For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 06, 2017

Because you want expensive stuff Michael. I’d take them to the thrift store.

Isn’t Michael a little young to be a fashion police officer toward his own parents? (How much is CA$110 back then compared to today?)

First world problems.

This is what happens when you have a dentist father who is making plenty of money, for a kid to think those prices are reasonable. You would think Elly is going to say, “No way,” (because that’s what you would say) but I would not be surprised to find Elly spending hundreds of dollars to buy those things for Michael and similar things for Lizzie. After all, they have a dentist father who is making plenty of money, so why not?

As for why does mom wear the same old stuff year after year? Search me. If dentist dad can afford to drop that kind of money on clothes for the kids, dentist wife can afford to buy nice clothes for herself too.

Because good mothers buy clothes for growing children first. They only buy clothes for themselves when it wears out or they get too fat to wear it.

Given what her husband makes, Elly probably can afford to spend more for clothes for the kids, but she still might need to stay within a certain budget. Elly doesn’t strike me as the shopaholic type. If she isn’t out-growing her own clothes, (out not up) she may not see the need to replace them.

Mom should use Michael’s question as a teaching moment to show him he should really be thankful that she can buy him those kinds of clothes, and that money isn’t easy to come by—-even when it looks like it is to kids.

You can have anything you want – from the Goodwill (or Salvation Army or whatever thrift store is common in Canada) – and it will keep you warm enough just fine!

Maybe the dentist dad is putting money aside for the kids college and his retirement and doesn’t have a lot of extra money to spend.

That was a can of worms best left unopened.

My parents also had limited budget for new clothes each year. One year I begged for an expensive leather “bomber” jacket and that was all I received for clothes. We bought it large and I wore it through the rest of high school, into college, and as an adult finally passed to my son who always admired it. Money well spent.

You know, if Ellie bought her kids second-hand clothes, somebody here would have a whine fest about how she makes her kids wear Salvation Army crap when she has a brand new kitchen and John has a fancy new sports car.

There was a brief period in my youth, where my father, my kid brother, and I, could all wear the same sized clothing. My Mom always joked " The first up is the best dressed ! "

And then Ellie picks out the clothes and not to waste money on cost. Something Michael is in dire need of understanding. Hey, if he wants to earn that money, go ahead.

Tell them to get their own jobs, then they’ll better see the value of money. My oldest boy made enough with a paper route to buy his first used car. Dtr. also started with a paper route, now is an NP with her dtr. a RN. (Or as one person said "Gimme died in the war)

For the same reason she’s the first one up in the morning and the last one to sit down and eat.

I was thinking that after shopping for kids’ clothes, mom is too worn out to be thinking of buying for herself, not that they can’t afford them… In real life, though, in my own case, I stopped following trends long time ago, and wear the clothes that I like, for a long time. I remember when certain colors came into fashion, I didn’t buy any clothes for about 5 or 6 years because I couldn’t find anything that would look nice on me. Nowadays, I hate the fact that pants or skirts aren’t made with real waist bands. I’m glad that my old ones still fit and aren’t too worn out.

$149 for a kids coat was a lot to spend back when this comic was new. Today it doesn’t seem so out of the realm.