An orange armchair with a teddy bear and cushion sits beside a potted plant beneath a child's drawing of a house.

Original artwork, not a still

Phyllis Diller

Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Kindness toward children gets a comically selfish reason: they may later decide where their parent lives. The joke turns a lesson about being caring into advice about looking after your own future. Its force comes from imagining the balance of power changing with age.

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