Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for November 11, 2021

They’re working on their 2.5 kids -they’re just on the 0.5 ! ♨

A woman’s idea of how compromise should work: Exhibit A.

I’m with Toni. There’s no rush.

Complicated, ain’t it?

Sometimes, less is more. ✨

The guy has the easy part of creating new life. It’s her body that has to do the carrying and delivering of the baby. I think it’s only fair she gets to decide not only if but when she’s ready.

Brad knows when to shut his trap. If TJ ever gets married, it won’t last.

I wonder, if stirring the pot was a part of Brad’s master plan for this dinner. If I was Toni I’d order a pizza, if she’s even hungry anymore.

why is TJ running this show brad wake up

I’ve said this before, so if you’ve read this before, just skip on down.

Toni’s and Jonah’s parents both died in a car crash. They were then raised by an aunt who did really want to have that obligation. After they grew up, Jonah and his (unnamed?) girlfriend had Shannon, but said girlfriend did not like being a mom, so she took off and has never been heard from again.

Toni and Brad both work in a highly dangerous occupation where any day either or both of them might be killed.

For these reasons, Toni may be very reluctant to bring a child into the relationship, running the risk of himer being raised the way they were. I don’t really blame her.

Absolutely positively do not like how, today, Toni is being made the „bad guy“ because she wants to wait.

Since all of this tease has got to be foreshadowing a Toni pregnancy arc, clearly, she will have been railroaded into it.

In real life, nothing good will come of this.

But as hundreds of you are about to remind me, this isn’t real life.

TJ is way too invested in his housemates’ breeding choices.

Toni is giving off mixed messages here. First she says “no” then she says “maybe.” I know there are two more days to the end of this week but this dithering puts me in strangle mood.

Brad’s in a no win situation here. TJ is just pointing out the incongruity… as any good wing man would! 8^ )

Funny thing.

Toni fearlessly risks life and limb and goes into a crumbling, smoke-filled burning building without a moment’s notice. Yet she’s afraid of having a baby.

Which is okay, if she doesn’t want to deal with kids.

It’s her choice.

But, in fairness, she should get on the phone and tell brother Jonah that from now on Shannon is HIS “problem.”

After all, We don’t want to traumatize Toni any further. ;-)

Nope, Toni. It is not a compromise. The question remains – WHEN? This is the same old. Toni, it is time for you to tell the truth. You don’t want kids – ever. It is not fair to Brad that you are stringing him along. hoping he will play along and not leave you. You KNOW he wants a family. Leave him. Yes, he will be crushed but it is necessary. Be the strong woman you want to be. Being a female firefighter is nothing compared to a true inner strength.

This back and forth is gonna keep going on hope something actually happens this time

TJ’s signature toothsome grin seems to be absent so far this week.

Actually it’s nobody’s business. This kind of nosiness is kind of rude. It’s equivalent to “why aren’t you married” or “what’s your salary”.

TJ will now run over and tell Frank and Nancy that they’re not too old to have another baby, so get started. Butt out, TJ.

Someone’s marriage preparation program failed miserably with these two.

So did Brad think by TJ. running the show for him Toni say yes to having kids.

Basically what Toni is saying she is just ready to have kids at this time.

Brad’s an idiot

Shut up, TJ – no one is winning here.

Brad is always the pursuer. Toni is always the hesitator. Toni is not convinced. Maybe they need to adopt Shannon first.

Move on

rinks always easy to plan someone else’s life compared torunning your own…

It’s never the right time. If you wait until it is you will wake up one morning and realize it is too late.

So easy to say “I want a baby” when you’re not the one who has to carry it, give birth to it, or get up in the middle of the night to feed it.

The fact is that if Brad didn’t bring this up, then Toni would never consider the possibility of children. It takes communication and sometimes that is uncomfortable. People can change their opinion on a major subject—no matter how much you talked about it before, Brad has been patient, but to believe that means forfeiting the right to discuss this topic until Toni is ready is not healthy or fair. (I do not like this topic as a forum with co-workers or friends, but this is a comic.)As far as women having their bodies changed by maternity and men don’t, I can’t buy into that fully either. My husband wore down his body providing for or family: he looks older than me. I had two c-sections. We both have given to make and keep our family.

It’s her job to bear the child, so it’s also her job to decide the time. Brad only has the fun, but her body does the work.

Salute to all the Veterans out there in Luanniverse!

Maybe they will name their child “Godot”

One step forward, two steps back.

Brad’s only hope is that accidents happen

TJ is a good judge. Toni is right, that’s all. But still Toni feels she has to explain herself. Toni is under pressure, poor thing. Let’s hope Brad understands, supports her and will wait without further insistence.

