At least that’s the way it is with Lynetta.// And the bonus of //having her as a pain-in-the-rear sister// was figuring out that this method works on everyone. //Teachers, jerks at school, even Mom and Dad. //Seriously. There’s no winning arguments with your parents,// so why get all pumped up over them? //It is way better to dive down and get out of the way// than it is to get clobbered ['klɒbə]// by some parental [pə'rentl] tidal ['taɪd(ə)l] wave.
The funny thing is, Lynetta’s still clueless// when it comes to dealing with Mom and Dad. She goes straight into thrash [θræʃ] mode and is too busy drowning in the argument to take a deep breath and dive for calmer water.