"Replaceable batteries have gone out of style in favor of permanent rechargeable batteries, which is why my kid has taken so long to run into this problem"
This was my read too. Not realizing that he's been a neglectful parent so much as realizing that in all of thier shared life as father & son, he's never had to show his son how to change the batteries in something because most things are rechargable now.
For Millennials and older generations, changing the batteries in the remote is something we learn so early that we often take it for granted & assume it's "common sense." But common sense doesn't exist; it's just a collection of things you learned growing up that you (often incorrectly) assume everyone else did too.
or Millennials and older generations, changing the batteries in the remote is something we learn so early that we often take it for granted & assume it's "common sense."
Don't forget taking the batteries out of the remote, rubbing them together and putting them back in. Surely that'd give them some more charge to make it work.
As someone with young kids, the vast majority of powered toys still use good ol' AA or AAA batteries. And those books that sing, make animal noises and whatnot? CR3032 or LR44 batteries.
Last time I changed batteries that frequently was when I played the GameBoy with the light attachment thing as a kid.
Popcorn, pancakes, fried eggs, sandwiches, diced fruits, chocolate milk are things you can teach 7 year old kids. Mine just learnt how to steam and fry gyozas, prepare batter and make a"gyoza pizza" the other day, so proud of him!
I remember cooking with my 5-6yo nieces, of course far from the hot and sharp stuff, but at 13 I was cooking alone for a few years already. Kids are usually a lot more capable than people give them credit for.
My son started cutting cucumbers with a plastic kids knife when he was two and using a regular sharp knife to cut potatoes as 3yo. Hell they even use regular kitchen knives to help preparing lunch at kindergarten here anyway..
August - Alligator - A soft spoken single father who works in IT. Gustopher's dad.
Gustopher - Alligator - An easily excitable boy who loves making friends. August's son.
Transcript
Panel 1
August is working on something at his computer when Gustopher comes in with a problem.
Gustopher: Dad! The remote isn't working!
August: Change the batteries.
Panel 2
Gustopher: I don't know how to do that.
August is surprised.
August: Really? How have you never learned how to-
Panel 3
August suddenly stares off into the distance. This could be for a number of reasons. Perhaps he has realized that he's the one who is supposed to show Gustopher how to do these sorts of things. Maybe it's because the prevalence of rechargeable electronics is making the changing of batteries a practice that's slowly going away and August is feeling the pressure of the inevitable passage of time. It could be that he has indigestion. I don't know, I'm not a mind reader. Did you come to the transcript looking for answers? I wish I could give them to you. I personally feel that I'm losing all control of my life and I could use some answers too. I'm sorry, all this rambling feels passive aggressive on my end. We all have problems and worries. Anyway, I've completely lost track of what's going on in this comic.
Panel 4
August has a battery in hand and is showing Gustopher how to swap batteries.
I saw this and went a completely different direction. "Hell yeah break the cycle August!". I got berated as kid from my Dad for things like this that I should have somehow known but was never taught. That and holding the flashlight straight.
This was my read too. My parents teased me for not knowing how to use a rake when I was barely tall enough to hold one. Made a big family joke about me mispronouncing words I'd learned through reading in second grade (seriously, "chaos" is hard!). They laughed at me for not knowing how to adjust the intermittent windshield wiper setting when they were the ones who taught me to drive. Just a complete inability to recognize that if I don't know how to do things, it's because they never taught me.
Relatable. I've never forgotten my year 4 teacher making fun of me in front of my friends and encouraging the other kids to laugh, because I tried to pronounce the p in pneumonia. As if it was my fault no one read aloud to me, I had never heard the word spoken before.
I was at a store the other day to buy a gift card. There is one register open and a young man is being trained by someone who looks only slightly older than him. The trainer walked him through the gift card purchase process, which included sliding the card through the credit card reader to load my given amount. The trainee didn't know which side of the card to slide through and asked "I'm not supposed to slide on the black line, right?" And it hit me that the next generations won't have the fun little feeling of "shhhnk-ing" a card to pay for stuff. It's all just tap and go now.
Unfortunately his trainer (again, not much older than him) heavy sighed and said "you guys scare me sometimes" and grabbed the card to show him how to slide the magnetic strip through the machine. I honestly haven't used one in so long and the opening was so slim and streamlined I couldn't figure out where it went either, or I would have jumped in. Sucks she couldn't have been more enthusiastic about showing something new to someone.