Why are Toni and Brad in their dress uniforms and standing at attention in front of their housemate?

While meeting in the middle I important, you can’t do that for this. Once one becomes a parent, it’s a forever investment.

This whole week is just Karen and Greg ef-ing with us. They have decided long time ago when or if Toni will get pregnant, All this will she or won’t she stuff is just BS. She will pregnant so they can follow her through long months of tediousness. It gives them another reason to ignore the titular lead of this strip. It makes me remember “For Better or Worse”: a strip I used to enjoy a lot but then the daughter (Elizabeth?) dumped the interesting active guy for Gunther-dull Anthony (?) What a terrible thing to do to what had been an interesting character. I lost all respect for the strip thereafter. Making Toni pregnant is likewise a terrible thing to do, Because it’s predictable, jokes about pregnant women are all over the place so the strip would not be funny.

It’s important to remember at times like this that this is a cartoon. It’s a fable created by someone to interest, educate or amuse us, But in recent years Greg and Karen have done little to amuse us. They spent a week talking about looking for a job but then they never showed us Luann looking for a job. That could have been funny. Instead they jumped to Brad badgering Toni about having a kid. When Nancy felt old did anything change? No, they talked a bit, Bernice rummaged in Nancy bookkeeping and ta-da, she’s a hero. Even Tiffany’s battle with Stefani is tired, worn and unfunny.

I used to love this strip but I can’t remember the last time I did. The only thing I can say is that coming here every night to gripe keeps me off the streets at night and away from the heroin.

Waiting on gas and food prices to go back down not to mention disposable diapers.

“By the way, TJ -why are YOU still living here??”

Pretty cleaver way to figure out who’s making the decision in this. I’m with Toni – both need to be ready to start a family. But a lot of the time readiness is limited by fear. And Toni has them, which is reasonable. It’s up to her if she wants to adrress them enough to eventually have a family with Brad or not.

If she came out and said, “Nope. No kids ever,” that would be a different story altogether.

Wow 2 strips with TJ now showing off that glitzy smile, particularly today. That has to be a record. Normally TJ is all smiles all the time just like Knute used to be (unless Les was punching him in the gut or he thought he was going to repeat Mr Fogarty’s class).

It’s private matter and not open to discussion, even in a comic strip.

Hey TJ….. EFF OFF.

The problem is, she doesn’t want kids right now and it seems she’s also withholding sex from him. That’s how the arc with them started.

Here’s a important question, Why is TJ even involved in this conversation? This is their business, not his.

If those are the two choices, waiting is the only reasonable “compromise.” You don’t have kids if one partner isn’t ready to.

Maybe see yourself out of this one, TJ.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an “accident” in the very near future…

Come on, Toni. You know you want to. Just throw away those condoms and you’ll be a mommy for sure.

Toni you’ve gotta have a baby, before it’s too late. Or is something else going on that you’re not telling Brad?

You know, I have better things to worry about than this goofy episode!

Apparently this arc has touched a nerve…

It’s not just the decision to have kids. Toni calls the shots as a whole. Poor simping Brad has no say.

Pressure from a male she’s not married to? All kinds of wrong. Nobody else’s business but theirs. Of course, busybodies will always comment, but this is between Toni and Brad, and Toni should say so.

Up until today it was just friendly kidding and conversation. Today he is starting to get too personal and pushy. It is not his place. It is between Toni and Brad.

If your not ready wait,

OK again, of course a woman, because of her anatomy has physical changes etc, DURING the pregnancy,

A woman is not a better parent by default simply because she successfully carried her pregnancy through delivery.

However, reducing any man’s involvement as a father because they do not give birth is insulting.

Motherhood and fatherhood are so much more that procreation. A million times more. for both of them.

So is Toni afraid of the physical side of pregnancy? My friend Roger’s first wife stated that as part of her reason for never wanting kids, after 7 years of marriage where she strung him along. In fact, she basically told him “I have worked so hard and long to get into the shape I am in to let my *body get ruined by having a kid. Anyone’s kid.”

Or is she afraid of having to actually be a “Mother” and therefore the responsibility that despite how it is depicted often, is not a full time thing with Shannon. It is fair to say that Shannon might put her off as well, because her own fears of screwing up.

She is not Jonah, and she is not alone. She has Brad. And his parents, who love him and her, plus a sister-in-law who actually adores kids. There is support, and a failsafe should -anything_ happen to either one of them.

Well after all she has 90% of the operation

Considering the slow rate at which people age in this strip (although, to be fair, in most strips characters don’t age at all!), she still has over a century of child-bearing years ahead of her. So there is no rush.

