Good Parents / Literature

Good Parents in Literature

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• Geppetto in The Adventures of Pinocchio. He doesn't get along with children and he is extremely poor, but he does his best to care about Pinocchio. He gives Pinocchio his breakfast so Pinocchio satisfies his hunger, he makes his best with newspaper and dough to make elegant clothes for Pinocchio and he sells his coat to buy Pinocchio an alphabet, and it is winter in that moment.
• Anne of Green Gables:
  • Marilla Cuthbert becomes this. Sadly, it's not until after her brother Matthew dies that she's able to tell Anne how much Marilla loves the girl.
  • Matthew also. Because Marilla assumed the role of disciplinarian, he decided he was free to spoil her whenever he got the chance, and clearly delighted in doing so.
  • Also, Anne and Gilbert; their children adore them.
• Rob and Zamira in An Outcast in Another World have kind, supportive parents. Considering that most other parents in the series are dead due to The Scouring and The Cataclysm, they're both very grateful for what they have.
• Ascendance of a Bookworm: In her previous life, Myne was a Bookworm first and foremost. However, the arts and crafts she did during her childhood turn out to be just as useful to her new life, if not more. Her previous life's mother including her in her Fleeting Passionate Hobbies is the reason she knows said arts and crafts. Myne otherwise rembers her fondly, and her main regrets in the sudden end of her previous life is never getting to tell her goodbye or repay her for her efforts in raising her.
• Papa and Mama Bear from The Berenstain Bears.
• A Brother's Price: The Whistler mothers, and recently deceased father are/were good parents. They are absent for most of the plot, but the way in which the elder siblings take over their role clearly shows that they had a good role model.
• Chrysanthemum: Chrysanthemum's parents clearly love her very much, and do their best to make her feel better after everyone laughs at her name.
• City of Bones by Martha Wells: Sagai and Miram are Happily Married and take good care of an ever-growing, close-knit brood of children. They also look after the neighbourhood's children.
• In the Clémentine books, Clementine's parents are portrayed fairly strongly as this. They are willing to help Clementine with her problems, though without being intrusive. They make time for family things and they can be funny. They're not perfect by any means, but they very much come across as warm and loving.
• In the Confessions, Monica prays constantly for her wicked son, but never denies him his freedom or grows angry at him the whole time. Since she's literally a saint, it's to be expected.
• Crescent City: Bryce's mother and stepfather are loving and supportive.
• Dinosaur from Dinosaur Vs is adopted by a human couple, who are very good at raising him. His adoptive mother wins in "Dinosaur vs. Mommy" just by kissing him.
• Discworld:
  • Sybil and Samuel Vimes are excellent examples of parents who truly love their children. The latter even is so devoted towards the happiness of his son it becomes heartwarming and awesome.
  • The same can be said for Tiffany Aching's mum and dad. Especially dad.
• Michael and Charity Carpenter in The Dresden Files.
  • As of Changes, Harry Dresden and Susan Rodriguez. Sure, neither got much chance to do a lot of actual parenting, but both of them go to amazing lengths to keep their daughter away from their enemies. And when that failed? Well, let's just say you can't exactly ask her kidnappers how that went. Kinda hard to question the dead, you see.
  • Based on Harry's reminiscences, his father was basically the only good thing to happen in his life before he turned sixteen and met Ebenezar, who was also one of these (though there were some later complications with Eb's secrets coming up). Harry even comments that while Malcolm Dresden managed to provide for the two of them adequately, they lived in Perpetual Poverty because the man usually gave the bulk of his money to charity. Having such a role model definitely impacted Harry.
• Earth's Children:
  • Iza is a good mother to Ayla (her adopted daughter) and Uba (her biological daughter). She is emotionally and physically nurturing, cares for them when they're sick or injured, comforts them when they're upset and does an excellent job teaching them to be healers. It overlaps a bit with Parents as People in Ayla's case, as some of Iza's attempts to shape her into a 'good Clan woman' are harmful to Ayla in the long-run and quite questionable from the reader's perspective, though Iza isn't doing it from malice and eventually realizes that Ayla is just different. Despite this she loves her unconditionally and defends her even when she violates the Clan's rules, accepting Ayla for herself.
