Mother, what have you done? (Brian Katcher)

 

Ah, parents. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. No, you literally can't. Basic biology.

But when you're writing about teenagers, especially in modern settings, you have to include Mom and Pop, even if they're dead or absent. And sometimes, when you just want to have a simple romance or screwball comedy, the parents can be highly inconvenient. You don't need someone asking where your character has been or if they've done their homework.

The way I see it, YA parents fall into three categories:

1) They drive the plot. They're alcoholics. They beat the children. They're missing. They're dying. They're out of work. They're going to be deported. They're mentally ill. 

Good for serious novels, but tends to be a downer.

2) They're good people. They're there for their kid, when they have to deal with substance abuse, illness, deportation, etc.

3) They're oafs. They embarrass their children, they don't believe it when they're shown proof that the principal is an alien, they're just not hip.

Now that I'm the father of a teenager, I wonder what sort of YA dad I am. Three, I think.