Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 16, 2020

the truth hurts, doesn’t it, Bernice?

Wow! Bernice’s prefect world – a shamble

Bernice feels inferior to Ben? Oh right. She is thinking of the incredibly, impressive straight-speaking military man. I see where this is going. Once Bernice has dinner with the modern, whiney Ben; she will realize that he is no longer someone to whom she should feel inferior.

For soneone who is majoring in psychology, Bern sure doesn’t know how to handle her own emotional problems.

Maybe Luann should be going for that Ph.D. instead.

Pedophobia – don’t like kids?

Yummy stew—salted with her tears.

Yes, making your friend cry is so very helpful.

I always knew Bernice didn’t like kids, but since when did she start feeling inferior to Ben? She certainly didn’t act like that on his first visit way back when. If I’m not mistaken, she was kind of happy and excited to have a big brother.

I don’t like kids either, but here we are…

Let’s see if I got this right

1) Tiffany doesn’t care for kids.

2)Luann was uncomfortable around kids until she got over it with the help of a certain Nerd.

3) Jonah’s girlfriend DUMPED him when Shannon came along.

4) Toni has been avoiding having a baby like the plague.

5) Bernice doesn’t like kids, but that comes as no surprise because she doesn’t like ANYBODY.

6) Lord only know’s what Bets thinks of having children.

7) Tara? Are you KIDDING?

Many of the young males want to be dad’s but apparently NONE of the Strip’s young females want to be moms. Not now. Not ever.

Looks like the population of Pitts is about to go the way of the dinosaur.

Eventual Extinction. ;)

Wow, so Bernice is a complete basket case.

Bernice will eventually have somewhere around 50 “kids”. They will all be cute, furry, and meow.

A while back someone dropped a link to the first time Bernice met Ben. Luann had to drag her kicking and cowering to her own house. And once Bernice actually met Ben all her fears were washed away. This story is repeating those events.

Yes, Bernice, kids are messy and imperfect beings—you were either never allowed to be a normal kid or you didn’t or couldn’t allow yourself to be a kid. Based on Ben’s comments to Luann, your parents seem to be pretty rigid folks…

SO, Bernice, you will counsel only adults? As an only child, you probably did not have much interaction with kids and dislike how much you couldn’t control them.

A spit out of Luann’s mouth and a tear out of Bernice’s eye.

Somebody that doesn’t like kids wants to be a counselor?

“I feel inferior to Ben and I don’t like kids!, OKAY?!”… C’mon, keep going, Luann… bring up the subject that’s been festering for months… "So, is that why you called me and said you were “homeless”? What’s the deal? Did your parents tell you that you couldn’t come home, and you’re out on your own, baby? Or, were you USING me, and my parents and living off our charity as a way for you to avoid your own family?"

It’s the salty tears. Adds that certain something.

Don’t be so stiff around your nieces and nephews

What I’m wondering is, What will Luann do next?

a) Drop the subject?

b) Stay on the subject in a way that makes Bernice clam up (by which I don’t mean putting on her mermaid bra)?

c) Stay on the subject in a way that makes Bernice go to her room and slam the door?

d) Get Bernice to feel comfortable using her as a sounding board by somehow successfully signaling that whatever Bernice says won’t be held against her in some future snarking match?

e) Get Bernice to try the same kind of role-playing game that Fay did (“You be you and I’ll be Ben” or maybe “You be Ben and I’ll be you”)?

f) Convince Bern to seek a professional counselor (who will turn out to be Margo Phelps Fogarty)?

g) Convince Bern to seek a professional counselor (who will turn out to be Dr. Heald)?

h) Convince Bern to seek a professional counselor (who will turn out to be Lucy van Pelt)?

i) …?

j) …?

k) …?

Lot of focus on her not liking kids … Isn’t the real thing is that Bernice feels inferior to Ben? …

That’s all it is? Geez. It took months for this.

It is now apparent why Bernice is a control freak. She suffers from feelings of inferiority.

Bernice is like a green coconut – hard on the outside, but pulpy and watery on the inside. :D

Wow Luann, way to traumatize your friend.

Has Luann always been left handed?

I thought that Bernice was renting a room from the DeGroot’s for some college student reason; she is not there on charity, right?

Also, the message is contradictory: 1. Bernice should chase her older brother, even though they were raised separately, and he has expressed no interest in seeing her; because family is all important. 2. Disliking children is okay, since family is not important.