  • Main protagonist Ayla is a good mother to her children.
    • She's a devoted mother to Durc despite her young age (she's eleven when she gives birth to him), and always speaks of him with pride and adoration. She never saw him as deformed or weak, just different, and was willing to defy Brun (her clan's leader) to keep him safe. She ensures he will be loved and cared for before being forced to leave him. She also chooses Durc's happiness over her own wish to be with him, deciding he will be better off staying with the Clan than being forced to be with her.
    • She is a loving mother to Jonayla too and takes good care of her as a baby and toddler. She also won't hesitate to chide Jonayla when she's mean to Bokovan and makes her apologize, though she's not excessively harsh. She does increasingly start to leave Jonayla in Jondalar or Marthona's care as she gets older due to her zelandoni training, though she feels guilty about 'neglecting' her (most people, including her family, don't see it this way).
  • Jondalar, Ayla's love interest and eventual mate, adores Jonayla, the first child of his hearth and the child of his spirit (that he's aware of; it's possible he's unknowingly fathered other children, but he knows for a fact Jonayla is his). He's an affectionate, hands-on father, including looking after his daughter while her mother is busy with her training.
  • Dalanar is a good father to his son Jondalar (at least after he came to live with him as a teen; he barely saw him before that) and daughter Joplaya. He's both supportive and a good role model, doing a good job of straightening out teenage Jondalar when he was getting out of control. He's also a good father-figure to Echozar, whom his family took in after he was orphaned and who eventually becomes his son-in-law.
  • Dalanar's mate Jerika is a loving and protective mother to Joplaya. By extension, she's a caring parental figure to Echozar, her eventual son-in-law.
  • Nezzie is a very caring and dedicated parent to all her children. In particular, she recognizes that Rydag, her adopted half-Neanderthal son, is intelligent even though others think of him as an animal; she insists on treating him just like her other children and is angered by people talking about him like he can't understand, and especially by people insinuating he's an abomination.
  • Echozar's mother did a decent job raising him, and loved him despite him being considered deformed and resulting in her banishment.
  • Marthona is a compassionate and supportive mother to her four children, and they all hold her in high esteem and seek guidance from her. It is mentioned she struggled a bit with raising Jondalar when he was growing up, to the point she had to send him off to his father to straighten him out, though they have a close relationship now. A few other characters, such as Brukeval^note whose mother died when he was a child, resulting in him being raised by a distant relative who cared little for him, often wish they had a mother like Marthona.
• Park's parents in Eleanor & Park. He has arguments with them sometimes, like any other teenager, but for the most part they are reasonable, caring and supportive. Park's dad tells Eleanor she's always welcome at their house after he finds out that her stepfather is Richie, who he knows is a short-tempered alcoholic. At the end, he even lets Park use his truck to drive Eleanor to her uncle in Minnesota, after he finds out that Richie threatened her.
• The Emberverse features a number of these; especially notable are Chuck and Judy Barstow Mackenzie, whose children include both the biological and the Happily Adopted.
• The Empirium Trilogy: Rielle's parents were loving and kind before her mother's death. Eliana's parents also cared for her deeply and did what they could to keep her and Remy safe.
• Family Skeleton Mysteries: Phil and Dab Thackery, Georgia and Deborah's parents, who are incredibly supportive of both of them (and their granddaughter Madison). They also happily welcomed Sid into the family when he turned up on their doorstep and consider him as much a part of the family as their daughters, though they didn't pay as much attention to him as he would have liked in later years (at least, until Georgia and Madison moved back in). Georgia herself also counts for Madison.
• Flawed: Despite having been in a position of comfort and wealth before Celestine got branded, her parents remain completely supportive of her, and go out of their way to keep her safe and happy. Her mother goes so far as to quit her modeling job if it meant supporting the people who hurt her daughter, and makes sure she won't be abused by her homeschool teacher, after getting expelled from her highschool.
