Did you know that every fourth Sunday in July is National Parents’ Day in the USA? Well, I didn’t either. I knew about Grandparents’ Day (the Sunday after Labor Day) and Children’s Day (second Sunday in June). Of course, we all know when Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are (yes, every day is Mother’s Day too, for those counting days).
“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:2-3)
Since today is National Parents’ Day, several things come to my mind as I write this blog post: my own parents and my parents-in-law, myself as a parent, and my book parents.
Are your parents still around? My father passed away some years ago, but my mother is in fragile health. Due to the pandemic waves around the world, my brothers don’t want me to visit her yet. The last thing I’d want to do is pick up airport and airplane germs and carry them to her. However, we talk on the phone pretty regularly.
My father-in-law has also passed away a while back, but I’m glad that my mother-in-law is still around. We have meals together, watch TV together, chat about life and such. We both have cats, and thankfully the cats get along well with each other.
How about you? If your parents are still alive and don’t live in the same town as you do, how often do you visit them? If they live in the same town (or within driving distance of you), do you get together with them often?
As for me as a parent, I only have one child, and he’s in college. Whoa. Where did the time go! The other day, I wondered if I should dye my hair or leave it as it is, “salt and pepper.” I won’t go on, lest I accidentally reveal my age. Haha.
To be sure, raising a child is very hard, in my opinion. There is no practice run. In my case, with an only child, there was no older sibling to experiment my parenting skills on. In fact, it’s by the grace and mercy of God that we managed to learn through trial and error. By the time I found a book about godly parenting, my son was almost done with high school. As the first generation Christians in our families, my husband and I had to look to God, exemplary parents in the Bible, and godly parents in church for parenting guidance.
In the fiction universe, what types of parents do you like to read? What types of parents do you dislike?
In my story world, I love writing about the different types of parents in my books. I do go up the family tree in some of my books, and in one case, all the way to 1698. In other cases, I don’t talk much about my characters’ family trees.
Sometimes, I carry the story of the parents across the series and into the next series. For example, some of my readers might remember Jerome Pendegrast, the owner of the riverboat that houses Riverside Chapel in my Savannah Sweethearts series.
Jerome Pendegrast
We first meet Jerome in Ask You Later (Prequel). The church prays for this widower’s salvation. He eventually gets saved, but is still single in Walk You There (Book 5), in which we meet his daughter, Tamsyn, the main character of that book.
Somewhere between Books 5-9, Jerome starts dating a widow from his church, Rhoda Untermeyer, and gets embroiled in her family drama in Wish You Joy (Book 9). They marry off the page, and Jerome gets along well with his stepson, the main character in Call You Home (Book 10).
Before we get to Book 10, there is a detour with family secrets involving Jerome in Reach for Me (Book 2 in the spinoff Vacation Sweethearts series), but since there is no way around the spoilers, it suffices to say that Jerome finally finds closure in a family matter.
Often, my book parents do not carry over to another series or have their own multi-book side story like Jerome. Whew. It’s easier for me to write about parents who stay within the confines of the same series. For example, Ned and Rose Brooks in Seaside Chapel.
Ned and Rose Brooks
We meet these two billionaires in His Longing Heart (Book 1), when their daughter Brinley comes home for her sister’s birthday party. Ned is a Christian, but Rose is not. Ned gives financial advice to his daughter’s fiancé.
Ned and Rose appear again in their son’s novel, His Morning Kiss (Book 3), in which there is drama involving their granddaughter.
Since Seaside Chapel is still ongoing (look for 12 novels in this collection), I can’t say whether these two are going to appear again in future books. However, I can say that they are patrons of the Sea Islands Symphony Orchestra (SISO) and the new SISO Hall that’s being constructed on St. Simon’s Island. So we might not have seen the last of them yet.
More Questions for you:
- Among all the novels you have read, have you ever been fascinated by parents in the book, causing you to want to know more about the couple?
- Do you celebrate Parents’ Day at all? If you do, what plans do you have in mind?
If you’re a parent, I wish you a Happy Parents’ Day tomorrow!
