Comments (38) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   robbieboy said, 3 months ago

   Sooo..he wasn’t lyin..Mom!

2. 

   margueritem said, 3 months ago

   Sure, shove the kid on his teacher…

3. 

   Johanan Rakkav said, 3 months ago

   Oh, give Calvin a few years, He’ll be the star screwball pitcher on the baseball team.

4. 

   Yukoner said, 3 months ago

   Marg, why not? Teachers are asked to do everything else: run the lunch program, teach sex ed, driver ed, value clarification, personal finance management, citizenship, anti bullying program, how and why to avoid drugs, racial tolerance, employment skills etc, etc. Oh and by the way, in those spare moment we want you to teach every kid to read, write and do mathematics so that each child scores above average on the tests that we will give them. On the weekends you can do fundraising because your school is ill equipped and the building needs repairs.

   Why should parents be inconvenienced by having to raise or look after their own creations?

5. 

   Carmy said, 3 months ago

   Wait until Mom and Dad catch the virus. Oy!

6. 

   ♠Lonewolf♠ said, 3 months ago

   He must really be sick! He didn’t even bring Hobbes along.

7. 

   margueritem said, 3 months ago

   Yukoner, our daughter was a special ed. teacher for ten years. She loved the kids, but hated all the paperwork…

8. 

   ambellybutton said, 3 months ago

   Interesting that the doctor knows Calvin so well, since we rarely see Mom taking him there…

9. 

   sjoujke said, 3 months ago

   Enjoy it while you can mom, he’ll be back to “normal” in no time.

10. 

    bigCandHfan said, 3 months ago

    Yukoner, you are right… Why should parents shun/push their responsibility??
    We had a neighbour, whose kids were told to go and play in our house by their mom when she was ran out of ideas to keep them engaged or when she could no longer control them!!

11. 

    opuscroakus70 said, 3 months ago

    I think that Calvin’s mom just meant she enjoys the 6 hours of peace she gets a day while Calvin is at school. Lord knows Mom puts up with plenty of crud at home.

    @ambellybutton, there was a series of strips where Calvin got a shot from the doc, was yelling at the top of his lungs and informed him that Dad was a lawyer and told him he hoped his malpractice insurance was up to date. No wonder Doc likes subdued Calvin.

12. 

    krisch said, 3 months ago

    Calvin and Mom.. both are our of sorts.

13. 

    jrbj said, 3 months ago

    Did anyone else notice that even though Calvin behaved himself the doctor didn’t give him a lollipop (sugar free of course). I’d have kicked Doc right in the shins if I were Calvin.

14. 

    GrimmaTheNome said, 3 months ago

    Calvin’s not even up to wanting a lollipop today.

15. 

    Linda Arney said, 3 months ago

    Yukoner hits it on the head…I couldn’t say it any better, and that’s my life!

16. 

    Avolunteer said, 3 months ago

    I think Mom is saying she would rather it be a teacher (and school) that helps subdue Calvin than a stomach bug…. Not that she doesn’t want to do her part. She got him into the doctor’s office quick enough didn’t she?!

17. 

    rdh288 said, 3 months ago

    My mom was a public school teacher, rembembered being called “Mom” by kids even as far as fourth grade. She saw the power she had over them, and didn’t want to give that kind of power to a stranger over her own kids. So we were homeschooled.

18. 

    Ldywldkat said, 3 months ago

    You know this is the first time I remember that a Calvin cartoon made me “sad”.

    Do you think Watterson thought this was funny or making a societal statement?

19. 

    Johanan Rakkav said, 3 months ago

    Given the look on the doctor’s face in Panel 4, I’d say about half of each.

20. 

    cdward said, 3 months ago

    As a former teacher and great respecter of my kids’ teachers, I will give Mom here a little slack. I think opuscroakus had it right that Mom simply prefers those precious hours when Calvin is at school over those unfortunate hours he is sick at home. What parent wouldn’t, really?

    BTW, I trust my kids’ teachers in large part because my wife and I go out of our way to get to know them. I really don’t think this is a parent passing off responsibility.

