For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 31, 2018

the truth hurts

I remember this story. It’s Hansel and Gretel. The witch lures the two kids with her house made of candy and then catches them and puts them in cages while she tries to fatten them up. Then she makes a crucial mistake of taking away their TV privileges and forcing them to read books, so they start getting thinner instead of getting fatter.

wow. They’re so ungrateful..

Not the truth, just a normal mom punishing her kids as they have the right to do.

At least she’s not expressly drawing you, El!

And that hurt worse than all Mike’s yelling & door slamming.

She has to tough it out. The kids know what they’re doing. They’re paying her back for her strictness and being meaner than the witch in the story.

That one hit a little too close to home…

Elizabeth is an incipient political cartoonist

If your kids don’t “hate” you at some point in their lives, you’re not doing a good job.

Lynn’s Comments:“I did this. I drew a witch and it was my mother. She picked up the drawing, looked at it and asked if the screaming, ugly woman I had drawn was her. I admitted that it was and she did something I didn’t expect; she cried.”

Something Awful had a feature called “Kids Say The Most Devastatingest Things”. This is one of those moments.

Wasn’t there a strip where Michael and Gordon are talking about how mean the gym teacher is and they say something akin to “he was in the Vietnam War and killed at least a dozen men with his bare hands”. This is overheard by the teacher, who proudly says to himself “I am a legend in my own time!”

I think Michael got to Liz. She had no problem with this before he started acting out. Sometimes sibling influence isn’t the best.

Passive-aggressive much, Elizabeth?

That “Wah” reminds me of I Love Lucy.

2 weeks isnt that long

don’t give in!! Be the parent!

Parents need to be parents until the kids have their own self control and become sensible. Then they can become friends.

One letter away from another 2 weeks without TV.

Over analyzing things just a tad bit aren’t we? She’s a young child expressing her creativity. Chill.

Through all this the children grow up to be very respectful adults

A poster on Etiquette Hell talks about how her mother read her diary when she was a teenager and saw a remark she made months earlier when she was miffed at her mother, comparing her cooking to “witches brew.” Her mother just loves to bring up this remark and talk about what a horrible brat she was as a teenager. Although now she also claims daughter left her diary open on her desk with the offending remark highlighted. RIGHT! She probably came up with that after being told more than once, “Well, if you hadn’t stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, you wouldn’t have gotten offended.”

Lol. I would have cracked up. When my girls were mad at me I would ask them..”Who is the meanest Daddy ever”. They would always say “You are”. My reply was “Don’t ever forget it either” Followed with an evil laugh. They laugh about it now.