Were John Hughes and Charles Schulz neglectful parents or did they just "Get it?"

Good afternoon!

It's no big secret that I'm a devotee of the work of the late great John Hughes. I can almost recite "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles."


Plus, I adore "Peanuts" cartoons. I grew up reading about Charley Brown and the gang...A Charley Brown Christmas is a must see every Christmas season.


Both John Hughes and Charles Schulz captured the spirit of children, be it the teens or the grade school children. They remain timeless because they gave us back a piece of our lives that we, as adults, forgot. And they ring true with children and with teens.


But where are the adults? Seriously.


There are NO ADULTS in Charles Schulz's cartoons. And in the TV specials, well, we all know the "Wah Wah, Wah Wah" voice that represents adults. And in the bulk of John Hughes' work, parents are either completely absent or such morons you realize that the kids are probably better off without them.


So, were these two men unwitting advocates of parental neglect, or did they just understand how children and teens see adults better than most adults do?


Now that I have two teens living in my house I'm positive that I sound like the "Wah wah,' to my children. There's a definite disconnect between what I say and what they hear. And the reverse is true. Boy child insists he tells me a lot of things, and that asking something more than once is forbidden. Of course, things he tells his father doesn't always make it to me. So yes, Chuck S had it right. Kids not only see adults as faceless, senseless background noise, but also as a single unit. If you say something to one adult, apparently, every other adult will just know it. (I'm good. I'm not that good.)


And it's not a big stretch to get that my teens really do think I'm a complete moron. Believe it or not, I haven't forgotten what it's like to be 16. At least, I don't think so. But time has a funny way of distorting memories. I remember high school as horrible...but I don't remember just how horrible. And any adult who says their remember what it was like to be a teen is, at best, working with a faulty memory. Teens know it. And they mock us for it.


Looking at John Hughes' movies, I get why I loved them as a teen. He spoke teen. He showed the world through the eyes of teens. My parents were horrified. I saw it as truth. Now, as a parent, I have to remind myself that just because it horrifies me now, that doesn't make it anymore true.


John Hughes and Charles Schulz...they were bilingual heroes for the younger set. Now that I'm an adult, I miss them more than ever.


BTW, on a completely different note: THREE DAYS TO THE RICK SPRINGFIELD CONCERT! (He's actually doing four nights, but I'm only going to the Friday night show...hey, if you all buy more copies of my book, I can make it to more concerts next year! SO THERE...BUY MY BOOK! LOL!)