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Where are all the nice, normal dads in children's books?
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article6358636.ece
Comments
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.
I suggest that Nicholas Tucker's comment Its 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 dont think you can find a book with a decent father figure, why dont 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.
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.
Off having affairs with the next door neighbour's normal dad's wife probably.
Just what is normal these days?
Off having affairs with the next door neighbour's normal dad's wife probably.
Just what is normal these days? [/quote]
Very true :D
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?
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.
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.