Today’s comic was half an hour late because in addition to Selkie and school work, I am also currently trying to save a galaxy from total annihilation by malevolent machines.
My name is Commander Shepard, and I approve this lame excuse.
I sometimes google trawl for adoption-related articles for background research on the comic, and Heather's minor panic attack was inspired by one. The article described an adoptive mothers experience taking her daughter to see Despicable Me. At the scene where the three girls get taken back to the orphanage for being too demanding of Grue's time, the kid started hyperventilating and had to be taken out of the theater until she calmed down.
YES. That’s the outcome I was leaning towards and hoping for. Once again, you did not disappoint!
Agreed. 🙂
LIke, you can’t beleive the amount of grounded thats going to happen, we will make sure you wouldn’t sneeze without premission.
Hahahaha, yes. XD
Oh yeah, honey, we love you, but you’re not even gonna SMELL a videogame until you’re thirty, Missy.
Well, I think Barbara is definitely shaping up as at least decent, so that is some worry to rest. Strict but fair.
Hoping now that both parents are. If one parent says you’re grounded, and the other takes you out for an ice-cream, it can send some seriously mixed messages.
I’ll admit, considering who these two are based off, Ken has me worried, though his wife does not seem to be the type to allow overruling.
Her stance when saying “I’m here to deal with a little thief” does not promote feelings of wishy-washyness.
Bwhahahaha. Though apparently that’s not an option in this one because it is Super Serious. Haven’t gotten a chance to play it yet, though.
I’m still waiting for Bioware to fix the face import bug before I play.
…Oh yeah, you made a good comic today and stuff.
I am glad to see these aren’t the type of parents that make false threats like “we are going to take you back” and realize this is a lifetime deal.
Totally off base here but I wanted to thank you for the comic. When I first started read this about a year ago, my wife and I were seriously contemplating adoption since we were having trouble conceiving. Because of this comic and the characters in it, not only did I learn more about adoption the age range we looked at actually increased.
Any adoption plans will have to wait since we are due in mid March. But, I think it is still a reasonable option for us in the coming years.
Thank you for the kind words. And congratulations on the upcoming kid! 😀
Marr! Congratulations to you both on the impending new arrival!
Me, I’m afraid we will have to stick with dogs. LOL
Gotta say, I was really looking forward to how both these gals would handle this. Super happy with Barbs wording and way she handled it. SUPER HAPPY. It’s great that she’s not just a one dimension character.
Wow, that article in the comments sounds interesting. Is there a link?
Ha! Called it!
I’m not going to be a fan of the Fairweather’s speaking, lifestyle or parenting habits, I admit. But parenting has many forms and they seem to have the important parts covered.
Discipline the child- not simply yell at them.
Comfort the child- because her fears are real, contribute to her behaviors and need to be address.
And Ground her ass to make it clear this behavior will not be tolerated and to not do it again.
So far I approve.
I find it interesting that Heather would assume that being taken back would fall into the range of possible punishments.
I’m going to guess that this is probably a legit fear in older kids that have been recently adopted, especially at first. How many in-comic days have actually passed since the girls got adopted? Todd adopted Selkie the same day Barbara adopted Heather. We saw Todd take Selkie shopping, come home to find his parents visiting, saw Selkie go to bed & her dream sequence, then she got up to go to school – where she still is. Comic time is… a day? That can’t be right.
I was under the impression that between the day Selkie got adopted and the first day of school was a few weeks that passed. Heather’s adoption happened somewhere within those few weeks… or so I thought.
I agree with Preseac.
Amanda mentions it´s August when she sees Selkie get her coat, so presumably it´s during summer holidays. When does the new school year start? Sometime in September? Also, when Heather gets adopted, Amanda mentioned that Martina has since gotten adopted, and when Selkie was adopted, Martina was still there, as Selkie has to sleep in the bottom bunk because of her – so some time passed between the two adoptions.
So, a couple of weeks since Selkie got adopted, and a bit less than that for Heather. The upper limit is however long the summer holidays last; Selkie must have been adopted during the holidays, because the first day of school afterwards is the first time she sees the other kids again.
Todd has had Selkie for just under two weeks and they are now in week three. Heather got adopted early the previous week. Only took me two years to relate three week’s time. XD
This is, I think, the first time she gets in real trouble after being adopted.
“No, Heather – you’re still in trouble. And since I am your mom, your punishment will come from ME.”