I hate seeing a man who tries to force/manipulate/coerce a woman to deny her hopes, goals, and aspirations, so he can make her into a baby-making machine. It’s morally evil.

And not even getting any practice in either apparently.

Mind your own business TJ. Your opinion does not mater. Ever.

No. It’s not. Not really. This way Brad will continue to pester her day and night about it. Nothing has been resolved and at this point BOTH are losers. The tension will continue to grow. Toni needs to be honest and SPECIFIC with Brad. Tell him in 3-5 years if we have enough money saved etc. etc. I will decide for certain if I am ready for children then and only then. Until then let’s take a break from this discussion. If it’s a deal breaker then it’s a deal breaker. But, if she is just using this “waiting” as an excuse and she knows deep in her heart she doesn’t want children then she needs to tell him that NOW. As Mordoc said this should have been discussed long before the wedding but it’s better late than never. Or just going around and around in circles. What Brad is doing borders on browbeating. He’s better than this.

They’re worried the baby will look like brad.

Independent of all the “life philosophy”, I would compliment the Evans for the artwork in panel two. Toni’s posture change from the panel before is very subtle, slightly slumped shoulders, head slightly tilted forward. She appears (to me) to be thinking of just how to respond, and perhaps just gathering a little anger for her response.

SHE’S the one who has to do all the work!

Notice Brad is not pushing the issue that hard? He wants one but is respecting Toni’s wish to wait and she (thinks) they’re compromising. Either way, Toni’s body, Toni’s rules and it looks to me like Brad is respecting that.

Some call this, “Failure to Launch.” I think what Brad is suffering from is best described by its Latin name, Nonooki.

It occurs to me that perhaps Toni is unable to have children? And that could be a whole other discussion with Brad about full disclosure.

In ten years they’ll both be completely different people. She won’t be quite so“hot “, and he may finally realize that it’s time to make some serious money. Meanwhile, the infernal Shannon will reach pubescence , with its attendant delights. I don’t see a bright future for this couple. But I’m a mean old guy with a lifetime of experience..

Of course it is Toni for the win, she is the one that gets pregnant.

They are young and frisky….enjoy it!

See the intro to the movie Idiocracy

Toni is concerned that she will have to leave her job for some period of time. Latter part of the pregnancy, caring for the baby, etc. By the time she’s able to go back to work she may not be able to just walk in and continue.

@Rhetorical_Question, I think you hit the nail on the head. In all likelihood, something will eventually happen to Jonah and Shannon will be with Brad and Toni full time thus perpetuating the history that Toni and Jonah lived through themselves. With Shannon there 24/7, Brad will get to truly experience what being a full time parent means (in comic strip form, of course).

Regarding Toni and her choices of whether or not to expand the family, it is quite possible and normal that Toni really doesn’t know what she wants and isn’t stringing Brad along. Just because Brad has made his choice doesn’t necessarily mean she has to! She has demonstrated that while she is thinking about it, she hasn’t made a decision. It isn’t automatically a default of “this is obviously what Toni wants” because doesn’t really give her the time and space she needs. That said, Brad needs to understand (as many have pointed out) that Toni didn’t grow up in the same environment as Brad and that accounts for a lot of her ambiguity. I think the voice of reason in all of this may actually be a conversation arc between Nancy and Toni.

Toni and Brad, follow the instructions below.Both of you stop being all about YOU and start being all about a FAMILY. Toni, submit to God’s beautiful plan for the thing that ONLY a WOMAN (a REAL woman) can do -have Children. Brad, MAN UP And let your joyful will and desire for children be known. Work as hard as you need to provide for both of you, and live within your means. Be the MAN. Be the LEADER and all will be well. Toni will love you for the Amazing children you bring to the world that will bring such joy. Then have lot’s of babies!!!

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (Genesis 2:27-28)

They live in a rental house and need another person there to make the rent, they have Shannon there all the time, if I remember right they had to convert a closet so she would have a place for her bed. Maybe Brad should seriously look at improving their income and living conditions before demanding a baby. He is constantly browbeating Toni about it and acting like a little baby himself. Boring story.

And since when is TJ a part of this decision? When is Brad going to get rid of the sidekick? A man that needs to keep his buddy as a roommate is not a good candidate for a husband and father.