• The Grandmother: Mr. Prošek is always portrayed as interacting kindly with his children. He communicates tenderly with them and he is shown implicitly approving his son Jan's wish to be apprenticed as a gamekeeper after leaving school. However, his coachman's job takes him away from his family for long periods of time when the Princess is not on her Bohemian estate, leaving the children in closer contact with their mother. She, on the other hand, is given a rather "meh" portrayal. The author never shows her doing anything blatantly untoward to her children; but she doesn't really show her being warm or motherly to them either; anytime we see the mother, she is either telling the children what to do or calling them out on their behavior, and is even implied to be irritable at times. The author specifically mentions at one point that "The children knew very well that the Grandmother was more lenient than their mother; she would turn a blind eye to many of the boys' childish shenanigans; she didn't stop Barunka when she stumbled somewhere sometimes; for this reason, they would confide everything in her rather than in their mother, who judged everything more strictly according to her strict nature."
• Harry Potter:
  • Arthur and Molly Weasley — a bit overprotective, but never unreasonably so. It's ironic to realize that the manner in which Harry's horrible Aunt Petunia dotes on Harry's bullying and spoiled cousin Dudley is very much like how Molly dotes on Harry — constantly praising him for the smallest things (the state of his socks for one notable example), insisting he have third or fourth helpings of food and even refusing to blame him for any mischief he's involved in. Not once in the entire series, in fact, has either of the Weasley parents ever even spoken to Harry harshly!
  • Xenophilius Lovegood as well. Even if he goes Knight Templar Parent and is willing to sell Harry out, he does it only so his beloved daughter Luna won't be in danger.
  • James Potter and Lily Evans-Potter are implied to have been this before their deaths. Also, they died for Harry.
  • Hermione's parents; we don't see much of them, but we know that they're very accepting of their daughter's extraordinary abilities. She loves them so much that she makes them forget she exists and move to Australia, just to protect them from the Death Eaters..
  • Despite their beliefs, the Malfoys really care for Draco and would do close to everything for him. In fact, their dedication to each other and the fact that it is much stronger than their loyalty to Voldemort is what redeems them in the end.
  • The Distant Epilogue shows that Harry and Ginny, as well as Ron and Hermione, grow up to be this for their own children.
  • Former bully Draco Malfoy is this to his own son, Scorpius. After his Heel Realization, Draco gives up his racist beliefs and raises his son to be a Nice Guy. Scorpius was prohibited from talking to his racist grandparents. Even after being widowed, Draco does his best to be a good parent to Scorpius.
• While Starr's parents in The Hate U Give are flawed and have their disagreements, they are also funny, warm, self-sacrificing, and love each other and their children fiercely.
• In The Haunting, Barney has good parents in his father and step-mother, and it's later revealed that his mother was also a very loving parent before she died in childbirth. When Cole threatens to take away Barney, his very pregnant step-mother immediately steps forward, ready to lay her life down for her stepson.
• In How to Be Comfortable in Your Own Feathers, the bird's mother is a very supportive mother and gives the bird a pep talk about being true to themselves.
• In If I Stay, Mia Hall's parents are loving and supportive of both their children.
• Most of the parents in John Green's novels are this, especially Quentin's parents in Paper Towns (partly because they are psychologists) and Hazel's parents in The Fault in Our Stars.
• Just Juliet:
  • Lena's parents don't completely understand her being bisexual, but are accepting nonetheless and work to learn.
  • Juliet's dad, meanwhile, is not only a great father to her but also takes in both her cousin and his boyfriend, whose own dad kicked him out.
• The Kane Chronicles has Julius and Ruby Kane, the parents of the heroes Carter and Sadie Kane, both of which sacrificed themselves for the greater good of the world, but continued to live on in spirit, Julius as the god Osiris and Ruby as a ghost of sorts. Julius expresses a sentiment similar to the page quote, that the dreams that they had are their children's dreams now.