Heh… Heheheh…. She has shaved armpit hair…. Is it truly immature that THIS is what I focus on? *gigglesnort*
Anyway, Heather is totally CRAZY grounded 😛
If it helps, that little detail made me giggle too. 😉
I’m afraid I must admit to getting a chuckle or three out of the armpit stubble. 😀 Interesting detail to include … LOL
Nice touch with Barb Fairweather having armpit stubble in panel 2. It’s one of those little small details that helps lend to the character’s personality.
I told you guys she was a better parent/person than you gave her credit for. I am pleasantly unsurprized :-).
Not just grounded, CRAZY grounded.
I wonder what their idea of CRAZY grounded is. My parents cut me off from everything except homework, chores and looking at a blank, shut off TV. I think the best part, discipline-wise, was when they loaned all my toys to my friends for the duration of the grounding. Boredom is an AMAZING discipline tool.
My parents would ground me from reading. But, then again, I reading was my favorite pastime…
My mother tried to do that when I got too many C’s one year, only she warned me too many times and I picked up on some subtext about getting some boxes and realized she wasn’t joking.
So I hid my books like they were crack. Wasn’t stupid enough to hide enough so she’d notice some were missing. Mom stomped up the stairs to see what she expected, a bookshelf full of books. She packed them up, and left me smirking at the favorite one fourth of my book collection hidden away in the craziest of places.
Book number one, Runelords, hidden balanced on top of the trim on the inside of my closet door. Had to step up on a crate to get it up there. It stayed up there when I slammed that door.
Book number two, Lionboy, taped to the bottom of my shirt drawer which was second from the ground. Drawer still opened and shut as quick as you’d like.
Book number three, Cujo, wedged in the bottom of my bed frame. Would’ve had to crawl under the bed face up to see it.
That about paints the picture for the next six.
I even hid some in some obvious places, for fodder, and I pretended not to care when she found the first, got nervous when she found the second, and thought of dead puppies and cried when she found the third one, the heavy hitter decoy that she could actually believe was the one I liked to keep the most. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I liked but had already reread 8 times.
And that was it. I’d won.
Still was in a shitton of trouble for grades, but I had books to get me through that.
She sounded as if she was about to have a panic attack! poor heather
Nice. I’m glad she didn’t fall into the ‘horrible parent who does not discipline their child at all’ stereotype, but I’m also glad she didn’t fall into the ‘my child can do no wrong, obviously this was retaliation for something the freak kid did’ stereotype, either. I work at Wal-Mart, and I see WAAAY too many of both. There’s days I think we oughta have a sign reading something to the effect of ‘They break it, open it, or chew on it: you bought it.’ Can’t tell you how many times I see some brat grab a thing of candy and open it, but by the time the ‘rents notice, the kid has eaten most of it. Of course, they still refuse to BUY the candy for the child. And, of course, I’m forbidden from saying anything beyond, “Excuse me, Sir/Ma’am? Your child is doing X”. Which they tend to ignore, given that they’re usually on a cell phone.
I saw a lot of the same thing when working at a Walgreens. What about the ones who tell their kid to “have fun” in the toy section unsupervised while they go do other stuff? My local comic book shop has a ban on unattended minors for that reason.
I… I work at a large, famous theme park run by a rodent, if you catch my drift. The amount of time that I parent other people’s children is shocking. One of my favorites is “you better stop *insert action here that the parent knows is wrong*, or the lady is going to yell at you.”
Parents who parent are my very favorite people.
I also worked at same saccharine hellhole once. The parents tended to be far worse than the kids.
I love when kids correct the parents, and the parent assumes that because they are the parent, they are right. This includes the child hearing “entrance on the left, exit on the right”, and the parent, who is not paying attention, insisting they are wrong.
Yeah, I work at a certain Video Game retailer and I’ve seen some crazy stuff parents look the other way towards. Everything from buying their 6 year old Saints Row the Third (WHY?!) to letting the child to urinate in the store after I told them we didn’t have a bathroom (but did mention there was one next store).
On the flip side, there was the one time some parents left two kids to their own devices (because we are obviously a daycare) and they knocked down a display. Before anyone could say anything, they apologized and did their best to put everything back exactly as it was. These kids, I bought candy bars.
