Where'd All The Parents Go?

[Jennifer, The Jaguar]

I'm just wondering why in YA books these days (especially paranormal romance and dystopian)there either really isn't a huge parental presence to begin with, or the (one) parent is crazy or killed off... why?

What do you think? Do you think they should include more parental presence? I'd personally like a story to involve the parents a bit more for a change.

[Lina]

Asch's Anti-Paradigm (JennTheAwesum) wrote: "I'm just wondering why in YA books these days (especially paranormal romance and dystopian)there either really isn't a huge parental presence to begin with, or the (one) parent is crazy or killed o..."

I think the authors want to write the dream of not living with parents, or show everyone how good life could be if they didn't have anal parents. But you're right, I want them to be there more. In contemporary novels there seems to be more plausible reasons to why they aren't there though. In
Looking for Alaska and Anna and the French Kiss they are at a boarding school for example. But in Ten Things We Did the parents just let her move in with a friend (due to a lot of sneaking around), without even meeting the friends mother first. Now, that's unlikely. The same goes for An Abundance of Katherines, where the parents just let their 16(17?) year old go on a roadtrip with his friend and stay in the middle of fucking nowhere. I don't mind the parents not being there, but there needs to be some sort of plausible explanation for it.

[coconutsnbutts (♫ נєѕѕι¢α ♪), The Wolf]

I guess they just don't understand.

[Jennifer, The Jaguar]

Lol I guess not

[≈aleх: pнoenιх oғ тнe ғlaмe≈]

HECK NO! Parents should not be in the book unless they are supervising the main charrie majorly.

[Lina]

Lauren wrote: "simply put-parents arnt cool. and since YA books are for teens, this applies to them. alot of times, characters have to do things or go places that no sane parent would allow-so an easy solution is..."

in dystopian and fantasy that seems okay. Like in Uglies or The Hunger Games. But in contemporary it's just too unlikely that the parents would just let them wander along all by themselves without any supervision.

[Otessa]

Lina wrote: "Lauren wrote: "simply put-parents arnt cool. and since YA books are for teens, this applies to them. alot of times, characters have to do things or go places that no sane parent would allow-so an e..."

I agree with Lina mostly, though I do think it would be interesting to see a fantasy or dystopian novel where parents were integral to the plot line. Since there are so many of these books where the parents aren't present, I think it'd be an interesting challenge for the author.

As far as contemporary books go, that's an interesting point that you bring up, Asch's Anti-Paradigm, because it seems unrealistic that parents wouldn't have an influence on characters' development. And personally, I think it would help readers relate more to characters if they knew the characters' entire background, including their parental upbringing.