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Where are all the nice, normal dads in children's books?

CarolCarol
edited May 2009 in - Reading
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article6358636.ece

Comments

  • TessadragonTessadragon
    It's true, dads aren't as much featured. They were featured a lot in certain times such as shortly after the war when so many kids lost their fathers to it, either as the figures who had been lost or had returned, or had never needed to go. Also in times when mothers died more often in childbirth.
    Nowadays though, many kids find that the dad features less in their lives because they simply left. There would be no marriage to commit them, and divorce can be easily done otherwise. The mother is the default figure, almost always there.
  • Stan2Stan2
    UP
  • NefertariNefertari
    I have nice dads in my books!
  • lexialexia
    This is a very interesting article.
    I suggest that Nicholas Tucker's comment “It’s worth remembering that most of the authors of these books are mums, who write the domestic scene as they experienced it. So if you really don’t think you can find a book with a decent father figure, why don’t you go away and write one?” is worth considering.
    But then, who is to say what is "average", "normal" "decent" "nice" etc, in this situation ? Many writers write from personal experience and as Tessa say, the absence of a "father" is often the case.

    Perhaps this article shows us how much perceptions are made/delivered/recieved by readers of books and it's not just "the media" that shapes society.
  • TracyTracy
    I read a lot of kids books and I have to say I think there is a broad scope of family / parental roles that reflect the society we know. Dad's have come in many shapes and sizes, with many different personalties - much like the mums.
    One could argue that in a lot of kids books the children are orphans because it provides an easy route to letting the kids go on their adventures so there is an absence of both parents.
    That is the good thing about modern children's books - the diversity is fantastic. It is true the mores of yesteryear have changed and I believe kids books reflect that in many different ways.
  • doradora
    Where are all the normal dads?



    Off having affairs with the next door neighbour's normal dad's wife probably.


    Just what is normal these days?
  • TracyTracy
    [quote=dora]Where are all the normal dads?



    Off having affairs with the next door neighbour's normal dad's wife probably.


    Just what is normal these days? [/quote]


    Very true :D
  • CarolCarol
    edited May 2009
    But it is a very good topic to look at.
    I don't think my kids worry that there isn't neccesarily a father in a book unless the presence or lack of one is vital to the story.
    And as Dora said, what is normal these days?
  • dorothyddorothyd
    next door to us is a family of Mum Dad and 3 kids. He is still in the Army so is off doing Army type things (despite his puffed up thoughts of himself, he is in fact a storeman, he tries to elevate it to something approaching planning WW3 but it doesn't wash with us) and he left today after being home for four days. To those kids this is normal, a father who comes and goes. Opposite us is a holiday flat, the father has been there on his own at least three times to our knowledge. Leaving 4 kids and mother at home. Family life appears to be changing at an alarming rate and books have to reflect that.
  • LizLiz
    Hmmm.. my friend the one who was nominated for the Waterstone's prize, grew up in a family with step father and step brothers and sisters and had a good childhood and sees it as a positive experience. She is therefore keen on, and writes, books where the stepness of the dad or mum is just a fact in the book and not the actual story. And maybe that's the way to go.. make it a normal part of life so children readers don't feel as if the are 'different' or' disadvantaged' because of it, for their sake, even though we all know the best world is one with good mums and dads working in tandem.

    My own dad was there and a loving father but had no idea how to relate to me at all -as a child I loved him for his fairness and kindness but found it hard as I grew up to find any common ground because he shared nothing... it was years before i found out he came from a broken home and re-marriage and he had a step-sister for instance, and we visited our paternal grandfather once.

    So... things may not have changed much maybe.
  • RosalieRosalie
    edited May 2009
    That's interesting to hear your friend's perspective, Liz.

    I'm currently working on a children's book with a "normal"/traditional/conventional/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it dad in it. The heroine of the book is a girl who just happens to have cerebral palsy (she's a non-speaker and a wheelchair-user, but that's kind of incidental, not the main point of the plot). She's also very intelligent and wants to be a GP. It's great fun to write and I'm learning a lot. I have a friend/colleague with CP so that helps, but I'm doing plenty of research, too.
  • Stan2Stan2
    !
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