Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for November 17, 2009

Mom, play along just a little.

Wouldn’t she be surprised if it isn’t Calvin in a box!

They need to play along….hey Gweedo.

Mom’s a riot today!

This time he is using his creativity for better rewards!!! :)

Don’t waste money on expensive toys. Just give a kid a large box, some crayons, and let his/her imagination flow. They will have more fun and develop better minds. It worked for me and my brother, it worked for my three kids (although there was a clear difference between what my son created and what his sisters die with a similar box) and now it is working for my grandkids (with the same gender differences).

Mom, now is your chance, put some spinach in the ‘SCOOP’.

No chokolate, Mom can’t be softened!

Some people here complain that Calvin’s parents don’t appreciate either his imagination or his sense of humor. If both traits weren’t so utterly self-serving most of the time, then his parents probably would appreciate them both.

Think about it.

ENFPs in the making like Calvin can be either the sweetest (if also the zaniest) kids in the world or else total pains in the keisters. Even Bill W. seems to have sensed this, when he had Calvin use his cardboard box to create a “good twin” of himself.

Great try Calvin! Should have used a tape recorder and then walked into the room! Mom’s being a spoil sport.

Fully agree with you Rakkav !

!ZAP!

Mom is playing along, in her own way. And I agree that a box, some crayons &/or markers and imagination are all children really need for toys. Especially boxes of all different sizes.

My favorite toy was a dump truck my grandfather made for me out of some scrap wood, a cigar box and some thread spools. You don’t need $300 electronic game set up to be happy and develop an imagination. After that came a stick horse, a battle ship and a rifle, all made out of scrap. That was during WW II when money and goods were a little short. We made do nonetheless.

IT isn’t just that Calvin’s imagination is self-serving, but that it is a constant bombardment. I think that Waterston has done a great job in showing two parents who are just trying to cope. I am a parent who lives this, so I am enjoying these old strips all over again from another angle. this morning my son’s lego robot just poked itself inside my bedroom door “to examine the terrain.” It was 6:45 in the morning.

I think Mom is doing great with this. She did use the name he gave her, not “Calvin.” She has an excellent reason for not giving him chocolate at this time. And Calvin feels free to call her a “pitiful earth female” and threaten her with “annihilation” because he knows that while she would never allow him to say those things in “real life” when they are in “pretend mode” it is okay. Excellent relationship.

Just wait till Calvin shoot Mom with a dart. That’ll get her FULL attention.

So, how does one prepare for annihillation?

It would have been hilarious If mom got a sticky dart right in the middle of the forehead! Still a great strip.

Moms have no imagination.

11Wilderness11 said, about 1 hour ago

It isn’t just that Calvin’s imagination is self-serving, but that it is a constant bombardment. I think that Waterston has done a great job in showing two parents who are just trying to cope. I am a parent who lives this, so I am enjoying these old strips all over again from another angle. this morning my son’s lego robot just poked itself inside my bedroom door “to examine the terrain.” It was 6:45 in the morning.

Exactly. As I said a couple of days ago, Bill Watterson himself pointed out that Calvin has a tendency to barge in on his mother when she’s engaged in something else, so she’s never going to be at her best or at her most receptive during those times. Young children have no concept of adult priorities (since they haven’t been around long enough to develop one yet); they are by nature extremely self-absorbed and interested in only having their own needs and wants (no concept of the difference between the two, either) fulfilled IMMEDIATELY.

That’s why Calvin’s ill-timed attempts at “creativity” are so often rebuffed by the adults in his life, and even by Susie as well. It’s not that they don’t appreciate his creativity or his imagination; it’s more that Calvin is “on” 24/7, and it gets to be extremely annoying and draining when that’s ALL that he brings to the table, all the time.

Calvin will eventually realize this truth when he learns the vital lesson that the universe does not revolve around him or exist solely to entertain him. He should finally catch on around the time he turns 30.

legaleagle48 Can Calvin’s parents wait that long? That’s 24 years of growing pains!

You know I was just thinking… I think all high school seniors should have to take a class in “Calvinism’s” to prepare them for life. If’t so funny to me how we all get so many different things out of this four panel comic strip. Real life is what most of our students need these days and can you think of anything more “real” than Calvin and his make believe tiger?

Maybe there needs to be some balance. Don’t totally shoot down his overactive imagination so he starts to sublimate it and loses his creativity altogether but exercise some limits like NOT showing up in your parents’ room at 6:45 AM!

Cute, Calvin, last week Mars and this week Jupiter.

We Presbyterians do ” Calvinisms ” all the time …

legaleagle48 said: “Can Calvin’s parents wait that long? That’s 24 years of growing pains!”

well, we know of people having lived 24 years next to alice…

Calvin’s Mom DOES appreciate his imagination. She just acts like she is visited from outer space all the time. And she probably ate the last of the chocolate.

Yukoner i’ve got to agree , my kids got more fun from the boxes than the actual toys.

more than once i have brought home boxes from the appliance store near where i lived and the kids made every kind of conveyance imaginable car, fire truck, space ship ….you name it and they had lots of fun doing it

Calvin said: “my mission must not fail.”

We can learn this from Calvin - our mission of life also must not fail. =)

Nobody mentioned the fact Jupiter is a gas giant. Nothing to stand on.

