Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for September 17, 2009

We all would

You nailed it, Calvin.

Truer words were never spoken.

When you have a kid like Calvin, put him to work so he can appreciate what his dad does.

Actually dad’s probably looking forward to going to work just to get away from him.

Me, I would find it to be a great honor merely to know Calvin, whatever trouble he may cause…… I’d be like “Calvin soaked me with a hose! I get to be the subject of one of his infamous pranks! Hurray!”

I would love to have a self realized kid like Calvin.

Self-realized? Quite the opposite, this kid’s dwelling so far in his own psychic Shadow that he doesn’t even understand his own genuine needs, let alone anyone else’s.

The whole point of Bill W.’s humor is that Calvin isn’t self-actualized, or anything like it. Calvin enables us to look at our own selfishness from a safe distance and laugh at it. And because Calvin’s particular selfishness is that of an ENFP in training, it’s all the funnier for that.

I worked for many years from 5:00AM-1:00PM as what you would call a “gopher” for a hospital’s Medical Records department. I got everything ready before everyone arrived at their jobs at 8:00AM and 9:00AM including stocking the break room and making coffee. I had four bosses that kept me running all day for their needs and I helped the girls in the office catch up on things and the doctors finish their charts. I knew everyone’s job so if someone was sick or on vacation I could cover for them. When we created the job together I negotiated the hours to help them as well as to give me time to commute back home a hour and start dinner and meet my son’s school bus. I loved my job but never got used to getting up in the dark at 3:00AM and never seeing the sun until I went home. I decided one day to enlist a couple different friends to walk at our 15 minute breaks outside everyday around the hospital buildings. There’s nothing like fresh air and sunshine to brighten your day.

One day Calvin, you’ll turn into your dad.

Calvin, mind your words please, or Santa will pass you by on the sixth of december.

I’ve based my entire life on Calvin’s teachings. Probably explains why I live on the beach in Hawaii.

I’d hate to have a kid like me!

Which island you on, donboyer?? Calvin’s also responsible for my running away to Kauai.

Rakkav,

I meant that in this strip at least he realizes and is aware how much of a pest he is.

Someday Calvin, “Hey, how’d I become a dad?”

Calvin has my attitude on life. Enjoy it while you can.

“The Best is Yet to Come”

I bet dad wished they lived in Dickens time.

I’m an ENFP and can tell you Calvin would be (if, of course he were real) either be a shining or a falling star (or both)

I almost totally identify with Calvin, up to, and including a teddy bear I called Gildersleeve who was my childhood mentor, he was with me while I served overseas.

I’m sure thats why Dad loves his job even on such a sunny day .. ;-)

Dad is old by the time he gets home anyhow!!

Looks like Bill Watterson took Calvin’s counsel to heart – he quit his job inventing new Calvin antics and for all I know, is enjoying the weather.

Calvin will one day have a kid and his Dad will have his revenge. The role of Grandparent has this great advantage - you spoil the little rotters rotten - then give them back to their parents …..

I think there are still cultures where on a certain day you sacrifice children like Calvin to the gods in the hope that they look upon your favorably. Or perhaps that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

sjoujke That is true, since he has contemplated even going to work on week-ends. ————- Chear up Dad. What goes around comes around. Sooner than you think, he’ll be grown up and having to go to work and come home to a little monster like himself. Hehehe!

Maybe Dad will plot his revenge on you while he’s driving in all that traffic Calvin. He will come up with a way to really get even. Remember he can still fool you sometimes. And I love that!

i’ve been told that i was a kid like you calvin before i retired, i called in sick on several times if i thought it would be a nice day to take off and head to the beach

As a teenager, I recall my Dad saying, “Just wait till you’re my age. You won’t think you’re so smart.” Two decades later, I awoke to realize that I now was the age that Dad had been. So I called my Dad and he conceded that in hindsight it was clear that everything that I said and believed as a teen was 100% spot on. I was that smart. Sometimes adults need to heed the wisdom of youth.

What happens when you have a kid like Calvin (or two) ???

Oh and Stede_Bonnet …

Youth is wasted on the young.

Doesn’t dad have vacation he could take to be with Calvin? Good way to bond with his son.

kab2rb They were on a family camping trip a few weeks ago. Dad’s glad to be back at work now after that disaster.

I use C&H to help my sixth grade students with grammar and making connections to literature… this should spark some pretty cool discussions!

By the by - if anyone has old C&H collections they wouldn’t mind donating to a classroom, my kids can’t get enough of them. They’re being read so much that they fall apart!!!! E-mail me if you’ve got some to spare… my school is in Connecticut.

I remember those days… a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

What is ENFP?

And Calvin is proud of his own behaviour.

I know it’s a terrible thing to say but … . .

If I had a kid like Calvin, I’d be chomping at the bit to go to work each and every day just to get away from him! Long commute in heavy traffic? I’d ENJOY the peace and solitude of finally being away from him and his smart mouth for a few hours before HAVING to return home and listen to all that exasperating nonsense all over again until his bedtime!!! Heck, I’d even volunteer to work weekends (with no pay!) if I had to!!!

Poor Mom! Home with him all day long by herself when he’s not in school!!!!! She’s a better woman than I’d be, that’s for sure! I’d have to put him in day-care and get a job to get away from him if I were her … except no day-care would take him after the first day … just like they can’t find anyone to baby-sit him for ANY amount of money except poor Rosamond! (How hard up must SHE be for the money that she’s the only one willing to take on that little monster anyhow???!!!)

Calvin’s right. I just took an early retirement in December. Looking back, it all seems like a bad dream, (though sometimes I still have nightmares about it.)

How old is Calvin ?? You start to think that way about 50 ish

I think somebody needs a time out!

Calvin’s parents think things are nuts now, they should just wait and see when he is a teenager.. then things will go really really really really crazy

Grandchildren are parents’ revenge on their children. Wait till Calvin Jr. comes along…

LMAO!!!

yes i would too calvin but luckily there’s the mother’s curse “i hope when you have children they act the same way you do now!” worked for so many generations and still going ^_^

I remember when this originally ran. Oh boy, I wasn’t that old then but knew what was coming. It didn’t make me laugh then, and it makes me want to cry now. Truth is painful!

always wondered why parents say “i hope you have a kid 10 times as bad as you are!” makes no sense to me

Calvin way to go

Karma’s a witch, Calvin.

Susan001: Thanks for the correction! I had a feeling at the time that I was getting her name wrong but I took a shot anyhow on the off-chance that I might have been right after all! Unfortunately, I wasn’t.

He’s not rotten! Calvin just speaks the truth – harsh, but true!