It can be really hard to do the parenting thing. I mean, if the kids grab candy, then break out the cash — but there’s this “Don’t be a helicopter parent!” thing going on, as tension. Plus, kids are not consistent! One day, they will be oh-so-careful and you go “yay! I don’t have to snap the kid-harness on them anymore!” and the next day (or moment), they’re rampaging like a proverbial bull in a china shop.
My kid tends to be… impulsive. (Though not to the extent ever of devouring things that were not yet paid for, thank something!) And a bit oblivious to the notion that Things Might Not Withstand Being Bumped Into. Of course, it’s intermittent. Because intermittent things are just the easiest things to compensate for. *headdesk*
And people wonder why I want a propeller-beanie that has “MOM” written on it, eh?
I don’t mean to attack, or derail the comments entirely, but the reason I’m not a parent yet is because I do not want to parent. At my job, I have literally saved children’s lives (it sounds dramatic; it is), and my friends have as well… the cause is usually a parent not paying attention.
Adults are not exempt, but adults are responsible for themselves. A child’s guardian is responsible for the child.
I work at a university police department. I am constantly amazed that the parents who don’t discipline their child, still have the mind-set of “my child can do no wrong” when we arrest them for selling drugs, stealing a car or beating the crap out of their girlfriend. (No, I’m not kidding, I have talked to parents who will make every excuse in the book to convince us that it must be someone else’s fault.) Though I do remember one very well … her son had stolen a computer from a neighbor in the dorm – when I asked her if she’d like the number of the jail so she could talk to them about bail, she said “no, let him sit in there and think about what he’s done … he got himself into this, he can get himself out”. I wanted to cheer. >:)
“…Oh.”
“…Oh.”
Yeah, that’s generally the usual response 😀
FWIW…
My name is Damien except when it’s Ezio or maybe Altair and I approve your lame excuse as well, especially because lately my name’s been Wacogzy Dragonborn and I’ve been making lame excuses to Damien.
😀
War> Took the words right outta my mouth!
Dave> well played, ser:) TB has been playing nearly non-stop for 4 days…
Danzier> lawl
Kaitlyn> at first I wondered why Dave did it, then I realized… Barb’s personal groom time was interrupted by news of her new daughter’s transgression.
“at first I wondered why Dave did it, then I realized… Barb’s personal groom time was interrupted by news of her new daughter’s transgression.”
Ah … yes, that would explain it … LOL
Thank you, Dave, for restoring my hope in the Fairweathers. I do hope Heather gets a chance to explain why she did it, because it should be addressed… but yeah. The best possible response in this situation from Barb. Thank you.
I assume that part of the motivation for “CRAZY grounded” is that adoptive mom assumes Heather attacked Selkie and pulled off her shirt (everyone assumes that right now; only Heather and Selkie know better). Will she be less angry when she realizes that Heather “only” nicked a shirt draped over the top of a restroom stall door?
I hope she doesn’t think that makes it ok, cause stealing is still stealing.
I´m not saying this makes it okay… just that it would be the difference between “grounded for a long time” and “left with only homework and chores for company until you turn 21”. There *is* a difference between theft and assault.
I’m not sure like Barbara is necessarily assuming that. She said “You stole”, not “you hurt another kid/ripped someone’s clothes off”.
And, too, judging by Selkie’s reaction, the theft was possibly as traumatic to her as a “direct assault” would have been.
I think Barbara’s “I’m here to deal with a little thief!” comment is pretty telling. I don’t think that the minor difference between the actual circumstance and the perceived circumstance will change her attitude about this very much. Pretty sure that the “crazy grounded” sentencing will stand.
I don’t know if she’d be less mad or not. She still stole someone’s shirt and caused them to be half naked in a public school. Particularly for a girl like Selkie who has “physical deformities”. I think crazy grounded still applies. It really should also. When I was 14, in Jr. High, some boys came into the locker room and stole my pants and my shirt only leaving my undergarments and then they hung them on the tree outside the gym. Nothing happened to them and I got in trouble for walking around in inappropriate attire (when I went outside to get my clothes that were obviously hanging from a tree). If my child ever did that, they wouldn’t see the light of day for at least a year.
Nice resolution.
And Selkie was wrong about her- they could be one awkward handshake away from a beautiful friendship.
LOVE it! I was worried that either her mom would blow it off (maybe saying something nasty about Selkie) or go overboard. I loved that she said ‘you’re ours now’ and ‘crazy grounded’.
