Look, I grew up watching Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the whole Peanuts gang. I still enjoy watching their holidays specials every year with my kids because of the nostalgia factor so I am sure that I will always love them. We are all super excited to watch the new Peanuts animated 3D motion picture that’s coming this holiday season for the big screen.

However, I must be honest and share something with you my fellow parent. With the benefit of maturity and the experiences of being a parent to three children, I’ve come to look at Charlie Brown and company in a whole different way and it’s not good.

If you really watch and listen to Chuck and his cohorts you’ll notice all of the inherent problems with the series. First and foremost, Charlie Brown suffers from depression and he whines incessantly. Of course, he’s given many reasons for this behavior by the group of inconsiderate bullies in his life such as Lucky. Checkout her sadistic glee every time she tricks the poor schmuck Chuck with the football. (His stupidity in trusting this troll over and over again doesn’t make him look too bright)

Here’s the usual view we get of  Charlie Brown

Checkout this short video showing Chuck mad or sad

As for some of the others, they aren’t all mean like Lucy but they have their own issues to deal with like Schroeder who obviously has some sort of problem when it comes to dealing with people. He’s always fixated on his piano (much like kids today are glued to their smartphones, iPads or game consoles). In his case, though, maybe it’s a good thing he’s oblivious to the affections of that meanie Lucy. 

As for Linus, who’s one of the sweetest kids in the Peanuts gang, his problem involves his attachment to that blanket but that’s not a big deal. My first born son was attached to his baby pillow until about age 12? I found it adorable so who am I to judge this kid who isn’t even real?

Snoopy was an unusual canine to say the least. He was a delusional dog whenever he started imagining that his dog house was a Sopwith Camel fighter plane.

Don’t even get me started with Pig-Pen… whose personal hygiene issues are obvious.

As for the adults in the series such as the parents and teachers, all we ever hear is a loud trombone type of of sound instead of actual voices or words. No wonder these kids are all lost and misguided. They don’t have any solid adult supervision.

OK, I understand that it was just a comic strip and cartoon series. I know that the creator Charles Schultz had to establish interesting characters and he had to create conflict….and they usually had a good moral story to convey with a happy ending. But still, there was a ton of whining and meanness in these stories.

This brings me to recent times as a parent when one day I noticed something familiar with a current cartoon series that my kids all liked at one time or another…. Caillou.

Yes, there’s striking similarity between Caillou and Charlie Brown besides the physical abnormality of early onset baldness. Caillou is also a chronic complainer and incessant whiner…. so much so that I’ve christened him the Canuck Chuck.

Caillou’s famous catchphrase to his parents?

“I Don’t Want to!”

Here’s a short compilation video someone made showing Caillou doing what he does best

I used to tease my kids by saying that Caillou and Charlie Brown were related hence their familiar appearance and demeanor. Needless to say they weren’t impressed with my theory.

Let’s hear what the Peanuts creator has to say about his characters

Here’s an awesome documentary about Peanuts and its creator

Confession

I confess that this whole piece was written with tongue in cheek because I love all of these cartoons because they will forever be linked to my childhood and now to my children’s childhood too. Yes, even Caillou has a place in my heart for all the joy his show gave my kids.