Remember the CALVIN AND HOBBES comic strip?
Kids today may not be as enamored with comic strips as their parents were back in the day – it really was the golden age of comics: Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Bloom County. Some would include Garfield on this list, but that may vary depending on how you feel about cats.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
It does raise a question: What if Calvin were a real kid? Hobbes, of course, was either a real tiger or a stuffed animal – we never really were sure which.
But Calvin was definitely real, and off on many an adventure.
With that in mind, the PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE decided to ask the question of IF CALVIN WERE REAL, WHAT WOULD BE HIS REAL COST OF OWNERSHIP? In case you weren’t aware, the PNIS may not actually be a real organization. But don’t let that tiny fact get in the way of the real story here.
It ends up that over the course of the entire comic strip run, it’s estimated that Calvin caused almost $16,000 worth of damage. Per year that the strip was in publication, that works out to about $1,850 worth of damage per year.
The good news, according to the study, is that as Calvin got older (or at least, as the strip got older in publication years), he tended to cause less damage during his creative moods. This makes sense as proper parenting and upbringing, along with a healthy dose of “get out of the house”.
So here’s the question to you, dear parents: HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOUR CHILD DID $2000 OF DAMAGE TO YOUR HOUSE OR CAR?
Better question – what’s the worst amount of damage your child has caused you at one time?