For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 02, 2022

Come on Elly. Don’t undo all that you did last night. Making him a nice sandwich will send a message to Mike you are feeling bad. He will revel.

Now that I recall that be seeing John and El fancying up, they’ll come home late from their party and Michael turns the table by getting upset at them.

Elle: “I’m his MOTHER, and he’s my baby! It can’t be helped. It’s a MOM thing.”

It’s not as if he’s a problem child. It’s even been a long time since he beat up on his sister. Move on!

Panel 1: Are they in the bathroom together??

John and Elly are NEVER united.

Makes me wonder why they’re not divorced!!

HA! My mother NEVER made me a lunch after I started attending school. That was my job. Still, it did make me more self reliant and independent over time.

Forget it, John. You won’t win with your idea of justice in this case.

nice?—well, maybe nice-tasing

Lynn’s Comments: I once asked Aaron what he remembered about his school days, and he said, "You made the best lunches."

Is that mayo on his baloney sandwich? I love mayo on my “bologna” sandwich, with one piece of lettuce and a side of plain potato chips. Some chocolate milk to wash it down. (I’m about done with winter now.)

why would you have to ask? You can see she’s putting mayo and meat on bread, it’s not hard to figure out.

so much for the without guilt part

“Indefinitely” means til John is too old to drive it himself.

Funny how they always call it the “sports car” and never the Ferrari or Porsche or whatever. OK, it wouldn’t be either one of those.

In the first panel, what’s all that smudging in the artwork? Water? Sunlight rays?

Ahh, Mom’s are great!

Unlike an earlier strip where Michael was making all these requests of his mother:

Elly: “Michael, you are prefectly capable of making your own lunch.”

Michael looks as if he just got his draft notice in the mail.

Michael: “Make my own lunch?!?!”

Elly: “That was quick. What did he decide on?”

Elizabeth: “He just grabbed an apple.”

Way to go, Mom.

The maternal love after a hectic deciplining is bound to kick in.

And that’s how you create monsters. He doesn’t get a “nice lunch” for bad decisions. He gets whatever the normal routine is – minus whatever the punishment removes.

Don’t forget the crepe suzettes for dessert,Elly.

When I was about 14, my parents went to visit my older brother in the next state. They said they’d be home by 5pm. They weren’t. By 6pm, I was one worried kid. When they finally DID get home about 6:30 (because of traffic), I did yell at them! And I finally understood why, if I were late, they yelled at me. When you love someone, you worry about them and that worry quickly makes you scared that “something” has happened. The yelling, the punishment, is a reaction to being scared.

So, who is the boss? Did Mom make them “equal” partners?

That’s a nice joke…but still…in real life, food is food and I don’t like the allusion that not making a lunch would continue the discipline and send some kind of message to the kid.

Showing love to someone after dealing out punishment (or consequences if you will) is recommended by child “experts”. Elly’s making him a “nice lunch” is the equivalent of hugging a child that has just been released from “time out” had just been spanked.

Mother Love!

How is making lunch going soft? It only would be if the mutually determined punishment was that John take off his belt and have it meet Michael’s hide, as well as no meals for a week.

Mayo and bolongna? Now we know the Pattersons are not Jewish.

Or maybe they are and Elly is making sure Michael is being disrespectful to his beliefs.

“INDEFINITE”, John? Is that your roundabout way of saying NEVER, Elly? It’s a hunk of impractical metal that is as worthless as you two COWARDS!

Maternal feelings cannot be turned off.