Lots of people dont like kids. I dont like kids for the most part either because most people I see dont know how to keep them behaved and usually little kids are annoying.

I will not eat green eggs Sam I am!

Kids? At age 20? Oh hell no. At age 20 I thought of having kids as often as I thought of having an colonoscopy.

“I’m sorry, Bernice, but can you speak up? I’m sitting 10 inches away.”

Good job, Luann! (And I really mean that.)

Bernie’s ocular orifice may be leaking right now, but you have drawn the truth out of her, and now she can confront her demons (the kids—although I agree with her on that, actually—, and her sense of inferiority). It’s called catharsis.

This is a healing moment….

Better that she realizes now that she doesn’t like kids, before having any of her own to be abused or neglected.

I told you she has a complex.

Um, y’all remember that Bernice is just a cartoon character, right?

Given the only real child in this strip is “Shannon” then she has a point. The writers may be trying to make all children look bad. That a shame. I know a lot of good kids.

I don’t think Bernice has seen the current Ben, versus her memory of then Ben. If she saw him now, she might not feel so inferior. Also, not liking kids can be a little confused with not knowing how to deal with them and being uncomfortable with them. Between those two things, and her attraction to Jack, she’s unfamiliar with how to deal with it all. In this, Luann has a brother who was around, she has baby-sat Shannon, and she has had boyfriends. Luann may have stumbled around with all that, but she has learned a few things from it all to give her a sense of being comfortable in those situations. Bernice, not so much. And she probably feels she should because she’s going to be a counselor, and that is adding to her anxiety about it all.

“You were once a kid.” Yeah, but I got over it.

I wonder what Knute is doing today?

Wow This family has real communication issues. Granted some kids can be real brats and are to be avoided, but most can be fun if you approach them with a smile. A little gift also helps.Doesn’t Bernice have any empathy? Why is Ben home with his birth parents and not his adapted parents who raised him? Also, what happened to his wife?Wouldn’t it be nice, if Luann was the adult and walked Bernice home and met Ben’s kids. After all handling children is one of Luanns strong points.

Is it that she doesn’t like kids? Or she doesn’t know how to interact with kids? most peoples fear about kids comes from their fear they may do or say something wrong. then the parents get mad when the child runs off crying to them. this could be intersting to explore.

Oh, wow, I was right?! First time this year ;-)). Didn’t think of the kid part. Being an only child myself with no close nephews or nieces, I can understand it. More of an uncertainty than dislike. Hard to relate. Maybe she’s seen Shannon in action? She could make anyone dislike kids.

feeling inferior… i had a feeling it had something to do with this. Bern has a mental image of Ben from when they first met and likely she knows of his current travels and worldly accomplishments. She feels she can’t compete, something that has been part of her psyche and persona.

As Charlie Brown would say, “Good Grief.” Focusing on how it’s great that Luann is helping bring out her friend, and how Bernice is being gently but firmly encouraged to face her feelings on this, judgements are being made on her character. Besides the fact that she is a drawing and a story concept, I think the best way to look at this arc is where it’s going; is she going to be able to face them, have dinner with her brother, meet the kids who I bet are perfectly composed little people (as kids from crazy environments often are ironically) and become a more confident, better person. That to me is the better point.

Isn’t Bernice’s stated career goal to be a school counselor? One better than Ms. Fogarty. (I know, I know. Not exactly a high bar.) Interesting career choice for one who just exclaimed she doesn’t like kids.

Bernice doesn’t like kids, she’s lusting over Jack, perfect set up for “a very special Luann “ where Bernice gets pregnant

She didn’t even know about Ben for most of her life. Why is she obligated to “like” him?

Raising children are the biggest life challenges. If you don’t like challenges and thinking on the go, yeah, then don’t have children.

The problem is that you have been using ketchup with the kids. They taste better with a good tangy steak sauce, at least grandkids and nieces & nephews do. YUM!!!!

And AGAIN the Luann character is shown with food drooling out of her mouth as she practices the disgusting habit of talking with her mouth full. That is probably one of the first things parents teach their children. Good manners don’t exist in the Evans household.

Interesting piece actually, the entire Bernice piece since she moved in. Bernice is being confronted and this is a potential growth moment. She’s not being dangled over a volcano so we see the real Bernice but I suspect we might see some adjustments in her character.

