Considering my parents made everything out of a box, Calvin honestly doesn’t know how good his parents are being with real home-cooked meals instead of just mac’n’cheese with chopped up hot dogs.
He will grow up a healthier kid, with better eating habits, and more self control.
I mean, they’re dropping the ball on Calvin’s breakfasts, but getting a kid to not eat cereal in the morning in the 80’s/90’s was basically impossible. So, I’ll let them have a pass on that.
Anyway, they really were written as quite good parents despite all their silly foibles themselves. They were quite realistic, but also probably better than your average 1980’s parent.