Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for April 05, 2022

Do you know how much work she going to have to put in to come up with a new code?

Well what IS “it”?

if it has grubs, Calvin, you’ll be getting some extra protein which is nutritious

As Calvin pointed out in an early strip, you KNOW you’re going to hate a food if they don’t tell you what it is.

It will build character!!

Every kid I’ve ever dealt with has offered, at some point, a rebuttal to a new food item that amounts to “I don’t know what it is and I don’t like it!”

Just think how many parents turned dinner into huge power struggles and guaranteed the kids would hate it, just by getting on their high horses and not answering the question.

If it did have grubs, Calvin would gobble it down.

Trying

Mmmmm… Deep fried grubs. My favorite…

When I was that age, I would eat anything.

“Try it; you’ll like it!”

“But what is it?”

“Try it; you’ll like it!”

So, I tried it—thought I was gonna die!!"

Classic Alka-Seltzer TV commercial.

Try it or go to bed hungry. And that will continue until you try it

You won’t hate it. Calvin. That’s an order.

Mom, allow me to assist you with some Calvincology:

“Yes, you’re damned right that there are grubs in there. And Susie had NO problem scarfing them down, even as she laughed hysterically that YOU didn’t have the guts to do it. Now excuse me while I call Susie to tell her that she was RIGHT.”

My son is autistic and one of his sensory issues is food…he doesn’t do this, he just simply won’t eat it if it smells or looks ‘wrong’, and it can be wrong in ways I can’t detect (consider he will eat Brand X but not Brand Y which are to me identical. More than one dinner has gone untouched.

I now don’t fight it, and cook what he will eat, as long as it is balanced, it’s OK if it is ‘samefood’. That does mean I frequently cook 2 x dinners though…which I could do without, as I’m the opposite and need variety!

And the polling begins – will Mom win this test?!? cast your vote now.

Yeah, grubs.

In early days whenever our sons asked “what’s this?” I suggested they just try it. But wife would then describe in detail the texture and taste, [an impractical effort at best] at which point both would shove it aside, including most vegetables. Older son learned to vary his diet in college and after. Younger son, in the 5 decades since, has learned that ignoring most vegetables was also ignoring the needs of his well being. He is just beginning the process that many of us take up in our 50’s, i.e., it’s a wake up period, and we spend it getting ready for our 60’s.

In my Calvin period (many moons ago) I was told “That’s what’s on the table tonight. Eat it or don’t. Your choice. Don’t eat, then no dessert.” Worked for me.

My mom did this to me once. She tried to get me to eat something new stating that I would like it. I asked her what it tasted like. She said, “I don’t know. I’ve never had it.”

I miss her.

Now you’re going to have them served as leftovers…nice going, Calvin!

Clam up and eat your grub, er food, Cal.

Tell him, yes, it’s grubs. Or zombie brains.

I think Calvin had better eat the “grub” before mom breaks something else!

There is an old family tale of me and a piece of cow’s liver. The rule was “If it’s on your plate you have to eat it before you can leave the table”. Dinner was at five and I, and a very cold, dry and tough as leather piece of liver, were still at the table at nine (bedtime). The rule changed after that to “If you take it you have to eat it”. I still hate liver, 55 years later…

I know morose code well. It’s where “go away” means “I need someone to talk to”

My wife’s mother would present a new food, and my wife and her sisters would have to take an honest bite of it. If they didn’t like that first bite, fine. The next time it was made, they’d have to try it again with another honest bite. At that point, if they still didn’t like it, they’d never have to eat it again. I think this is a good system.

my mother would always say “you liked it last time” when i knew darn well I hadn’t.

Great green gobs of greasy Grimy gopher guts, Mutilated monkey meat, Itsy bitsy birdie feet, French fried eye-balls, Rolling down a muddy street, And I forgot my spoon..

Great green gobs of Greasy grimy gopher guts, Mutilated monkey meat, Saturated birdie feet,

All wrapped up in All purpose porpoise pus. And me without a spoon! Gee whiz! But I got my straw!

I know, a cut and paste, lazy beggar, am I. Apologize, I must.

One time, when our girls were really little, our older girl decided that she didn’t like pork. I could tell that it was a “testing boundaries” thing and not an actual taste opinion. One night I made riblets (On-Cor frozen…don’t judge…). She ate every bite and commented on how GOOD it was. It was then that I showed her the box, where it clearly said “pork”. Ever since then, not only does she eat everything she is served, but has developed a love of trying new foods.

She must have ordered it from GrubHub.

I do the opposite, tell Calvin nope you will not like it, you can go hungry.

In my family you ate what was served,I had a battle with liver,cocked carrots and rurabeggies,still had to eat them, to this day I am very grateful for that discipline.

No, Calvin, grubs are for Sunday dinner. That’s just night crawlers.

A good explanation of the origins of parents yelling at their children

My mother had the same code. I once fell for that “try it” gambit and spent the next half hour trying to chew a ghastly, grizzly, un-break-downable piece of pot roast that I think I finally just swallowed whole so I could be rid of it and get away from the table.

To this day my wife knows that if she makes pot roast she’ll be eating it alone.

Try NOT! DO! Or DO not!

The old: “People in (name a country) are starving”. “So send it to them!”

Sometimes my mom seems to have a code when she speaks. Her saying “The trash guys have been by” is her code for “Please bring in the trash barrel from the curb.”

I would have thought that Calvin would go for grubs…

If they not tells you what it is that you is given to eat, then more reason to suspects it.

dude just because you think don’t you like it, doesn’t mean you won’t actually like it.

I thought Calvin liked disgusting things. Meatballs stuffed inside green peppers was boiled monkey heads.

Everybody knows grubs provide essential amino acids to build proteins

Grandson: “That’s not little trees, that’s broccoli and I’m not eatin’ it !!”

No. She’s mad because you won’t try it.

She should just tell him what’s in it. Parents need to be clear about what food they are giving their children according to parenting and childcare studies.

Maybe if Mom said that Calvin was eating a maggot casserole he might eat it. (Think back to the stuffed peppers as monkey heads!)

Try it, you’ll LIKE it!

So I TRIED it!…Thought I was gonna DIE!

When my nephew was 7 yrs old, he would eat a new food only if it din’t touanthinng else on the plate.