For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 17, 2019

Uh… the ride’s car broke down?

You may be asking yourself how did Elly know just from waking and looking at a clock that Michael was not home? It could be that the clock is connected to a camera she has placed in Michael’s room, but my guess is that Michael’s personal odor is so pungent that Elly can tell whether or not he is home by doing nothing more than "Snort"ing in the air.

When mama’s not happy, no one’s happy.

I couldn’t go to sleep with my teenager out on the town. I’d wait up, watching TV or something. Who knows, they might call needing a pick-up or other help.

Mothers always seem to worry about their “babies”, even when said “babies” are old enough to take care of themselves.:/

Top of the hour is snit time!

My dad would chew me out for being late, even if he could see me standing in front of the house saying goodbye to my date….curfew meant being inside exactly on the dot.

I had a friend whose mother couldn’t sleep until her daughter had come home at night. She used to check if her daughter’s coat was in the hall, and when it was, she would go back to bed and go to sleep.Once, my friend didn’t take of her coat until she was in her room. Her mother didn’t sleep at all that night….

Grounded, again.

Clock on the mantel looks like it reads 10.

I just turn 18 and still living at home. I stayrf out until around 3:30 am and as I was opening the door my dad was leaving for work. I thought I was going to get the 3rd Degree, but all he said was “You’re still going to work today?”. I could tell my the infliction of his voice the only answer was “Yes”. To this day I get a small chuck out of that. I don’t think I could do an all nighter and still go work today. Ah, to be young again.

My mother was too sound a sleeper to hear my brother come home at night, so she wired the kitchen clock to turn off when the kitchen light went off, and persuaded him to turn off the light when he got home. That worked for one night; the next morning she worked him over so severely (he had been ~2.5 hours late) that he had to find a countermeasure. Thereafter, when he came home late he set the clock to a random number of minutes before the deadline time and then turned off the light. It took her nearly three weeks to realize that he had out-foxed her.

SO, how old is Mike at this juncture? My parents were on my case until I left for college and am glad of it. Second, in the original strip, they only had two kids so where is this pregnancy going?

One time when I was in high school my younger sister was out on a date and my parents were also out. Sis actually got home just before they did and was in the bathroom when Mom checked her bed. So mom sat up for hours with the porch light on and finally woke me up freaking out that she still wasn’t home. I just pointed to the other bed. It has become a favorite family story.

I guess I’m a bad parent. I went to bed and went to sleep. Kids were always home by the time I got up the next morning.

This is long and sappy, but I had my girls listen to it when they were teens (it was a song on a Reno & Smiley album). My oldest wound up in tears & neither ever questioned their curfew again.

“The Mother Watch” by Edgar Guest

She never closed her eyes in sleep ’til we were all in bed. On party nights, ’til we came home, she often sat and read. We little thought about it then, when we were out at play, How much our mother worried when we children were away. We only knew she never slept when we were out at night, And that she waited, just to know that we’d come home all right. Why, sometimes, when we’d stay away till one, or two, or three, It seemed to us that Mother heard the turning of the key. For always, when we stepped inside, she’d call, and we’d reply, But we were all too young back then to understand just why. Until the last one had returned, she always kept a light, For Mother couldn’t sleep until she kissed us all good night. She had to know that we were safe before she went to rest. She seemed to fear the world might harm the ones she loved the best. And once she said, “When you are grown to women and to men, Perhaps I’ll sleep all through the night; I might get some sleep then.” And so it seemed that night and day we knew a mother’s care But always, when we got back home, we’d find her waiting there. Then came the night that we were called to gather round her bed “The children are all with you now,” the kindly doctor said. And in her eyes there gleamed again the old-time tender light That told she had been waiting just to know we were all right. She smiled the old familiar smile, and prayed to God to keep us safe from harm all through the night, and then she went to sleep.

The bigger question I’m asking is, why did they go to sleep so early? I get that they have work, but it feel like they don’t start until like 8 or 9. Plus I’ve know parents who had a 4 am shift and stayed up until at least 11.

With parents that immature and prone to impulsive behavior and outbursts, you’d think Michael would be home on time. He’d know by this age that crazy can’t be reasoned with.

My Dad told me, years later, that even when my brother and I were adults, and staying at his house, that he could never sleep until he heard us pulling into the driveway.

Of course, as I teenager, I could never sneak into the house. You could hear my motorcycle coming for miles away. I think that’s one of the reasons my Dad let me have it.

At 13 or 14, Michael shouldn’t have been out on a school night in the first place, especially the fourth one in a row.

I never had a curfew. I was supposed to call if I was going to be later than expected. Only forgot to call once. I got in at 4:30 in the morning on a school night. I got a brief lecture, then I went to my room, did my homework and by then it was time to get ready to go to school so I went to school. Wrote 4 tests that day and went out again that night. No punishment imposed just the short “you should have called lecture”.

My mother used to wait up for me, in the living room, with all the lights on. Kinda cooled any goodnight kiss on the porch! BTW I was 21 when I got married and she did it to my fiance and me too!

An adolescent male? Need you say more re: aroma?

Ah Hah ! So He was out late at night. :-) I agree with you all that said he was too young and they should of stayed up till He came Home. :-)

Some parents leave a loud alarm clock close enough to their bedroom to hear it if it goes off. It’s set to the time the child is supposed to be home, or a little after—that depends on the parent(s). Parent(s) sleep without worrying. Child home on time turns off the alarm. Child late gets to discuss it with parent(s) awakened by the alarm.

Ellie had no heard the door opening.

Looks like John is going to put his foot in Michael’s fourth point of contact and kick Michael’s hide into outer space. The headlines the next day will read:

CANADIAN LANDS ON THE MOON

He is stuck where is he is. He can’t run away to freedom.

Michael ain’t got no green card.

Are we overreacting a bit?Could very well be car trouble.

what? why are the parents asleep at 10:30? I don’t think I’ve ever gone to sleep before 11:30 unless I was sick or something!

I never had kids and didn’t stay out late. But a girlfriend had a beagle who would jump up on the couch on his hind legs, and look out the window at the front door, as soon as he heard her car turn down the street about 2 blocks away.