Leave her alone. When she wakes up alone at age 55 …

That’s what you get for prying, Luann. Now you have to deal with an upset Bernice.

Geez you don’t have to be so harsh.

so…the real issue FINALLY comes out!

FINALLY! And now, Bernice can cry and feel a little freer from her burden. Now, she’s able to talk about her feelings with someone ♡. Someone who takes care of her, who can console her and give her advice ♡. And that’s something Bernice desperately needs right now. I’m amazed at how emotional and liberating is to read Bernice’s confession ♡. It remind me a lot of the relationship I have with my sister.

she’s been STEWING on THAT for awhile!

I can see this being an intimidating situation for Bernice. Luann needs to be more empathetic.

I can’t help but feel two guys sharing a nuked dinner wouldn’t be having this conversation. :-/

The truth finally comes out.

Decide on priorities. Stay in school or make money, or both. Don’t get pregnant. Stop looking like a hag.

Serious issues…..

i just plain do not trust people who don’t like kids.

How can you be crying when you’re eating a yummy stew, or is that sarcasm.

Wow, I see 45 responses on this ‘toon a bout Bernice….sniff!

Bernice is such a mess. I hope she never gets married. And she obviously will not have kids.

It’s okay not to like kids or be comfortable around them—at least Berenice is honest about it.

MYOB luann

Way to go Bernice!! HONESTY – it can be so freeing to spill your guts and say what’s REALLY on your mind. But then you have to deal with all the well meaning (?) people who want to tell you how you’re wrong to feel that way. I grew up as an only child too. And even though I was “a kid” (we all were), I didn’t LIKE kids. I had very little in common with people my own age and often had friends much older than myself. I don’t like babies, little kids, etc … I decided at 21 to have my tubes tied (I know – too much information). I’m almost 64 and never regretted my decision … and I still don’t like being around kids. I love childish things, so maybe I just prefer to be in an imaginary world of my own making. Geez, sorry … I ramble. Elaine

Short, sweet and easy to remember .

As for me :Sweet well-behaved kids…Auntie will Spoil you rotten; But if they start acting like demons from hell? Well it’s Time for you to go home & stay there… Yes this applies to All nieces & nephews and anybody else’s kid.

Well that ends Jack and Bernice. Jack has expressed the fact he wants to have a family some day.

Family can always be a mixed blessing. This year it’s a missed blessing.

‘Wow’ is right.

Interesting, since Bernice is still pretty much a kid herself..

Bern pull it together.

Inferior?? The guy comes across as a bum to me…..

Have you met the real Ben?

She needs help.

The one who pretends to have it the most “together” is about to fall apart.

That’s going to make being a school counselor difficult.

Happy Beethoven’s Birthday! Ooops, wrong comic…

A phobia is a fear, not a dislike, so the term pedophobia does not apply. Disliking kids does not make one a monster. Bernice could easily have a career in counseling of adults, she doesn’t need to be around kids. And having been one herself is irrelevant.

I say “like kids”, but in truth it is usually the parents I dislike. I get it, you think your little meat sack is THE BEST meat sack. It is that way for a reason, so we don’t all eat our young, BUT parents are all so overboard now, and we have an entire couple of generations who are hooked on that parental idolization. They can’t believe they aren’t as great as their parents told them they were.

I think the question we all need to ask is, why?

Luann may offer to go with Bern to the next Halper family dinner to make things easier for her friend.

Be a friend, Luann.

good for her for admitting how she actually feels…but she does spend a lot of time comparing herself with others (but don’t we all!)…the kids part…she doesn’t have to be a counselor for anyone under 18…she can primarily counsel adults nothing wrong with that…per not liking kids…honestly, give her some props for admitting that…she doesn’t have to like kids…though internally it’s probably something different not that she doesn’t like kids but seeing kids cared for an loved by caring individuals is hard (sorry I don’t understand her background…she and Ben were adopted or something then found birth parents…shoot I don’t know y’all know more than me)…anyway…it likely has more to do with her fear of losing that love of offspring like kids being given up for adoption..kids remind her of feelings she had but it doesn’t mean she “doesn’t like kids,” it’s just the only way she can externalize her feelings right now…but yall right…she needs to get some serious therapy/counseling

Ouch. Doesn’t like kids.