his parents have been successful in putting him in pyjamas every night, and he has never worn clothes to bed.
On the other hand, it seems like John is playing the reverse psychology card by running through this bizarre “the world will not end” logic, and Michael falls for it. With my son, this would not work either. If he wanted something and got it, even if you told him he wouldn’t want it, and even if he realized he didn’t want it; he would still consider it a triumph to win it. Reverse psychology almost never works with my son, except for when my wife tells him not to smile. That works on him remarkably well.
The humour of the strip is not based on the unrealistic situation with John putting Lizzie to bed (too bad), but John’s use of reverse psychology to get Mike to put on his pyjamas. The scenario works, if you assume that Michael wants to wear his clothes to bed for no other reason than to be defiant or if you assume that Michael suddenly develops a fear of sleeping in hot, uncomfortable and itchy clothes. My son has argued for sleeping in his clothes before, and I don’t remember any complaints from him about being hot, uncomfortable or itchy when he did it. Of course, in Tucson, Arizona, we have a tendency not to buy those 100% itchy wool kid clothes. The story with Michael developing the fear of sleeping in his clothes only works if his parents have been successful in putting him in pyjamas every night, and he has never worn clothes to bed.
On the other hand, it seems like John is playing the reverse psychology card by running through this bizarre “the world will not end” logic, and Michael falls for it. With my son, this would not work either. If he wanted something and got it, even if you told him he wouldn’t want it, and even if he realized he didn’t want it; he would still consider it a triumph to win it. Reverse psychology almost never works with my son, except for when my wife tells him not to smile. That works on him remarkably well.
posted by howard at 9:47 PM
2 Comments:
howard,
The scenario works, if you assume that Michael wants to wear his clothes to bed for no other reason than to be defiant or if you assume that Michael suddenly develops a fear of sleeping in hot, uncomfortable and itchy clothes.
I'd say that the former was the more likely; Lynn loves to show her kids being defiant for its one sweet sake; as for the latter, getting what he wants might actually terrify the whatever Mike is supposed to be into compliance.
dreadedcandiru2,
Ultimately, what is important is not that Michael was defiant, but that his father defeated him in the great pyjama war.
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