Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 22, 2024

Most of us are just making it up as we go along.

Really makes you think, whether you’re a parent or not, doesn’t it?

Ah, yes. That horrifying moment when you’re looking for an adult, then you realise you are an adult. So you look for an older, adultier adult. Someone better at adulting than you are.

If only Dad had that book that explains everything he needs to know about being a father.

Thought-provoking……..

Many years ago, a dear friend told me to just do the best you can in all situations, although there is no instruction manual for a new parent to read.

Wow. They must have been really tossing and turning in their sleep. Yesterday, the mom was on the left side of the bed and the dad was on the right side.

Weren’t they on opposite sides in bed?

U-trou for simple hygiene, of course, but wearing clothes to bed.. I don’t get it.

Old age is another “Gee whiz, I thought it would be different.”

Schools don’t need to teach debate or drama. The most important tool one needs is Improv.

It’s tough being a cartoon dad!

Fake it ‘til you make it, Dad! Act like you know what you’re doing, and no one will get suspicious!

I was never in a hurry to reach adulthood.

Did they switch sides of the bed?

Dad is having such a rough night that he switched sides of the bed from yesterday’s strip

Like many young folks, Dad overlooked the huge amount of info and wisdom available if one simply learned to talk respectfully with older folks and to listen to their experiences. Despite ‘errors in recall’ and other ‘embellishments,’ the underlying facts are there for the using.

Yes, I know exactly how he feels. I felt the same way when I was a kid and thought my parents had the answer for everything. My dad has been gone for over 26 years and I miss him everyday. I often wonder what he’d do in certain situations. And I will be 58 on Sunday. It never goes away. I always my tell my kids (students) do not wish it away. Adulting is overrated. Be a kid as long as you can. If I could go back, I would. In a heartbeat. And stay there. Those were my glory years. Life is hard. And there is no instruction manual.

This is why you should like Calvin have fun and enjoy his childhood instead of trying to control him and force him to grow up to be a mindless office drone like you!

As I told my son when he was around 9 or 10 – I’m making it up as I go along!

As I get older, I’m constantly finding things “they” didn’t tell us about. Or, more likely, we just didn’t listen.

did they switch sides of the bed from yesterday & the day before?

yeah, I’m getting that clued in myself that way too… :{

As I kid I thought that once “i was the boss of me” I’d get to do all the crazy things I was not allowed to do (Eat a container of ice cream…Stay up all night…etc) Funny how once I got there, it never seemed as appealling…

Dad’s a tiny bit bit relateable in this arc.

One thing I have grown to realize as I get older and older, is that absolutely no one ever feels like they know what they are doing. We all just feel like we are making it up as we go along.

Calvin Helps us remember that making stuff up is where the fun is. Discovery is life.

ad-libbing builds character…

it’s up to the parents to teach their kids. a few years ago my brother had sa leak around his chimney and marked off the seepage damage with a pencil to mark it. when we saw that my wife started laughing because I’d done the exact same thing when we’d had a leak in our guest room and I was trying to isolate it. we got that from dad. watching him do stuff.

Wait … when did they switch sides of the bed? The last 2 days Calvin’s father was on the other side of the bed (left side of the panels – now he is on the right side of the panel).

They’re so restless they switched sides of the bed.

“There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely know

“Very often find confusions in conclusions I concluded long ago

“In my head are many facts that as a student I had studied to procure

“In my head are many facts of which I wish I was more certain I was sure” – Oscar Hammerstein.

Calvin had a similar thought like Dad’s a while back.

calvinandhobbes/2023/12/09

They switched sides of the bed.

Join the club, Dad. We all go through life ad-libbing.

This arc feels like it is written from life.

One of the all-time best Calvin & Hobbes, this one. Thank you ;-)

I gotten to the stage in life where I don’t worry about myself anymore and worry only for my kids and what is to become of the human race.

Sounds like Trump.

This is a test, it is only a test. If it were a real life we would have been given better instructions.

Adulting is no fun.

Adults DO have the answers to everything. Some of them are even right!

Dad’s final comment is one that should be on posters, mugs, and bumper stickers—and maybe posted in high schools. BTW, notice that Mom and Dad keep switching sides in the bed, so that the dialogue is easier to follow.

I wonder if this arc is autobiogrsphical.

Kids should feel secure. I was about 9 when we were on a road trip. It was night and a terrible storm came up. My dad had to pull over to wait for the rain to let up. We were on back country roads in Illinois. I remember clearly thinking we were safe because dad and mom were in charge. Years later I reminded my mom of that night. She told me she and my dad were so worried; could have been a tornado. They didn’t show us they were scared.

There is no secret.

If one had good parents, or if one admired one’s friends’ parents, then one would copy what the parents did, but tweek that to the modern day in which one lives…

Hey, you…whatever you do, do not, I say do not(!) do what lifestylists and advertizers tell you to do—that’s a road to be always bankrupt.

I’m still pretty sure the Dad was so much like Calvin when he was a kid…

Risk is tricky. Our heroes are exactly as safe, or unsafe, as they were before their house was burglarized. They still live in exactly the same house, the same neighborhood, the same town, the same bad actors, the same good actors, the same community, the same society. None of their risk factors are different—only their awareness has changed.

Calvin in the future- – -

My parents had 11 children, so I mostly had to raise myself. Becoming an adult was pretty easy for me.

He also thought it would be fun having a boy.

Woah! Learn as you go… bro.

Has anyone else noticed that, just about the time you have “ everything “ figured out, your clock stops?

Truer words were never spoken. Kids and adults don’t come with instructions manuals

The truest thing ever as a parent is “everyone is making it up as they go”.

Weren’t they both on the opposite sides of the bed yesterday?

Reminds me of the Peanuts Sunday comic when Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown are discussing being little and sleeping in the back seat of the car, letting the adults do the taking care of things. Then you grow up….

Ain’t in the back seat anymore

Why did they change sides of the bed? Inquiring minds want to know?

I’m 76 and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

This bedroom bit is really showing how shook up they are!

He is sounding like Calvin!

This is one of Watterson’s best. And I have had my days when I feel like Dad does at the end.

Learn as you go.