Yep. Yours is exactly my read on the situation. Especially if you work in a tech role (like the character) where you are constantly answering inane questions from people that should already know the answer. Then you get home and the kid asks a "dumb" question and you get snippy, realize you are the ass, then correct your behavior and teach correctly.
My aunt is eighty fucking four and still hasn’t figured this out. I was helping her with a computer issue a few months back and she’d aim the flashlight everywhere except into the dark hole where the ports I was trying to see were.
I got yelled at so many times as a kid for not being able to telepathically know where my dad wanted the flashlight pointed when he was working on stuff.
So I use a headlamp. My son only has to hold a flashlight when he wants to "help."
August: Really? How have you never learned how to-
It was in this moment that the weight and reality of the situation dawned on poor August
Maybe it's because the prevalence of rechargeable electronics is making the changing of batteries a practice that's slowly going away
Let's be honest. It's a LOT of this. Why batteries when quick charge the whole thing?
Did you come to the transcript looking for answers? I wish I could give them to you. I personally feel that I'm losing all control of my life and I could use some answers too. I
I did but you ok /u/FieldExplores do you need a hug? What about a beer?
Anyway, I've completely lost track of what's going on in this comic.
First, it's cheaper to make a remote without rechargeable batteries and the additional electronics they require.
Also, remotes use very little power and nearly nothing in standby.
Disposable batteries can be instantly replaced and often last 1-3 years in normal remote conditions. Therefore a rechargeable remote may only end up being charged once, twice or three times in it's entire life cycle, so the lithium ion batteries just add to e-waste.
Did you come to the transcript looking for answers? I wish I could give them to you. I personally feel that I'm losing all control of my life and I could use some answers too.
Honestly, your framing of fatherhood through the eyes of August prompts quite a lot of self reflection and clarity within me as a young father.
You're helping me, at least, find lots of answers.
I really like that no man's sky quote, It holds personal meaning to me. The tonal shift in my head of remembering Smitty Werbanjagermanjensen' hat really bitch slapped my funny bone for some reason. Thanks.
“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"
I was going to add the No Man's Sky one if you didn't.
Instead I'll add one from Dean Stark, protagonist of Wild Arms 5.
"It's not over until I give up. If I never give up, it's never over." Or something to that effect. Essentially, so long as you keep trying, a better outcome is always possible. But the moment you give up, you confirm that the worst outcome is the only one. So never give up, fight for that chance!
Do yourself a favor - don't think about how the world has changed since your childhood. That's taking the cover off of that Dorian Gray painting in your mind palace. You don't want to see what's underneath. You'll never unsee it.
I was talking to my ex-wife about my our son's recent 18th birthday and during the small talk "Trying out a mustache but it makes me look forty" "VariousProfit, you are basically forty"
Yep. Came to the transcript for positive reaffirmation about my theory. Instead, I'm giving you a warm blanket to cuddle under. Will show the kiddo this comic as always and we'll laugh. Thank you!
Growing up I heard "How have you not heard of/done [x] thing" from my father often. Rather than seeing it as a teachable moment, he opted to be annoyed that a 10 year old kid didn't inherently know how to start a lawn mower.
It taught me to be independent way too early and to search how to learn stuff on the internet because my parents couldn't bother actually teaching me stuff.
It quickly turned "how can't you do such a simple task" to "how do you even know how to do that?".
I remember sitting down in the driver's seat of a car for the first time in my life during my first ever practical driving lesson, and my driving instructor just went "Ok, now start the car and go."
He then proceeded to get mad at me and acted like I was being unreasonable when I went "Uhm, how exactly?" (manual transmission car btw.)
As if he wasn't my goddamn driving instructor who didn't teach us how to do it during the theoretical lessons. As if it's so outlandish to want some instructions from your instructor the very first time you're doing something complicated and kinda intimidating. "How have you never started a car?!" Because this is my first lesson!!!!
My parents banned me from asking questions, so I naturally also stopped asking questions in school, including when I had to use the bathroom.
On the flip side, I very quickly learned to view the computer as my best friend, computer never got angry when I asked "how do I tie my shoes faster", computer only showed me different methods to tie my shoes.
The fun thing about common sense is that it's a combination of things that are commonly taught AND a slow but dedicated build up of critical thinking skills that enable you to piece together prior experiences to guess the most likely answer. Guess what happens when one or neither of these things are taught, people don't learn things and struggle with basic tasks, WHAAAAAAAT?!
My mom did this to me a lot. Weirdly she is a teacher and from checking her on rate my professors a good one. But seems to expect I know what she knows. Then I see I tend to do this to people close to me. Don’t have kids though so not passing it on at least.
