Comments (26) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   mroberts88 said, about 1 month ago

   Yeah, time constraints are usually a problem.

2. 

   OpenWings said, about 1 month ago

   Ahh well, they won’t be little and at home forever ;o)

3. 

   howtheduck said, about 1 month ago

   Since Elly seems to spend all her spare moments eating or drinking with Connie Poirier or Anne Nichols, I would think that Elly’s rarely having time to read was more dependent on Connie or Anne than Mike or Lizzie. Nevertheless, I can always get behind a woman who blames her children for her inability to find the time to read a book. Now that’s great mothering!

4. 

   Ronshua said, about 1 month ago

   Yeah , I thank I read that one !

5. 

   Avolunteer said, about 1 month ago

   I don’t think she’s whining; just realistic. She has her children with her when she is with Anne &/or Connie, so they are not left alone. And if she is an avid reader she well knows that she may not hear something she should if she tries to read while the children are awake (or even napping…) I also don’t think she is blaming the children, just again being realistic.

6. 

   WORDMAN33 said, about 1 month ago

   Read during commercials, you would be surprized at how much you can get done.

7. 

   Macushlalondra said, about 1 month ago

   I’d just be looking forward to when they were both in school and I had a little more time to myself.

8. 

   ComicDetectiveDA said, about 1 month ago

   Last panel: I like how Lynn draws her characters laughing with their mouths wide open and their tongues sticking out.

9. 

   Allan Claus said, about 1 month ago

   I see the future … where she owns a book store.

10. 

    GuntotingLiberal said, about 1 month ago

    Obvious that you don’t have kids, How. You should hang about sometime when my girlfriend and I go to lunch with her 3 year old and my 13 month old.

    Every other minute your attention gets wrenched off topic because the kids are throwing food on the floor, or want another bite, or are trying to reach for your cup of coffee, or want you to show you their belly button, or want to use the fork, or want what you’re eating…

    Sometimes it’s hard to even hold a conversation that has complete sentances.

11. 

    bald 716 said, about 1 month ago

    open your own book store and put in a small children’s section and keep the kids there with you

12. 

    Jogger2 said, about 1 month ago

    Clean up at table 10.

13. 

    Susan001 said, about 1 month ago

    Mike is in school full-time, and I’m sure Lizzie still takes naps. Surely, that would leave an hour or so to read.
    She can also read in bed, like so many married people do.
    LOL

14. 

    newworldmozart said, about 1 month ago

    Notnorman, just because someone decides to become a mom doesn’t mean that everything suddenly becomes a bed of roses. Tell me are you doing what you want to do it life, and are you completely happy at it with out any complaints? When a woman is talking to a woman about their life it isn’t complaining, it’s talking it through. You don’t understand it because you’re a man, and when a man hears a woman they instantly say that they are complaning.

15. 

    Coffee-Turtle said, about 1 month ago

    I’m sure she wouldn’t have traded those kids for the world… ;-)

16. 

    Wildmustang1262 said, about 1 month ago

    Elly can have her time to read the book before she goes to bed. Just read few pages of the book and then go bed and light out!

17. 

    howtheduck said, about 1 month ago

    WRT GuntotingLiberal saying, “Obvious that you don’t have kids, How.”

    FYI, I have 2 children and unlike Elly Patterson, I have still managed to find time to read. If anything, I read more since I have kids because, also unlike Elly Patterson, I read to my kids, something she is never shown doing.

    Your example of when your girlfriend and you go to lunch with her 3 year old and your 13 month old is not reading. That’s going to lunch and trying to hold a conversation with kids around. If you are in that situation, do you say to your girlfriend, “Thanks to my kids, I don’t have time to read”? I hope not.

18. 

    Rmom said, about 1 month ago

    I’ve read to my kids for years, however, in the early years, the books they wanted to hear read weren’t the kind an adult wants to read for herself. I was able to read while breastfeeding the oldest, but after that, I didn’t have much time to read until the youngest started reading. Naptimes were used to get chores done that I couldn’t do with kids awake (like paying bills, making business-type calls, etc.) and by bedtime, it was either time to pay attention to my husband or fall asleep exhausted. Since I always homeschooled my kids, I didn’t have a whole lot of “me time” but I have no regrets about being a full-time mom for the last 20 years. Once the youngest could start reading, I finally felt like I had time to start reading for pleasure again. I love reading, but I love my kids more.

19. 

    BlitzMcD said, about 1 month ago

    Elly IS indeed being realistic, rather than parroting the polticially correct lines just to placate others. Her candor is refreshing.

20. 

    Lachplesis said, about 1 month ago

    It IS more important and necessary that we, as parents, forego our pleasures .. the time we dedicate to our children will come backtous a blessings without number..

21. 

    Morning Star said, about 1 month ago

    I would like to know why you have started over from when Michael and Lizzie were small. What happened to Michael and his wife and daughters and Lizzie with her boyfriend(s)?

22. 

    howtheduck said, about 1 month ago

    In response to Morning Star’s question:

    Lynn Johnston’s explanation for starting over is at this website:

    {http://www.fborfw.com/behindthescenes/hybrid/}

    Except you put an underscore between “behind” and “the” and “scenes”. For some reason this box is changing the underscores to an italics indication.

23. 

    masnadies said, about 1 month ago

    You can be very happy with kids and still have things you complain about. Similarly, you can be single and working and have things you complain about. Happens to most of us. The person who is constantly happy about his situation is very wise but extremely uncommon.

    When the kids are sitting quietly eating dinner or doing a puzzle together, it doesn’t make much of a strip. The fights and hassles have more drama- as do the cute moments, which show up here but much more with April- when Lynn is older and appreciates the little things more, as most of us do. And very few of us are perfect parents- we all get tired and grumpy and frustrated- for all parents, not just SAHMs, it’s a job you never leave.

    I do read- at the Y, after the kids are in bed… I should probably be cleaning because my kids do not nap at the same time, but you have to let something slide… if you never do anything you enjoy, to sacrifice for the kids, you are a pretty miserable parent. It’s all a balancing act.

    I’m not sure why the strips that I like the most because the people in them are human and have faults (which I like since I have so many myself), are the ones that people hate the most because the people in them have faults…. oh well, just the way of the world I guess.

24. 

    Burgundy2 said, about 1 month ago

    @discoEd Re, yesterday. I guess you got what you wished for. Thanks to your comment, I am completely inhibited about saying anything anywhere. I keep second guessing myself - am I showing off? I’m consigned to a lurker, it seems.

25. 

    lightenup said, about 1 month ago

    @Burgandy2 - You made me curious, so I read yesterday’s comments after I left mine. I’m not sure what you said, but you didn’t offend me. discoEd seems to want to jump on people and try to make them feel insecure, but I’ve gotten over people like him long ago. I typically don’t nitpick on grammar, spelling, inaccuracies, etc, but Elly’s comment just sort of stuck in my mind, so I commented on it, no more no less.

    Anyway, please don’t be a lurker. Feel free to comment and don’t worry about the ones who like to jump on others. Everyone helps the world go round in their own way…

26. 

    Burgundy2 said, about 1 month ago

    Hi lightenup sorry to get you caught up in this. I don’t know if you saw, you asked about Elly having “brains”as opposed to a brain, and I thought I was helping by explaining the euphemism. DiscoEd felt I was “showing off my intellect” which is such a reviling thought that I deleted my comments.