The Buckets by Greg Cravens for February 19, 2014

Quiet here so far. I should post more controversial cartoons?

Perhaps Mom should get after him a little bit more and stick to it. Make him bring the bowls and spoons back into the kitchen. I mean, who is the parent here.

I liked this strip better when the brothers played together and tried out experiements and daredevil things. Things that turn parents hairs gray.

Ah! I appreciate the feedback! I’m on it.

Feed the inconsiderate, slothful Bucket with an actual bucket!

Sarah’s more secure of her things to Toby.

Show of hands- how many of us here have teenagers? Is it not truly, truly baffling what they are willing to 1) eat out of, 2) leave lying around in their room and 3) fail to learn about simply not making a giant mess out of every tiny little fiddly thing?

It’s like living with some kind of proto-human biped that thinks it belongs in your house. They weren’t like this ten years ago- “Put that away.” “Okay.” Then, they’re teens and they lose the ability to recall anything you ever taught them.

I’ve heard their forebrains don’t fire up until they’re twenty or so, but seeing it happen to your own kids is unnerving.

Having raised five children, I have six observations about teenagers.1. Just because their eyes are open, that doesn’t mean they are awake.2. One of the scientific proofs that light travels faster than sound is what you say to your kids at 17, they won’t hear until they are 35.3. Reasonable conflict is normal, you don’t want them so comfortable in your house that they have no desire to get out on their own. “You are welcome here, but…..!” 4. When they enter high school, you are making all the decisions. When they leave high school, they are making their own decisions. That’s a big handover in just four years.5. Teach them that "life isn’t fair, deal with it!6. The 11th Commandant is “Thou shall not whine!”

Ah hates that kid!

No teens, or kids of any sort, here but I work with some. They do have an uncanny ability to have vacant minds at the most unfortunate of times.

I don’t remember if I was like that at their age or not. I held down a full-time job during high school so I can only assume I was coherent there. The other 152 hours of the week I cannot vouch for.

1 teenager and 3 20-something males in my house…I so relate to this. No matter how many times I tell them to return kitchenware to the kitchen, cupboards are still known to be bare. So much so that I stuck a note inside the back of one of the cupboards that says, “Where are all the cups?”

I use mouse and touch pad. and the darn keyboard is in front of the touch pad. grrrrr. keep resting hands on touch pad. sigh.