(Strip Number 1275, Original Publication Date, 7 April 1988)
Panel 1: Mike responds to the less than minimum work bit by hollering about how unfair it is that all John and Elly ever want him to do IS work.
Panel 2: Childhood, he says, should be about fun, not chores that he never gets thanked for. He should thus be allowed to wait until he's grown up to work.
Panel 3: He then asks why John says that his plan is a bad one.
Panel 4: John says that if they do it Mike's way, he ain't gonna know how to work when he's grown.
Summary: This is slightly better advice than his stupid comment about counting on one's fingers when Mike desperately needs reassurance that he's not going to crash and burn as a writer. Then again, John isn't all that much smarter than Mike is really and honestly believes that if Mike agrees to stop playing and having a social life right the Hell now, he'll end up lving on a steam grate.