For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 28, 2021

I am with Elly on this one. We have seen none of this in Michael at school or at home. Michael is the kid who refuses to do his homework and spends school nights out at the mall until 10 pm. We have seen prior parent-teacher conferences (interviews?) in this comic strip where the teacher struggled to find something good to say about Michael. Plus, what the teacher is saying is odd. “Listens well,” “Gets along with others,” etc. sounds like this teacher is saying generic things about a kid he doesn’t actually know.

My parents wanted to trade the brother his teachers talked about with the one we had at home. The teachers didn’t want the trade.

Michael hired a look-alike to attend school in his place!

Michael needs to get his homework done before Elly returns home.

Where are parent-teacher “interviews” a thing? Don’t think I’ve ever heard of them, as a parent or a child.

I remember one parent/teacher conference, for my younger daughter. My husband & I were sitting. The teacher came in, sat down, looked at us…and burst out laughing! She said that just THINKING about our girl made her laugh. She pretty much laughed through the whole conference. We weren’t really surprised: anyone who has met our girl (who turns 16 today) has that reaction.

That’s okay. When Michael gets out into the real world, all that attitude will change.

Obviously, he’s good at sucking-up to his teachers. :D

“If I feel like it”? If you feel like having any more meals cooked for you – you better feel like it!

mom says that about me too.

When my kids would visit their friends (before coronavirus that is), their parents would always tell us how polite and well-behaved they are… And I would always wonder, whose kids are they talking about??

If I had made that comment to my mom, I wouldn’t have awakened for a week after she clobbered me.

I wonder if parent teacher conferences might be a bit more useful if all the parents came into the room at the same time and watched a movie of a day in the life of their kids in class. I would be enlightening.

Can we really trust what the teacher is telling Elly? I mean, c’mon. Just look at his TEETH!

This was my children. Tough at home, but other parents and all their teachers loved them. Polite, clean, neat, helpful… Who’s child are they talking about?

“Generally courteous”? That’s a red flag to me! He better be courteous!

This so reminds me of my soccer coaching days. Parents would come to me and say how they noticed how their kids always obeyed me; how I was able to get much from them. I always smiled and reminded them that here on the team, the kids wanted to be a part of the team and doing what I said was a sure way of getting playing time during the game. I was under no illusion that I would be a great parent because the kids obeyed me on the soccer pitch.

Educator here: We’re told to emphasize the positives during conferences and because Michael isn’t a behavior problem (at school) this is pretty typical. I’d be interested to see what the teacher says to Gordon’s dad though . . . .

Oops?

I remember those days, was not my son got those comments, and daughter I think one art teacher said she missed one assignment which I knew she worked on. Son treated school like a joke. That did cost him.

There is another kid that would have a red ass……..

“Home” persona is totally different from school, for ever and ever amen.

Elly, I thought he was talking about someone elses kid too!

When Michael said “if I feel like it”, Elly should have grabbed a belt in one hand and Michael in the other. Then asked him, “Do you feel like it?”…

Michael turns out to be an awesome responsible adult in the end guys. Let’s give him a bit of grace. He’s a teenager acting pretty normal for his age.

Michael is the worst student in his class except for all of the rest.

If you don’t feel it, no supper tonight, no allowance until it’s clean… and stays that way.

“If I feel like it”… would be the last thing Michael would say to me on this earth.

What we don’t see between panels 2 & 3 are Elly’s rant at Michael for his attitude and forcing him to do as she told him.

My most “interesting” parent/teacher conference was with the band teacher. She was running really behind schedule and there were about 10 sets of parents waiting outside her door. So she just went down the line, shook the parents’ hands and said “thank you for coming, you have a wonderful child, a joy to have in class,” until she got to us, then she said, “stay here, I’ll get back to you,” and continued on to the next “thank you for coming, you have a wonderful child, a joy to have in class.”

She told us basically the same thing his violin teacher said. He has enormous musical talent, unfortunately. He doesn’t have to work at all to be “OK,” If he’d just put out a little effort he could be first chair with the potential to be at a professional level. After we talked for a while, and discussed his basic personality she finally concluded “Oh well, someone has to play second clarinet.”

Sometimes a contented child is better than a driven one.

Typical kid. Most parents experience this.

One of my step daughters got a job and much to my surprise she was organized, hard working, and an overall really good employee. None of which was shown at home – when asked if it could transfer she thought and said, “nope, don’t think so.”

All mothers happen to see the weaker side of the kids and try hard to mend it. That’s why they are revered in all cultures.

You get the respect you EARN, Helly Patterson! Mike is your son, not free child care and maid service!Do tell, when was the last time you offered to help him with his homework or asked what he felt like for dinner? I’m betting back then, not even LIZZIE was alive!

After a month of remote learning, one parent supposedly posted on Facebook: “Dear teachers: you are all liars. My kids are not a joy to have in class!” :-D