Thursday, January 28, 2010

My plan to be Calvin's dad is not a good plan - edited

Long long LONG before I had kids, I read a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip where Calvin asked his dad why old pictures are in black and white. His dad told him the world used to be black and white and it turned color in the 1930s. Calvin asked why old paintings are in color and his dad told him great artists were often insane.

(I tried to find the original comic but it is NOWHERE to be found on the internet.)

I cut that strip out of the newspaper when I was 15 years old because I thought that was the funniest thing ever to tell a kid. I loved how Calvin's dad always had crazy explanations for Calvin that he could somehow justify with science. I always imagined myself having conversations like this with my kids one day.

Yesterday at breakfast I told the kids we are going to this awesome place called Legoland on Saturday. Their first question was, "Are there going to be legos there?!" and I said no. But when I saw the confused and hurt looks on their faces, I immediately had to tell them I was kidding and there would be so many legos there. Lego dinosaur, lego cars, legos legos legos.

Either I'm too sensitive to be like Calvin's dad or the boys are still a little too young.

Lookie! The comic!

9 comments:

Carrie said...

Check it out! http://www.freewebs.com/calvin-hobbes-org/dadbandwandcolour.jpg

~Carrie

Stacey said...

OK, now you need to come up with canned responses we can all use when we start getting the s-e-x questions!

Lindsay said...

I remember that one! And one about why the sky is blue, but I don't remember Dad's explanation.

The best s-e-x one I've heard is that is means if you are a boy or a girl. TRUE!

JTC asked me how the doctors got AJC out of my belly the other day.

Bert Bell said...

Ok here is one if the boys ask why is the sky blue.....because if it was green everyone would mow it!

bb and mtb said...

LOVE C&H!!!!! My favorite is where Calvin is pounding nails into the living room coffee table. "Tap, tap, tap" when his mother comes in the room and yells, "What are you doing?" Calvin looks down, then looks up at his mother and asks, "Is that a trick question?"

I always imagined my kids would be like Calvin. I think I'm there.

Sadia said...

Melody gets sarcasm. Jessie doesn't. It's amusing to watch Melody explain jokes to Jess.

What a great answer, though. I totally use that sort of humour to get through the day.

Joanna said...

I've always thought it's amazing how many things we have in common, but now I'm starting to think that you have invaded my brain. I used to think the very same thing about Calvin's dad!

Now that I think about it, I probably should have just named Michael Calvin, than I could at least say I asked for it.

Teresa said...

I tried joking with Kaitlyn the other day. I was making her chocolate milk and she asked who it was for. Like duh. Who else drinks chocolate milk in this house? So I said "it's for me. It's mommy's chocolate milk". And she freaked out. "No mom, that's my cup. You can't drink out of my cup" and started crying. Yup, I'll have to wait a little longer to tease her :)

Stacey said...

I am VERY sarcastic with my students. I imagine when my boys are nine they will be pros at handling my sarcasm.

I can sustain jokes with Cole for a while most of the time. Sometimes I'll give in and tell him the truth. Other times I get to hear him say, after a long pause, "You are just joking, right?"