For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 10, 2019

This one reminds me of the scene from the Addams Family movies where Morticia corrects Wednesday’s manners by instructing her to say, “Pass the salt, NOW!” instead of “Pass the salt.”

I wonder how effective those unnamed “or else “ threats prove to be?

When mom starts using her R. Lee Ermey “Full Metal Jacket” voice, you better come to attention, soldier!

Good for Elly making Michael help instead of dumping it on Liz because she’s a girl. It’s right they should take turns.

Teenage angst.

Our mom would have used “Shall I count to 3? 1, 1 and 1/4, 1 and 1 half, 1 and 3/4, 2”, and she never had to get to 3.

Ah. I did not notice the TV, at first. Simplest solution is to unplug it. No chores, rotten attitude, no TV. Then hand him one of those books on the bookshelf and tell him he has to read one for every hour of TV.

my momwould say now everyone dont get excited and say: ohh me !!!

Never a good idea to find out what “Or Else” is, especially when conveyed with that tone of voice!

My parents never counted. You got up amd moving or you got whacked!

The begging in panel 3 never happened when I grew up.

Those Teen age years are difficult for everybody.

Well, she yelled instead of slapped in the back of the head. I’d say that is Mother of the Year these days.

Tell him he can set the table, or he can sit in his bedroom, writing “I will set the table when it is my turn” 100 times. While the rest of you eat dinner. If he does a good job of writing it out, he can have a pb&j sandwich for dinner.

I can see this happening. Try to be nice and smile while you are telling him to do his chore. Then when he balks, let him know in no uncertain terms that you are not kidding.

I never did the nagging thing with my kids. I made a chore chart with monetary values. If they did all the chores they got their full allowance. If they skipped some they got less. Now that they are adults I can see it worked out well. They help around the house without being asked and they go the extra mile at their jobs because they are being paid for it.

Talk to kids they don’t listen scream at kids at least you get their attention

I give her credit for trying to be nice. It’s not a good idea to beg children to do their chores. Ask/tell once, and then act accordingly.

Can’t remember how old Michael is meant to be here (13)? All I know is by that age I was tasked with doing way more than set the table! By that point my sister and I were doing a large part of the house work!

Typical teenager(father of 4, grandfather of 7)

Notice the slouching posture, the grunting, the squinty eyes. Just like on National Geographic. What species of ape is Michael?

As the oldest of 9 kids, my job was to fix dinner. I shopped, prepped and cooked. Several of the other siblings had the job of setting the table. Each had one job – one did the plates, another the silverware, another the glasses, etc. You would have thought they were mining coal, the moaning and groaning and delaying that went on! One day I just calmly told them that dinner was ready, the food was in the pans staying warm, and that nothing would happen until the table was completely set. If the food was burned by then, we would eat burned food. After that, they policed each other, and got their own selves into gear, and the table was promptly set, because they knew we would be eating burned food – I would have done it! It’s ridiculous to whine and beg a kid to do anything. (But I know that this is a comic).

Cajoling a snarky teenager never works, you have to be a sergeant to actually get results.