#7: The Clueless Parents

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  Before I start on this cliché, let me dive in a little bit about what this trope actually is.  For those who don't know, in most fantasy novels, especially ones about wizards, the parents end up always becoming oblivious to the strong abilities of their children.  Someone, they don't catch on to the wild amounts of time their children suddenly want to spend outside and any of the quirky magical abilities that accidentally expose reveal themselves to them once in a while.  Instead, either the parents like that their kid is becoming more of a social butterfly or punish the child for their various unannounced adventures.  This is surprisingly a very common occurrence, with great works such as The Vampire Diaries, Circus De Freak, and even the iconic TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer being guilty of this.  It just rubs me the wrong way whenever this happens in fiction.  It is like making the father dumb, but just a tiny bit less insulting.

  The solution to this hidden cliché is really simple; involve the parents in the magical affairs.  Just because they are older than the main cast, does not mean they should be secondary characters to create tension or be plain stupid.  If you don't believe me on this matter, I recommend the book The Demonata: Lord Loss, where the uncle character Deverish plays a huge part in the plot for the otherwise orphaned Grubbs.  When you see how much better the plot is due to his involvement, the reason why I call making the parents clueless a cliché will start making sense.

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