Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for November 20, 2016

An episode Calvin will tell his therapist about when he grows up.

Oh this was a funny one.

He should have stayed hiding and tried to miss some school.

Calvin can dish it out, but he certainly can’t take it, can he?

Touche Dad !

Dad wouldn’t get away with that in the summer.

Child physics: if I can’t see you, you can’t see (or hear) me!

I don’t think this could get published as a new strip. So many people who flip out on a kid being left in the car for a few minutes.

Years ago, when I was perhaps 4 or 5, my mother took me to the J.C. Penny store downtown. We got separated, and I walked the 2 blocks to my father’s law office, which my mother didn’t know, of course. Shortly later, my mother got there, and he had me hide in the knee hole of his desk. She had no idea where I was, and was frantic. I never realized before today that Calvin and I might have had the same father.

actually, now days dad would have been arrested and jailed for child endangerment. It goes to show how much attitudes have changed in the few short years since this was originally published.

One of the best ones from the early years. The look on dad’s face, and his dialogue, in the last panel is PERFECT.

Dad’s rare appearances always leave a smile.

Of course these days Dad could go to jail for child abuse for leaving the kid in the car

You can’t tell they’re related…

The days when a parent left the child in the car

About half of the blame for Calvin’s state lies squarely on Dad’s shoulders.

People flip out with good reason. Leaving kids in cars for “just a minute” is a bad idea. Now, if the adult stays with the car, as at a pay-at-the-pump gas station, kids are best left in their seats. Now, speaking of seats, where are the seatbelts?

Times were definitely different back then. I thought the strip was really funny, but then I started thinking how sensitive people are about leaving kids in cars nowadays, and how some kids have died and their parent convicted of murder, and it’s been all over the news every time it happens.

It sounded like he was playing along, but it also sounds like he meant it.

Well played.

may want to report yourself for endangering the child..

Nice going dad. This was very sly of you.

Love Hobbes’ feet sticking out from under the blanket.

My 2 oldest siblings set an old car on fire when they were in it alone. This happened in the 50’s and they were both okay. but leaving little kids alone in a car is a bad idea.

Today dad would get arrested for leaving a child in a car. Great strip anyway!

Calvin’s dad always had an interesting sense of humor, and it was too bad that not nearly enough episodes included it. (Watterson himself regretted that Calvin’s parents were so frequently shown exasperated with him. Funnier that way, true, but a few more sweet and tender moments would have come in handy.)

Reading the comments on these Calvin strips is about as much fun as reading the panels themselves. Some comments are masterpieces.

Per the many comments the nanny state has definitely won.

I liked this strip up until the last panel where Calvin calls his dad a “sicko”. To me that just sounds too harsh and disrespectful and takes all the fun out of the situation.

I’m nearly 60 and love this strip, now and then. THEN…much simpler times for sure. At least in my memory.I was talking to a peer recently about how I love the old Warner Brothers cartoons. She ran me up and down about how inappropriate they were on so many levels. Pretty much thought they should all be destroyed It’s getting exhausting to have a simple conversation anymore. Have a comical day everybody! (No offense to those who have other plans!)

It’s fun playing tricks on kids. Np matter how harsh they are.

Haha.

xxx

Us kids used to get left in the car all the time. Never when it was hot. There’s a difference between leaving a kid in a car for 10 minutes while the parent runs into a store and leaving a kid in a car for 8 hours while a parent goes boozing.

When my boys were 11, 12, 13 and I left the flat for some minutes, they did chemical experiments and nearly blowed up the flat!!

Every parents greatest dream, er, um, worst nightmare!!

He’s lucky they hid, so nobody knew he left his kid unattended in the car …

Today that last panel would have been with Dad being carted off to jail for child endangerment and abuse.

how i am glad I got adblock…

After seeing a lot of comments about leaving kids in cars, I wonder, is there anything in the strip indicating it would be dangerous to leave them in the car? Nothing says that it would be a hot summer day, nor that it would be a dangerous neighborhood, nor that dad is gone for an extended period of time. So what’s the big deal?