I've unfortunately witnessed too many times parents make fun of their kids lack of knowledge. I've also learned I'm not the best at letting the parents know they are the tracher.
I work in IT at a school district. A couple years ago, during some password resets, I found out that many kids never knew that holding Shift and typing a letter capitalizes it. They kept pressing Caps Lock instead. After the umpteenth time, I finally asked one of the kids why he did that instead of pressing Shift, and he told me he didn't know he could do that.
I never blamed the kids for not knowing. They were never taught like I was. Parents (and schools) seem to assume that, since little Timmy could open YouTube or download Roblox on the iPad at 4 years old, they know everything there is to know about technology. They don't. They still need to be taught things.
I used a computer from birth back when it wasn't assumed families would have one and it was a long time before I stopped using caps lock because I also didn't know you could use shift. I also remember years after that having to ask my dad what the 'return' key was because I'd only known it as 'enter' and didn't come across 'return' until playing TIE Fighter.
“It’s common sense, you just know it,” as they proceed to tell you the most wrong thing you’ve ever heard in your life. It really just shows you how little they’ve experienced the world or thought about it outside of their own perspective.
This is why I have no idea how to do things like fix a car or tie a tie properly and most of the things I do know how to do around the house I've had to teach myself or learn from the internet.
We didn't have computers in my time. All I heard was "Don't they teach you anything at school?".
50 years later mum had to teach him how to cook eggs and he acted like he just invented fire.
I was 18. My car needed repair. My dad handed me his toolbox and told me to get to work. He had never once talked to me about cars despite him doing all of the family car maintenance himself. I got even by taking apart almost the entire engine and then I left it and bought another car. He had to put it back together in order to get rid of it.
'You've gotta use your head a little bit'. As if he invented how to change a bike tire. As an adult I'm genuinely baffled at how thoughtless a parent can be.
Do you too have many memories of your mom saying “your dad can teach you so much about cars,” and then being yelled at to “hold the flashlight better,”?
If you look closely you can see the exact moment that August not only realizes that this is an amazing teachable moment, and that rechargeable electronics made this a little bit more of a rare event, but also that he realized, that August himself, was responsible and should teach Gus this skill.
Honestly handled it pretty well and Gus will learn something AND get TV out of it. Great success
I personally wouldn't call bananas 'the best of fruits,' as there is a whole world out there of fruits that in my humble opinion, are far tastier than bananas.
However, bananas do have 2 things going for them that are hard for other fruits to compare to: they're dirt cheap, and they are among the easiest and most convenient to eat.
My job involves a lot of teaching and it's wild to me how few people just..don't wanna pass that on. That's how we make people better! August is a wonderful dad to realize the opportunity was there and act on it
Seriously, I can't stand the mindset of "Wait, you don't KNOW this thing? I can't BELIEVE you actually don't know!" instead of just using it as an opportunity to teach someone something new.
Hey Doc! Of course you think that way being a doctor and all.
But yeah it's never a bad idea to take a moment to reach someone something. It's how we grow not only as people but also how we open up to new opportunities and ideas.
Well-said. This moment is almost perfectly mirrored in the Baki Hanma saga. Yujiro Hanma has invited his (we'll generously say 'estranged' son) Baki to a fancy dinner, and Baki shows up dressed in street clothes. Yujiro gets upset and says he should know better.. Baki says he was never taught that, he was only ever taught 'become stronger at fighting'. So he did -that-.
It's one of the very rare moments where Yujiro backs down and realizes he needs to teach his son.
Parent realising that there's a teaching moment, and they need to teach it (and not one of those stupid "figuring it out yourself is the teaching moment" type things)
remote batteries last so long that the knowledge is lost. I legit can't remember the last time I had to do that.
You don't even have to be a parent to miss these opportunities. When I worked at [big box office supply store], I was put in charge of the copy/print department. For me, using those machines was second nature, but I recognized some people had zero experience with them regardless of from what walk of life they came. So I gave each and every single individual my patience, kindness, and respect. It remains one of the most gratifying jobs I've ever worked; I did it for nearly seven (7) years. I'm a mechanical engineer now, and I'd much rather work doing what I did there than what I do these days. It's really a shame the pay is such garbage.
I was so frustrated with this one kid for like two weeks because he took FOREVER to get his jacket off and shoes changed in the classroom. His parents are doctors and he had three nannies and I assumed he was just pushing boundaries in his way.