I’m surprised Brad has longbottomed into such a stand-up guy. Went from a high school lump who worked at weenie world to a fire fighter post-911.Agreed he was inspired by Toni, but he grew into a man worthy of her and definitely stepped up as an uncle to Shannon.Hopefully during their long courtship they did discuss family and expectations. Toni enjoys her career and to go on extended maternity leave is not something she would look forward to.Brad needs to respect her decision and be supportive but be clear on his wants (which I hope he was clear on)Lets see how Evens handles this

There are two things every couple should discuss and decide BEFORE they get married….kids and money. Apparently these two didn’t.

OK, I went back a few panels to November 8th and the answer is there!! She is afraid….“too scary” to quote. That’s respectable place to be considering the kind of father her brother is and the handful they have in caring for Shannon.

If Brad is big on pregnancy maybe he should give it a try. Or just shut up

So far, GnK have Brad remaining fairly passive throughout this disagreement. Recalling Luann’s passivity of the past two weeks or so; passivity seems to be a DeGroot family trait.

That’s a ’Not Your Business" situation. Good way to be looking for a new place to stay.

If Toni doesn’t want to have kids, then that’s OK, but she should go on birth control because it’s not fair to deny Brad intimacy. Oh, and TJ needs to be punched in the throat.

Mark it down: Toni is going to cheat on n Brad in a future storyline. It’s kind of a fetish for Evans.

I still don’t know why Brad thinks now is the time to try for a baby. They can’t afford to live without TJ and can’t seem to say no to Jonah dumping Shannon on them at any random time. It really doesn’t seem like they’re in a good place to add a baby to their lives.

Same waiting when Brad wanted to get married. 4/2/2012, 4/1/2013, 11/29/2013, 4/1/2014. Toni told Brad after their parents were killed in a crash, she and her brother were raised by their aunt and admits to both being “messed up”.TJ has lived with Brad before Toni came into the picture. ;-)

The more mature you are, the better chance the kids have growing up normal.

I think Greg would have trouble drawing a baby, or a blanket one is wrapped in. Or the endless quantity of diapers that babies go through.

Ain’t nobody’s business but their own.

I want to point out that there has been NO Shannon any this week, even though Brad and Toni are there. So Jonah must be taking care of his daughter. She is not always with T and B.

Oh for heaven sake – not all women WANT children. I knew when I was 12 that I didn’t ever want kids, so I found a husband who thought the same as I do. That’s something that needs to be discussed BEFORE marriage. And my mom was in her mid-30’s when I was born. Not everyone wants to start popping out kids in their teens and 20’s.

Once again, the woman decides. The man has NO say.

Like I said. All TJ is good for is cooking.

Children do drastically change a relationship.

I dunno. The clock keeps ticking and it’s easy to keep getting ready.

Seems like the one who will do all the actual carrying the child to term should have the final say on whether a family gets started. But if they want to call it “starting a family” for uh… other reasons, that’s their business too.

It’s never a good idea to push one partner into parenthood. It’d be the same calculus if Brad didn’t want kids but Toni did. As it is, unless Brad wants to be a single parent, he should back off.

What part of Female Firefighter gave anyone the impression that Toni wants to raise children? Pretty much a given that she will not be allowed to work during her pregnancy- no fire station wants to take on that liability. If she wanted a desk job, she would of chosen a Business Major. Unless Brad is offering to give up his firefighting career and be a Stay at Home Dad? He’d probably be good at it.

Both Brad and Toni need to explain their positions, then they might actually get to a compromise. Brad, why do you want to start a family now. Toni, why do you want to wait. Wanting to wait because you want more money saved, be in a house of your own, established in your career are good reasons. To wait just because you are scared is not. What specifically are you scared of. And sorry, no. Neither one gets a final 100% say.

Wow, T.J. is like the anti-marriage counselor. This isn’t about winning or losing.

But she told Brad that she wants to see all those little Brads running around. Why wait?

We already know that Toni thinks having kids is too scary; she said so. She could elaborate on that.

Since time is kind of weird here I dont know how old they are or how much time they really have

A number of posters here have touched upon Toni not being able to have children. But…

What if Brad had a medical condition that meant he couldn’t get Toni pregnant? I’m not talking about impotency here.

Well, it would be big change for Toni & Brad….but more for her than him…

Hmm, biological clock is ticking though.

If you’re NOT ready, for whatever reason, DO NOT START!!!!

TJ might get Das Boot if he keeps it up.

Not much of one…..

You’d think that Shannon’s frequent visits would dampen (if not outright kill) Brad’s enthusiasm for starting a family.

Let’s have a suggestive strip of them procreating!

If enough wait long enough, the population bomb fizzles.

The next generation will all be the children of other people, though.

Brad’s “Lights are on, but nobody’s home” expression. Priceless.

No need to explain yourself to that officious lout, Toni!

Toss TJ out!