21. 

    comYics said, 3 months ago

    Musta caught that bug also. I was sick for 3 days, then suddenly this morning gone. No runny nose, no sore throat.

22. 

    Macushlalondra said, 3 months ago

    Can you imagine if Calvin was homeschooled? Mom would go straight up the wall every day. I admire moms who homeschool since they don’t get that 6 hours a day of peace and quiet.

23. 

    bald 716 said, 3 months ago

    you know calvin must have been sick to go to the doctor with out a fight

    bigCandHfan, but sometimes kids behave better at someones house…..

24. 

    Puddleglum2 said, 3 months ago

    @bigCandHfan,
    Your neighbor didn’t want to ‘deal’ with her ‘pack of kids’, so she ‘shuffled’ them off to you.

25. 

    TerriAKF said, 3 months ago

    Yukoner:

    Thank you for voicing several hours earlier my EXACT thoughts as I read this strip a couple of minutes ago. I am a teacher and can confirm that your list of parenting responsibilities in addition to regular academic responsibilities carried by teachers is chillingly accurate, although considerably shorter than it could be. As for the mitigating comments, you all may be right. Nevertheless, most people aren’t subtle enough thinkers NOT to see today’s strip as appropriate, as well as true for them.

26. 

    bunnyface (bmonk) said, 3 months ago

    Gee, here I was hoping he didn’t catch the bug from Birdbrains!

27. 

    Susan001 said, 3 months ago

    While he’s sick, Calvin will be so quiet that it’ll seem like he’s not home.
    Only thing is that Mom will still have to feed him lunch, take his temperature, etc.
    I think she resents doing that and wishes the overworked teacher would also take on that responsibility.
    Jeez!

28. 

    Quantumtorpedo1 said, 3 months ago

    Thank God she is a stay at home Mom. If she worked at Walled Mart she would loose her job.

    The doctor hung his stethoscope the old fashioned way, by the ear pieces and not the modern ER way looped around his neck.

29. 

    Awesome-o said, 3 months ago

    Isn’t this from before?

30. 

    Wyo1 said, 3 months ago

    As a former high school math/cosci teacher, I pretty much agree with Yukoner….it’s just not right what teachers are expected to do, and/or not do…damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Which is why I can state, former teacher. I miss working with the kids, but nothing can compare to the paperwork and parents who don’t give a damn…

31. 

    Mishi Uddo said, 3 months ago

    Ah, teachers are babysitters anyway.

32. 

    Yukoner said, 3 months ago

    If teachers were babysitter they would be better off. Consider that the baby sitter gets $10 per hour per kid. Lets assume the average teacher has only 20 kids in the class for 5 hour a day - that’s 20X10X5 which is $1000.00 per day. Assuming that there are only 150 days in the school year (teachers get all those holidays you know) that would still be an annual salary of $150,000.00 for every teacher in America. Parents ought to be dang glad that teachers are NOT babysitters.

33. 

    Hirshhorn said, 3 months ago

    Jerk Doctor

34. 

    chubbygirlcomics.com said, 3 months ago

    Everytime I see Calvin at the doctor, I think of the time I stuffed mattress stuffing up my nose and my mom wouldn’t let the doctor give me a sucker (she thought I’d do it again for more candy). That’s what has always been so great about Calvin: he reminds me of my own childhood. :)

35. 

    james the great and ... said, 3 months ago

    Hey Yukoner, you forgot: grade papers till the wee hours of the night and Sunday mornings. Heck, we teachers don’t need a personal life!

36. 

    pintcape said, 3 months ago

    his teacher is saying what a relief,i don’t have to deal with calvin today.

37. 

    lindz.coop said, 3 months ago

    Oh, but everytime those teachers go on strike it’s just because they want more money – none of the other problems they have to put up with whereby they might earn every penny of that money. I have taught college students who acted much like Calvin – unbelievable.

38. 

    bloomfan said, 3 months ago

    Am I the only one who thinks that in the last panel the doc looks like Jon from Garfield? shudder