• Ava's father and stepmother in The Kingdom of Little Wounds, especially for the time period. They continue to support Ava even after she nearly ruined the family by miscarrying in public.
• Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse: When Lilly draws a mean picture of her favorite teacher Mr. Slinger as revenge for confiscating her purse, she soon feels really bad about it. Her parents are understanding about the situation, and help her make some snacks to give to Mr. Slinger as an apology gift.
• Much of the story of the books of Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama is about the warm relationship between Llama Llama and his Mama Llama, while Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too is about Nelly having a fun day with her father making a box fort. In the Animated Adaptation, Mama Llama is considered such an important character that her voice actress was the first to be announced and a celebrity voice actor at that, Jennifer Garner.
• The Loyal Enemies follow-up novella A Trap for a Necromancer reveals that Shelena and her Love Interest from the main book do indeed have a child and both are shown to be doting parents, though a bit quirky in the latter's case. Roim is always safe, fed and showered with love, and even though Shelena occasionally reminds herself to not be overbearing, she just can't help adoring her son.
• Northanger Abbey: Catherine's parents, Mr and Mrs Morland are loving, reasonable and responsible people who value happiness of all their children. Mr Morland is best characterized by the response he sends to James following his engagement to Isabella Thorpe; a girl he loves but who has no dowry. James and Catherine think that their father is both supportive and fair, while the Thorpes think Mr Morland is being mean and should give them more. Mrs Morland is very good, practical and kind, though she fails to see that Catherine is actually lovesick when she returns home from her stay in Bath and at the Abbey. She's very nice to Henry when she welcomes him to the family and does not hold his father's rudeness to Catherine against him.
• Of Fire and Stars: Dennaleia's mother believes and supports her when no one else but Mare will, trusting her when she breaks off her engagement to Thandilimon.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians has a long tradition of nasty and/or neglectful parental figures whether it is a god or a mortal, with only a few exceptions. The most prominent is Sally Jackson, who does everything she can to protect her son. Even by naming her son Percy is already a heartwarming on its own since she wants him to live a happy life and get his own happy ending unlike most demigods in Greek mythology.
• Harti and Khiri in Phenomena were Born into Slavery. So when their Son And Daughter Are Born they let a wizard living near their village adopt them so they grow up happily and free. When they meet again 14 years later are they overjoyed to see their children again. But as their children are The Chosen Ones to free their people must they part again until their mission is accomplished.
• Piers and Ilane of Mindelan in the Protector of the Small series. They're kind, loving, and supportive to Kel in her dream to become a knight when few other noble parents would be willing to let their daughters try for that.
• In The Red Abbey Chronicles, the protagonist mentions that her father gave the children his food portion during a hunger winter, and that her parents decided to send her away because they knew she'd have enough to eat at the Red Abbey. She is shocked when a friend tells her that her father beat her.
• Almost every parent created by Rosemary Wells depending on the book you read.
• In Shadow of the Conqueror, Daylen fondly remembers his loving parents even in his old age, crediting his upbringing with how he became such a talented engineer, with similar good memories of when he and his beloved wife were this for their two children. As Tellos is a Crapsack World, none of this happiness lasted: Daylen was forced to kill his parents after they were corrupted into Shade, and Daylen's own children were later murdered by the aristocracy along with his wife, serving as his Start of Darkness.
• Six of Crows: Colm Fahey. He's made mistakes, but always had Jesper's best interests at heart. He may not be proud of where his son's ended up or everything he's done but makes clear that he still loves and supports Jesper.
  Wylan: You gave him someone to run to. No matter what he did or what went wrong. I think that’s bigger than the big mistakes.
• A Song of Ice and Fire has several, even for the issues of many, many, many, parents beings the exact opposite.
  • Ned Stark should get a freaking medal for being a decent, loving, protective father to his six kids in a Crapsack World where most noble families view their children as merchandise or nuisances.
  • Oberyn Martell (aka "The Red Viper") deserves a mention, as he was known to be a very good father to his eight bastard daughters, the Sand Snakes. His mistress Ellaria Sand (the mother of his four youngest daughters) counts as well.
