I look at the strip this way: that the point is not about whether Calvin’s mom is a good mom or not, but all that was simply to set up the sentiment expressed in the last panel. My guess is that Watterson thinks of Calvin’s parents as good parents and wants them to be seen as such but that sometimes, for either humor or other purposes, he has them saying or doing things that a good parent wouldn’t normally say or do.
I look at the strip this way: that the point is not about whether Calvin’s mom is a good mom or not, but all that was simply to set up the sentiment expressed in the last panel. My guess is that Watterson thinks of Calvin’s parents as good parents and wants them to be seen as such but that sometimes, for either humor or other purposes, he has them saying or doing things that a good parent wouldn’t normally say or do.