(Strip Number 792, Original Publication Date, 28 January 1985)
Panel 1: As they walk to school, Lawrence asks Mike if his mom's gonna keep makin'him take those trumpet lessons. Mike says uh-huh in a glum tone of voice.
Panel 2: He then asks Mike if his mom also had music lessons as a kid. Mike also says uh-huh.
Panel 3: Lawrence then says "That figures...."
Panel 4: His reasoning is that if the parents had to suffer then they make their kids suffer.
Summary: He's sort of right but not completely right. What's actually going on is that the parents regret quitting and want to make sure their children don't make the mistake they did. The problem with Elly is that, as always, she takes everything too damned personally and ends up making things steadily worse. As by way of example, we're six months away from Elly chasing the boy down in a blind rage because he 'cruelly betrayed' her and Phil by 'wasting' his life playing.