  • From the accounts given of him, Brienne of Tarth's father Selwyn Tarth was a decent parent who treated his daughter well and gave her a privileged life, allowing her to train to be a knight.
  • Surprisingly, Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen seem to have been good parents to their collective seven (living) children. While their sons Aegon III and Viserys II did ultimately end up traumatized and somewhat maladjusted, it was due to the events of the civil war that occurred during their childhood rather than bad parenting.
• To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus Finch is a single parent example. He treats his children with nothing but love and respect, and a big part of his character is that he refuses to do anything that would lower himself in the eyes of Scout and Jem. For their part, his children adore him just as much — they're willing to face down a lynch mob for him.
• Gregor and Boots' parents in The Underland Chronicles, though their father is mysteriously missing in Gregor the Overlander, and their mother is a Missing Mom for most of the last three books.
• Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan in Vorkosigan Saga. In this they compliment each other as Aral is the stern but affectionate role-model and teacher whereas Cordelia is the comfortor and nurturer. Aral would be the one who helps Miles get on a horse and Cordelia the one who patches him up after he falls so that Miles can get on the horse again.
• In Where Are the Children?, Nancy is a loving, patient and attentive mother to Mike and Missy, with it being noted by several people that they've never seen her lose her temper with them or treat them coldly. Consequently, some people who know the family find it hard to believe Nancy could've harmed Mike and Missy, or her deceased children for that matter (whom she was accused of killing).
• Charlie from Wish comes from a dysfunctional family. When she visits Howard's home, she's amazed by how loving the parents are and how happy the boys seem.
• In Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell is determined to be the opposite of his own brutal father. He wants his son to be a gentleman, encourages his older daughter's keen intellect, and constantly worries that he's a good enough parent. He's devastated when his two daughters die in the sweating sickness. He also treats his ward Rafe and nephew Richard as though they're his own sons, even supporting Rafe's choice of a poor widow as a bride after some thought.
• Takashi Yanase:
  • Muku-Muku the dog from The Kindly Lion/The Gentle Lion started out as a heartbroken mother that just lost her child moments after birth. After a rabbit notifies her about an orphaned lion cub, she immediately decides to adopt him and becomes a very loving mother. Even as Buru-Buru grows older, Muku-Muku and her son still have a very close bond even as they're both killed by an army at the end.
  • Chirin's mother plays an important role to his children's book Chirin no Suzu. While she's quickly killed off in the story and the 1978 feature film. She's a very sweet-natured and loving mother, and even sacrifies her life to prevent Woe the Wolf from killing Chirin the lamb. The death of Chirin's mother plays a very important role with the story, a cautionary tale of revenge.
• Young Bond: This novel series, featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s, shows that his parents were caring and protective of him. 007 enjoyed sailing together with his father Andrew and took him to business trips, and when Bond was injured in a sailing trip, his mother Monique embraced him while he was recuperating.
• The fact that these are virtually absent from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium makes them all the more notable when they do appear. Elrond should get a medal for being an imperfect but loving father despite all of his own issues, and his wife being forced to leave after being captured (and the implication is, gang-raped) by orcs. While it may not have been terribly wise for him to not only raise his daughter but also take on a foster-son without Celebrían present, he did do an admirable job of it all things considered. Other notable good parents in the legendarium would be Galadriel and Celeborn, Turgon and Elenwë, Angrod and Edhellos (Orodreth's parents) as well as Tuor and Idril. Perhaps the most surprising good parents though, are Maglor and Maedhros: who foster Elrond and Elros, perhaps out of guilt for having just tried to kill their mother (they didn't actually, but she jumped off a cliff to escape them: and it is only much later that anyone knows she survived). It's so surprising that these two would be good foster-fathers, not solely because of their murderous rampages but also because their own father wasn't exactly a model of good parenting (and their brother Curufin was apparently such a bad parent that his son Celebrimbor disowns him), that many fans think magic might have been involved.
• Zara Hossain Is Here: Zara's father and mother are both kind, very loving people who accept her fully.

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