(Strip Number 1366, Original Publication Date, 15 November 1988)
Panel 1: We find the kids' plan to just sit back and watch a bit of television in the rec room hijacked by Elly's Very Clever Plan To SAVE THEM when she tells them out of the blue "Okay, you two....we're going to improve your vocabulary."
Panel 2: Rather than risk being beaten half-to-death for asking where she's getting this 'we' stuff from or pointing out that her habit of closing her eyes and behaving as if she smells something awful when she talks to them makes them feel as if she hates them, Mike and Lizzie sit their passively as Mommy tells them that she wants them to learn two words a day and to be able to use them in a sentence.
Panel 3: She then hands them each a thesaurus she just bought them.
Panel 4: Since Lizzie isn't comfortable around the books her parents are too 'busy' to have read to her from, she asks what they are. Since Mike is a wiseass, he makes a terrible pun based on the -saurus part of the word and tells her that they're books that died millions of years ago. Since Elly can't be asked to figure out who her kids actually are, she's gobsmacked.
Summary: Elly's inability to understand who her kids are and what they respond to is going to make her Very Clever Plan backfire. As John is too afraid to tell her lest he be exposed to Klingon foreplay (being clawed at, roared at and having heavy objects thrown at him), Mike and Lizzie only obey in order to learn how to insult people without being exposed to the evil words "Hey, jerk!! I have feelings too!!!"