Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for August 10, 2019

But Calvin does seem to be learning something, whether he wants to or not.

Is it a good thing there was no eBay at that time of this strip’s original publication?

You could have done that while doing the bat project.

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/11/03

This appeared in 1989, when Tim Burton’s BATMAN was the big movie hit.

Everything in life is educational one way or another Calvin. It just depends on how you look at it.

Were I your parent, no. Dinosaurs, yes; Batman, no.

I like the hat!

Well, Calvin DID learn something.

I LOVE the triceratops hat!

Let’s see if Mom learns something from this.

.

Sure you can. As soon as the Museum of Natural History has an exhibit about one.

You’re overestimating your parents’ gullibility, Cal!

I love the gift shops.

that triceratops hat rules!

I have a pterodactyl paperweight on the stove in my kitchen. It has been in the kitchen in every house we’ve lived in all over the world. It has a broken nose and tail. The felt on its base has been missing for more than half a century. It often don’t even see it because it is there every daty. About once a year I wash the accumulated grease of hundreds of meals off of it.

It is a relic of a trip I took to a museum with my aunt when I was 6 years old. Gone is my stuffed Bug Bunny (my version of Hobbs), gone is my sheet metal Fort Apache, gone are my actions figures of the Lone Ranger and Tonto. It is the sole surviving artifact from my childhood.

It is a cheap hunk of metal, yet it is priceless to me.

I suppose every paleontologist and archeologist had a moment like this. That wonderful moment when you figure out that if you like something and tell people you want to learn more about it, people give you stuff to help you ‘learn’.

Life is full of teachable moments and I drive my kids crazier by taking advantage of them.

What does a triceratops hat teach you??

The “Dinosaur Unit” in first grade science was a bit of a disappointment. I wanted to know how they worked. “What kind of science book is this anyhow?” I thought. It was a short time later I realized, “Oh, they were animals.” Fortunately, not everything I think can get out of my mouth.

I also found out very early on that my mom was more likely to buy a toy for me if I could prove that it was educational.

there is stuff in a typical natural history museum besides dinosaurs…not that a 6 year old would care…

What kid thinks of the stuff he wants as “junk”?

I am always bemused (at best) by the fact that my family actually wants to visit the gift shop at every museum, zoo, etc. we visit. What’s with that? It’s mostly junk, though some is admittedly cute, priced consistent with airport food and other places where they know you cannot escape.

With a comment on learning all mothers would fall for the bait! Every kid knows this trick and my kid is an suicide of this trick.