For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 20, 2022

goody

Yup. They do that all the time. My grandaughter yowls when their parents walk to the front door and leave, The moment the door close, she stops and happily plays with the toys.

A mother in training. First she’ll guilt-trip her mother, then her kids.

April knows how to play her audience. For a 2-year-old, she is surprisingly crafty. When my kids were two, they cried because they were unhappy or in pain or sick.

My son was preschool age, and we were out for a walk. Up at the end of the street, he stumbled and skinned his knee. I asked if he was OK, and he said he was, so we walked back home. When we stepped in the hosue, he burst into tears and screamed, “Mommmmmy! I hurt my kneeeee!”

I don’t know which is worse—the construction workers’ banging or April’s yowling!!

BOTH cause major headaches!!

April should cry. That place seems to be haunted! Between panels 2 and 3, the children’s blocks on the bookcase seems to have lost the letters B and A, the stuffed bear behind the blocks has lost his ears and morphed into what looks like a clown, and to top it off the entire bookcase and bear has disappeared in panel 4! Ghostly phenomena?

See.

I once watched a child fall down in a playground and look around to see momma didn’t notice it. So she got up, went over behind the bench momma was sitting on, threw herself down, and proceeded to cry. Worked like a charm.

Lynn’s Comments:

In the dental clinic, a kid would often cause a real row—crying and carrying on. If the mom went down the street to have a coffee, the kid would immediately settle down knowing that mom was out of earshot.

Yep - the crying is purely for momma’s benefit. As soon as April knows momma can’t hear, she moves on to other things. ;)

Acting class #1!

This is 100% accurate. I’ve seen it so many times.

Yup, once the “audience” is gone, no need to keep the performance going! At least for more kids.

And that’s how it works.

They are clever little monsters. Luckily they mostly grow out of this.

April thought she’d never leave…

This goes way back to Sally Brown’s first day of kindergarten in the 1960’s!!

OK, if mom is gone, I don’t need the theatrics.

Been there, done that. But it was with an aged parent at physical therapy instead of a child at daycare. It’s all about having an audience.

Just where are her shoes, and why aren’t they on her feet?

Wow, that switch flicks quickly

Oh just an act for mom.

76 yeas ago I was assigned to walk into kindergarten with another boy who would cry and carry on till his mother was gone. His mom would hang in the hall and peek in for an hour or so. He would keep crying. She was banned from coming into the school so I got the job at 4 years old. That boy had his mom always hanging around all though grade school till eigth grade.

I have seen this behavior in so many children. They put on a show for Mommy (or daddy), then mommy leaves and the show’s over.

My younger one was the same- she’d stand at the window and tearfully watch me go. At pickup time, i had to practically pry her away to get her to come home.

Performance art. :P

Truth! The brat screams to get what she wants. As soon as Brat realizes she is not getting what she wants, emotional outburst ends instantly, as if it never happened in the first place.