For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 29, 2022

another point on the scoreboard for the council

Mr. Enjo! OMG. They were left alone so long after the ice skating practice they had to call Mr. Enjo to get them! At least Farley did not have to get them.

For me, this is the best part of this story. Elly and John are so busy trying to decide how to punish Michael for getting lost, they completely forgot Elizabeth and Dawn.

By the way, who’s taking care of April?

I think John always caves in to Ellie in these situations. But it’s been a long time since first reading.

Elly, don’t you know? Every time John arbitrarily decides one of your kids is in trouble, don’t ever defend that kid. John randomly decided Michael is in trouble, and in trouble he must remain. John needs this, for some reason.

I think Michael should have handled it himself – by praising the car to the skies and asking questions about it.

For once, I agree that Elly is handling this badly. John trusted him to keep his word, and he didn’t. It’s his car. It was his decision to allow Michael to drive the girls to the skating rink and come RIGHT BACK!

So yeah, Elly needs to step back.

My dad used to be that way. He felt that his word was law, and no one should question it. Apparently that’s the way his father was when he was growing up, and he was just doing what a father “should” do. My poor mom had to run interference quite often, similarly to Elly.

John, just try to remember what it was like for you when you were Micheal’s age. And got to drive your FIRST sports car. At least he didn’t hurt it. And he knew enough to call for help, didn’t he?

Panel 3: John has the finger of “pew pew pew” out..

Panel 4: The creepy eyes of “soon”…

I know a couple like this. They have a son & a daughter. The wife was pretty much at the son’s beck & call, while the husband always defended the daughter. The interesting this is, the kids are adults now (the daughter, the younger one, is in college) and the wife is STILL at the son’s beck & call, and the daughter still has her father helping with her homework.

Those two never seem to take a united front.

It’s surprising their marriage didn’t end in divorce.

I wonder if Lizzie will have to wear those dorky coke-bottle glasses when performing in ice shows.

Elly taking Mike’s point of view all the time makes John feel unimportant.

John’s back appears to be ok!

Question…if this was to happen now…what teenager doesn’t have a cell phone. He could have called home for help.

Lynn’s Comments:

I mentioned before that Miss Enjo was my grade school home economics teacher. As a speaker one year for “Unique Lives & Experiences,” I appeared at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver and the real Miss Enjo was in the audience. I was delighted to see her after the show. Not only did she read my strip, she remembered me—and she gave me a kimono, which I treasure. She also explained that “Enjo” was not a common Japanese name. She thought it had been changed by the Canadian border staff because her family’s original name was difficult to pronounce. She was a great teacher and seeing her again was wonderful.

You guys want some popcorn? Maybe a cool beverage?

Too bad Saint Michael wasn’t carjacked or got into a low-speed fender bender… That at least would be more interesting than just getting lost…

When my daughter was still at home and a new driver, she got lost a couple of times and I had to go get her. After giving her a hard time, just on general principles, we talked about directions, navigation and google maps on your phone.

The family in For Better or For Worse is largely inspired by Lynn Johnston’s real family with her husband Rod — but eliding the complication that the son on whom Michael is based is actually Lynn’s son from a previous relationship. So it’s not surprising that John often doesn’t seem quite as close to Michael as Elly is, or as John is to their daughter Elizabeth.

“. . . from HIS point of view”. To do as he DANG WELL PLEASES.

In my observation, mothers almost universally defend their sons. They tend to be less lenient with their daughters.

Michael gave in to temptation and got caught. He was in the wrong. End of discussion.

Mike’s proven he can’t be trusted. Let him suffer the consequences. It’s part of growing up.

How’s your back, John?

Mike, you screwed up. You knew you weren’t going straight home when you were trying to rationalize it to yourself. Stop hiding behind your mom and own up to your poor judgement. I’m thinking it will be a cold day in Hades before you get to drive that car again and rightfully so.

When trying to see something from someone else’s point of view, guessing and imagining might get you close to the reality, but they very well might not, and are often wrong.

Who is this woman and what has she done with Elly?

We MUST make sure this switch is NEVER undone!

Well, to look at it from Elly’s point of view, Michael is her baby and John is NOT his birth father, so she’s going to defend Michael to the best of her ability. I agree though, she needs to step back and let Mike take his medicine. They are both handling the whole situation badly.

You try hard to raise your teenagers with patience, honesty and good manners, but they still end up being more like you than you are comfortable with.

If someone else mentioned this, I missed it. But Michael’s “point of view” should be presented by MICHAEL! He’s 16 years old, not 6. If I, or a sibling, did something we weren’t supposed to, WE presented our own reasons, and usually a promise never to let it happen again. The other parent was never involved with excusing us or discussing our motives or whatever, except in the very rare case that there might have been a miscommunication between parents and kids that needed to be clarified.