Many people try to ‘put God into a box’, too, but God is eternally self-existent and self-sustaining. His ‘mission must not fail’, either. “All things work TOGETHER for good to them that love God…” from Romans 8:28

Josh, maybe they live on cloud cities and withstand enormous pressure. Anyway I gotta add my two cents and say that a cardboard box IS the absolute best “toy” that our kids or ourselves have ever played with. It grows imagination! Calvin’s parents are doing quite well actually. They know what they’ve got. In one episode when they couldn´t find a babysitter they actually thought about leaving him home alone… for about 2 seconds before they broke down and started laughing. Also, ever wonder why Calvin doesn’t have any siblings?

I love calvin and hobbes. i laughed at this strip, then laughed again thinking about what’s coming next.

I agree with everyone else here who says boxes and some imagination are the best toys. My kids do it to me all the time. Tons of toys and they’ll make things from the boxes.

Mom is too used to Calvin ways.

Normal Mom response to all aliens

Reminds me of my childhood.

Big box makes for a great toy. Don’t forget about a blanket and four chairs. Also a great toy. My nieces and I have “lived” in a fairy palace, barn (with ponies), and teahouse.

Mom must have nerves of steel. I’d panic if a cardboard robot from Jupiter came scootching at me.

Bdaysuit said, about 5 boxes ago

“Just wait till Calvin shoot Mom with a dart. That’ll get her FULL attention.”

As when Hobbes was to irritate the under-bed monsters with the horn and Calvin to shoot them with the dart gun??

Susan001 said, about 4 hours ago

Will Calvin’s parents miss his imagination and creativity after he’s older and it had been forced out of him by the adults in his life? Or will they be glad that he’s just as much of a drone as they are?

Would you really want to be around someone who doesn’t get that there’s a time and a place for everything, and who is “on” 24/7, regardless of what the actual circumstances might require? Calvin’s parents (and everyone else) aren’t trying to “force” the creativity and imagination out of him; they’re trying to get him to realize that being “creative” isn’t always appropriate in every situation. You don’t always HAVE to reinvent the wheel just because you can, nor should you.

Case in point: the recent class report on the planet Mercury. Many people felt that Calvin’s “creative” approach should have been rewarded, not punished. That argument misses the entire point, in my opinion. The task wasn’t a creative-writing assignment (unlike the tiger/time-travel story, which earned Calvin top grades); it was a fact-finding mission about the planet and its connection to Greco-Roman mythology. Calvin’s refusal to do any actual research (which he tried to cover up with one of his usual last-minute, half-arsed schemes) completely undermined the goal, which was to educate himself, Susie, and the class about the planet. Calvin is simply too self-absorbed to realize that his immediate need to be constantly entertained does not negate the legitimate needs of others for him to contribute in meaningful, practical ways to the fulfilling of their own needs.

There’s nothing wrong with Calvin’s being creative or imaginative. When channeled properly, both imagination and creativity can be very positive forces. But when allowed to go unchecked and undisciplined, they only lead to anarchy and a complete inability to get ANYTHING useful or necessary accomplished. That’s Life Lesson No. 2 that Calvin needs to learn.

Susan001 said, 4 minutes ago

legaleagle48, that’s a very interesting essay, but the fact remains that Calvin’s parents (and teacher) aren’t trying to “channel” Calvin’s imagination and creativity–they’re trying to destroy it. There’s a story on line about a 10-year old boy who refuses to recite the Pledge of Alliegance at his school because he believes the last line, “And liberty and justice for all” is a lie. This case has become a cause celebre. To me, it reinforces my belief that schools will go to any lengths to turn bright, imaginative youngsters into mechanical robots.

There’s a difference, though, between standing up for one’s beliefs and simply reinventing the wheel just to make a statement. I applaud the former (and more power to that kid, incidentally!), but I maintain that the latter is simply counter-productive, because in the end, instead of eliciting support, it will only elicit groans and eyerolls from anyone who has to deal with it on a daily basis. Calvin’s not so much a champion for creativity and individualism as he is the poster child for anarchy and self-absorption (which, I know, is really sort of the point: many people march to the beat of a different drummer – but Calvin does the Merengue.)

Whew! Those last 3 comments were LOONNNNG…… Can’t wait for the next strip, I hope he shoots her, the chase will be on!

Mom is just being Mom. Mom is not a friend nor is she supposed to be one. I think she handled Calvin exactly right (for the times). Don’t forget this was long ago and far away on a planet we call earth, where women who were mothers did not play with their children.

Lol LegalEagle, you need to take a freaking chill pill! It’s a comic for entertainment! You’re getting way to into this about absolutely nothing. i guess that just shows how little of a life you have.

Mahpiya_Ate said, about 1 hour ago

Lol LegalEagle, you need to take a freaking chill pill! It’s a comic for entertainment! You’re getting way to into this about absolutely nothing. i guess that just shows how little of a life you have.

How about commenting, as I did, on the actual topic, which is the strip, rather than on me, since I am NOT the topic? That’s a better use of your own life energy, in my opinion.

(Sheesh, where’s a forum moderator when you really need one?) eyeroll

It’s amazing how many uses Calvin can find for that box.

Back to the drawing board Calvin.

I just a new account

Hobbes the navigator.

In panel 2, mom looks like she’s reading the instructions on a packet of detergent or something..

Wow. Based on the amount of long wind, I assume that there must have been a weather front passing through!

And in the interest of fair and balanced discourse, I will just remind all that God does not exist but rather the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the concept of God to comfort those who have not yet felt the blessed touch of his noodly appendage. R’amen.