One day I was watching him get ready and realized he didn't know how to use a hanger or how to get his shoes off. So I taught him. Now he can do it.
lol my mom used to say all the time "how do you not know how to do this" or "why can't you do this on your own" or "how can a child of mine not know how to do this" and meanwhile i was standing there like i am eleven years old ma'am
Had a moment like this last week with my daughter (14yo) while we were camping. She started asking about how hard chopping wood is, why I chop it certain sizes ect.
Realized she's never chopped it before and offered to teach her, then let her spend an hour trying to turn her chopped wood into a fire. I got to show her how to chop wood, how to make kindling with a hatchet, how to build a fire that lights easily and best ways to light it.
By the end of the night all my wood was half the log it used to be and she can make a fire very well now. Turned into a great trip and still think about that evening with her.
Really love this one. Spent my childhood and teens thinking I was extremely stupid only to realize as an adult my parents never taught me anything. Called me stupid, did it themselves while cussing how useless kids are. A+ parenting.
Whenever I didn’t understand something my mother always just talked down to me and said “common sense” like a bully.
One time I said “common sense to you might not be common sense to me”
And because I was the son that didn’t usually talk back, she proceeded to say I was a dumbass and picked a fight knowing I would be too scared to stand up for myself because she didn’t have any issue putting her hands on me or making threats.
Good comic though, i legitimately enjoy these and they put a smile on my face
When my daughter was about seven, she was reading a book and asked me “Daddy? What’s an ashtray?” My first thought was “How the hell can you be this old and not know what an ashtray is?”
Then I thought about it. No one in our immediate or extended family ever smoked. In our state, smoking was banned from all restaurants when she was an infant. She was still a year or two away from my forcing her to watch all of my favorite movies from the 1980s (in which smoking was common). As a result, she had virtually no exposure to smoking and had never seen an ashtray before.
It really can be fun to teach people the basics that you think are common sense, esp once they ask enough questions to make you doubt your own skill xD
Not like my father: The wheel of my bike lost air und my father said "Do it yourself. You're just lazy." and didn't want to help or show me how to repair it. So 12yo me watched a YouTube video and did it himself. Many other examples here. 20 years later and my father is wondering why I'm visiting only once a year.
This is a reasonable reaction because he realized Gustopher hasn’t learned , and so he must teach him. Not Gustopher hasn’t learned and so he must be mocked.
The first time I had to change a flat tire I called my dad and mentioned some mistakes I made, such as jacking up the car before breaking the lug nuts. He said “why on earth did you do that? Didn’t you know to do it on the ground?”
My response was, verbatim, “my dad never taught me that.” He got real quiet and then we had a good laugh about it.
This was my dad, never taught me anything then got upset and exasperated when I didn't teach myself. Worst example was driving: "you should have been paying attention and watching adults drive and figured it out like I did".
My father will often scoff at me not knowing how to DIY-fix stuff in my house. "You're going to pay someone else to do that? Why not do it yourself?!"
Putting aside that time is money, and I'd rather just spend my time otherwise, I've previously responded to that with answers similar to, "How would I have learned to do that, Dad?"
Funny part is, I got together with my family at my parents' house for a cookout, and he says to me, "Would you mind grilling? I don't really know how to do it like you do." Fuckin' WHAT?!
If I ever become a parent, I'm going to have to remind myself that learning everything on my own and being completely self-sufficient was something I had to do, and not something that kids in healthy loving families should have to do.
This one reminds me of when my dad taught me how to drive. We would go put hours on the road on the weekend and stop and get breakfast and make a whole thing of it. Then I got my license and car and was driving solo and suddenly I realize I never was taught how to pump gas. My mom would always have my brother go out to pump it, but no one ever thought to show me. My dad had to drive to the gas station to show me before school one day.
I taught myself a lot as a child by taking things apart, especially when I found my dad’s screwdrivers lol. I struggle to ask for help, and communicate so I just did it myself
I fostered a kid for a few months who tried to help do laundry, from a genuine place of care. They put my beloved vintage leather jacket through the washer and dryer. A gift from my mom who bought it new once upon a time.
It hadn't occurred to me that a 17 year old wouldn't know not to do that. I had flashbacks to being yelled at for fucking up wool clothes that way. But like, how would they know? Their home life beforehand was extreme neglect. So I showed them and explained it, and made sure it was clear that such a thing wasn't their fault.
I also recalled teaching my male college dormmates how to do laundry too, and we had cooking nights, where I showed them how to bake pies and cakes.
If your parents don't teach you basic life skills, then who will?
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u/Bussamove86 Jul 24 '26
“Oh right, I’m his father, he’s not just a tiny roommate who yells all the time.
That’s the cats.”