For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 03, 2024

Ever heard of waterproof mascara, Liz?

Was there such a thing when this strip was first published?

If you are talking about snowballs, yep. I was there when they were invented. If you are talking about high school girls wearing makeup. I am actually older than this strip, and girls were wearing makeup (and learning from their mistakes) back in that day.

Next time, Liz—buy a waterproof mascara.

I’m surprised that Elly lets her wear makeup to school.

One minute she’s acting like an adult, the next, like a kid. It’s a fun age when you can actually be both at different times.

Today, they’d all be sitting in their parents’ warm cars at the bus stop, even if they live 100 feet away.

While I know better – You didn’t bring your school ski goggles? Might become chic in northern climes.

(Ahem) A friend would offer her a tissue.

“All grown up” (yet still a) kid.

And this is why even to this day I rarely bother with make-up. It’s so much time and you don’t know what the day will bring!

Points along the learning curve.

2 grandkids are at their age, it’s fascinating to watch their dance between adulthood and still being a child.

So, was this particular comic originally published in March of 95 (which would make it a little over halfway through the strip’s run)?

I like the way Dawn sees what has happened with Elizabeth and is not saying anything to her about it, so she can fix it. What a friend!

Good thing Elizabeth did not wear a bustier out in the snow.

BRRRR!!!

Why are the young women today in such a hurry to grow old, trying to emulate the older women that use make up to cover the age lines and wrinkles? Enjoy your youth. Flaunt your bare, youthful faces.

Ah, the awkward transition from kid to young woman.

This could a way for the Pattersons to pay for college; if Elizabeth starrred in a cereal commercial:

Elizabeth is 7 years old sitting at the table

Elizabeth: The kid in me likes the frosted side.

Cereal flips over. Elizabeth is now a full grown woman wearing a bustier

Elizabeth: But the adult in me likes the wheat side!

If Elly is not in this strip then she is in a room with high-tech equipment and watching monitors of where her kids are and what they are doing at all times. Three TV screens are there, marked “Michael”, “Elizabeth”, “April”.

Sure signs that you have grown up:

*The classmate of yours who used to be a virulent protestor about every issue out there now calls you up to sell municipal bonds.

*You recognize a highway patrolman who pulled you over as an elementary school classmate.

*The rock group you worshipped as a kid is now heard as Muzak in the elevator of a medical building.

*Telephone solicitors give you their sales pitch instead of asking to talk to your parents.

*Your compatriots stop envying Hugh Hefner, and now consider him a creepy man with profound social problems.

*You realize that members of your family had alopecia and/or male pattern baldness. In private you look for telltale signs if you have inherited it. *Your childhood baseball idol gets elected to the Hall of Fame.

*You associate more with Homer Simpson than Bart Simpson.*You have a yard sale and list your Rubik’s Cube as one of the items for sale. The neighborhood kids have no idea what that is.

If you’re old enough for makeup, you’re too old for snowball fights. If you’re young enough for snowball fights, you’re too young for makeup.

Sorry,Liz, Goitham City already has a Bat-Girl

Now the kids at the bus stop don’t interact at all. They just stand there staring at their phones. It’s very sad.