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

riiiiight… children influencing parents with bad habits

What’s that infamous quote that parents say to their kids…‘.do what I say, not what I do….’

Now she HAS to make the bed.

I swear I’ve read this one recently- maybe I looked in a collection or it got reprinted somewhere. But it’s a funny one.

Lynn’s cartoonish exaggeration of Elly is a thing to behold- Look at the size of that overbite- her lower jaw is this lil’ triangle and her upper jaw is HUGE. She looks like a muppet! Great drawings here. Funny how Lynn drew the character she inspired as such a cartoonish goon at times.

A lot of gesticulating with the hands in this one- the trademark “Explaining things” pose with the hands splayed out, and then Michael waving his hands around in the next one. A good way to shake up what’s a “talking heads” strip for the most part.

That hit home hard.

Michael, that was perfect!

I never make my bed. I don’t give tours of my bedroom. My 87-year-old mother, however, makes hers every single day.

My husband works 3rd shift, so he’s asleep during the day. About the most I do is, since I prefer sleeping in a “made” bed, is I’ll quickly make it before going to bed. The funny thing is, since I’m a pretty sound sleeper, his side stays “made” for when he gets home!

My father, 1909-1994, was an easy going fellow until someone used the expression “make the bed”. He would then growl and point out that “the bed is already made!” and that properly speaking, one does not “make” a bed, but rather, one “dresses” a bed. I always thought his insistence on this distinction was a bit anal retentive, but now, at my grand old age of 66, when I hear/read of anyone “making a bed” I have an excuse to think of my father and smile.

Make the bed, unmake the bed, make the bed, unmake the bed, make the bed…….. Why not just have a “show” bedroom. It is like people who plasticized their living rooms and only guests could use it. Or people who have a working kitchen in the basement and the main kitchen is for show. Once in a while I clean my bedroom and rearrange the covers.

I do just enough to keep the dog from sleeping on the sheets.

I do not like sleeping in a bed that has not been made up. If it’s not it’s all wrinkled come bedtime and trying to sleep in that mess just sends me ‘round the bend. There’s a window of opportunity though, I have to get it done while the cats are having their breakfast because making up a bed that’s covered in cats is just impossible.

I graduated from a military academy who had one standard for everyone. Everyone removed their hats in the mess hall, academic buildings and chapel. Another standard told was bed making. I remember the exact sentence spoken by the commandant: “You will make your bed every day you are an undergraduate and a member of the cadet corps. If, in your private residence, from the day after graduation until the day of your funeral, I don’t care if you decide never to make your bed. But every day you are here and on the rolls, you do it!”

Beds were made to be made!

Make the bed? With anywhere from 1-6 cats on it at any time? Not likely!

By the time my brothers and I were Michael’s age the rule in the house was, if your room was a mess you had to keep your door shut. My mom didn’t care if you made the bed or not but if it started to stink mom would clean your room. If mom cleaned the room you would be charged for maid service, this was taken off your allowance. My younger brother was the only one charged for this service. The only exception was when mom did spring cleaning or if you were sick and your room was disinfected.

“A disgusting environment of chaos and squalor…” Or maybe he just prefers doing things that have some sort of real point?

It may not be a big thing, but it is one little success that you can appreciate at the end of the day. Even the worst day.

Now lie in it.

Yep, he’s his Dad’s boy.

She makes it better than I usually do…..

Making the bed keeps the bed bugs and dust mites warm.

Former hippies sure had a tough time coming to terms with life in the ’80s…..

I like a messy bed to make a “nest” in….first thing I do in a hotel room is pull the bedding out of place…

onceaweekreader is right. Here’s an article about that:

https://www.lifehack.org/317021/scientists-tell-you-why-making-your-bed-disgusting-and-bad-for-your-health

My dog is getting old but sleeps next to us on the bed every nite, just as he has done since he was a puppy

Mike really has grown up intoday strip he looks like a young man

I prefer to air out the sheets…

Making the bed could be a bore but I do it because tidying it up makes going to bed at night much easier as well as a made bed keeps the sheets underneath clean and dust-free so when I turn up the coverlet, the mattress and bedsheets are clean and tidy and flat and warm so all I do is tuck in and pull up the bedsheets and then coverlet if it is cold – when I am actually tired and sleepy, unlike in the morning when I am awake and energetic. It is HARD to tuck into a messy bed with the sheets tangled up, pillows tucked under covers, the tv remote hidden somewhere underneath, etc. It is EASIER to get into a made bed when you only pull down sheets, blankets and coverlets, grab pillows from the head of the bed, tuck them where you want then get in. Pull up all of the coverings then grab the remote from the nightstand. We all KNOW everything is easier when everything is cleared up and placed where they should be. That is WHY the military does it. That is WHY boarding schools do it. Instill self-discipline. Mothers don’t exactly instill self-discipline the same way. I grew up in a boarding school. I tried to instill the same discipline to my boys with no luck – because I am a mother, not a drill sergeant or a dormitory staff.