😀
Good luck in your heroic endeavors Dave! XD
Oh gosh, I love Heather’s mom now. I love all the parents we’ve seen thus far. They’re so realistic…and so RIGHT.
I bet Heather feels so lucky she’s grounded… I’ll admit, if I were in her shoes, I’d be worried that if I did something bad that I’d be worried that my parents would give me back. Of course I can’t vouch for this in real life because I wasn’t adopted, but it took me a while to realize that would definitely be a big fear.
Also, regarding panel 2, I like the detail of Barb’s shaved hair follicles. Nice touch, Dave. 😀 I appreciate little, realistic details.
So, on my 3rd read through (I use this comic to calm down sometimes lately) I noticed a line in this strip:
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=140
where George refers to “that blonde lady from last week” who seemed to like Selkie, to which Selkie replied “for twos minutes, and then she talkeds and playeds withs Heather for likes an hour” as well as saying Selkie’s smile was “creepy”
Would that blonde lady have been Barbara?
OOooo, I forgot about that. Well? Is he right? I GOTSTA KNOWS!! 😀 Hehe.
On another note, Dave, I have got to give you kudos for the realism of your characters. The kids are kids and the adults are varied. Although I am very curious about Barb and Todd’s relationship.
Well, the firm he works at is called Fairweather and Mayflower… This is not the greatest of signs for Barbara. Even though I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t, if he had wanted to press a lawsuit it would become a very sticky situation.
Thus the “ffffffffffffff” from Barbara.
DUUDE….. the comic update is adorable, and Barb seems amusing….. and I’m so jelly you get to play ME3…. I lack a compatible console on whichto play awesome games like mass effect *sulks in a corner* I don’ get to save the galaxy from evil machines.
Yay! Barbie is a good mother! Yay!
And the last panel made me literally laugh out loud, which is pretty rare for me.
I admit I’m not happy with what Heather did, but I hope the truth comes out. Heather seems like a good kid but she has been around Amanda to long. Amanda’s evil has rubbed off on to Heather.
Everytime I read this it makes me think that adoption is the way for me. Like, Having my own kids is fine and all, but I’ve just got the strongest feeling that I really just want pre-made kids.
Except I would never tell them that I ever referred to them as pre-made kids.
Or maybe I would. I’ve got that sort of humor.
Go for it Lunar! Lord knows, there are a ton of kids out there that need adopting …
Excellent series of strips Dave! I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to comment on them … crazy busy at work lately. But this one definitely wants commenting on.
When Heather started breaking down because she was afraid that the Fairweathers would “give me back”, it about brought tears to MY eyes. But when I read Barbara’s response, culminating with the “crazy grounded” I had to laugh and cheer. Fantastic work on this whole arc and this page was one of your best so far. Has to rank right up there with Selkie realizing that she’s actually being adopted.
And yeah, I also love Barbara’s stubble … LOL
@Dave
Do you know the webcomic tracking site, Piperka? Your comic used to be listed there but it looks like it was removed because your site was blocking access to the Piperka web-crawler. I hope you’ll look into this as I read over 500 comics that update regularly and without something like Piperka to keep track of them all I’d be sure to lose some.
I don’t know much about this kind of thing, but I do know that yesterday the site had some downtime that caused my Project Wonderful ad boxes to temporarily disable until the site came back up. If Piperka’s crawler tried to check the site during this time, it may have thought access was blocked.
I’ll talk to Piperka about it, thank you for letting me know.
Paul, I am sorry but I checked with my webhost and they are unable to allow Piperka’s crawler access, so I won’t be able to have the site listed there. Sorry.
Dave, let me tell you something. I read 30 webcomics (the exact height of my monitor), and when I find a really great one, the lowest one on the list goes. I’ve never been a huge fan of this comic; it never drew me in to where it was going, and I kept it because I sensed the potential in it. I really, really like this update, and I’m happy to have stayed with Selkie until this happened. Keep it up. ;D
I really appreciate your comment, because some of the most common criticisms I receive about the comic is on the pacing (especially in the early stages. I even cringe a little. XD).
Thanks for sticking it out.
im so glad to see heather’s adoptive mother not be a terrible person here. when she itemized her daughter earlier with the facebook comment i worried that she might be the rich attention seeking types who got a kid to be “in-vogue” with her friend group. but the last two frames of this page really showed how she really cares