Joyfully in Jesus,
Jan Thompson
USA Today bestselling novelist Jan Thompson writes clean and wholesome multiethnic contemporary Christian romance with elements of women’s fiction, Christian romantic suspense with an air of mystery, and inspirational international thrillers with threads of sweet Christian romance. Join Jan's mailing list for her latest book news: JanThompson.com/newsletter
As I mentioned at different times Jillian Harts The Granger’s family series has a single father of all the main characters who over several books has a side romance with a wedding in one of the later books. Frank was a great father and I loved that he got his own story inside a story as he had dedicated his time to the children and raised them mostly on his own.
I lost my father at almost 12 and Mum passed away about 9 years ago.
Parents and in-laws are both gone now. I never met my father-in-law. He died before I came on the scene. I have met a few fathers that I have admired greatly. In stories, I am always drawn to the fathers who love and respect their kids, who value them as people. No specific titles come to mind, though. I dislike those who feel they have a right to control their adult children. I know this may be a side issue, but for me this includes matchmaking (harrumph).
Since I didn’t know about Parents Day prior to your post, we don’t celebrate it. :-)
To me, it’s always fascinating to see side romances in novels. That’s a good way to put it re: “story inside a story.”
In Smile for Me, Tina’s two friends fell in love and married within the novel, although most of their love relationship happened behind the scene. Every now and then, I wondered if I should write a little novelette about them, but then I decided not to do it. They seemed fine to be off the page LOL.
I am sorry about you losing your dad at such an early age. Did your mom remarry? I know friends whose husbands passed away and they never remarried. Every now and then I wonder if I could write a series about widows and widowers.
I lost my father almost six years ago now, and I still do miss him. With the ongoing pandemic waves, I am unable to visit my elderly mother. So it’s sad all around.
Thank you for your comments!
Some of the pastors at the churches we have attended showed exemplary fatherhood as outlined in Timothy. They love their wives, raised their children well, and are respected in their communities. The most important thing is — they’re still doing it even at their advanced ages. I pray they will finish well because then they have done well as faithful servants of God.
I agree on fathers (and mothers too) respecting their own children. Such a big example of godly leadership that is.
LOL re: matchmaking. A little nudge maybe, but not a concerted push. In my upcoming novelette, Time for Me (debuting in the Save the Date anthology), I do have side scene interactions with a matchmaking mom — but I assure you, I wrote the scenes for humor only (without spoilers here).
Well, hubby and I have caught some sort of flu, so we will be spending our Parents’ Day live-streaming the church service and eating chicken soup!
Thank you for your comments!
My dad passed last year and my mama 2 months ago so I don’t celebrate. My kids wouldn’t remember. Haha
We only celebrate Mothers Day. Never heard about Parents Day before your post. Used to celebrate Grandparents Day when we had living ones. Now they are remembered in my heart. Parenting can be a tough gig, seems like children become w hat they are told they are, strong, kind, loving, a nuisance etc. So it is incredibly important to hear them and support them to be healthy, kind, resilient children.
I’ve never heard of Parent’s Day. If I had, I’d have celebrated while my parents were here. Daddy’s been in his heavenly home for 25 and a half years, and Mom has been there for 7 and a half months. I was co-caregiver with Mom for Daddy, and I was Mom’s caregiver for 9 years before she passed. I’d do it all over again, in a heartbeat. The biggest blessing of my life was being able to be with Mom the last 9 years, and I’ve told many people that. It was also my way to honor her and Daddy for all that they did for me through the years. Knowing that I did my best for her is what is helping me adjust to my new “normal” without her. That, and encouraging others as they are caregivers. I’ve had one person tell me that because of what I shared with her about getting to take care of my Mom, she was looking at helping her own Mom differently.
I have never heard of Parent’s Day. Obviously not one I celebrate. Parents do add another dimension to stories. Even f it’s only to highlight the differences between generations.
So sorry about your parents. May God comfort you and give you lots of hugs.
My father died some years ago now, and I still miss him.
Have a wonderful weekend in the Lord!
Yes, it’s important to speak encouragement into the children’s lives, to be sure. I agree that parenting is very difficult. Sometimes it requires trial and error to get it right. Praise the Lord that He is with us to correct and guide us as parents!
Thank you for your comments!
Yes to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day!
You were a blessing to your parents, and God saw that. And now you’re a blessing to others as well. I’m glad you were able to spend so many years with your parents.
When my mother had a massive stroke some years ago, I spent a month being her caregiver. It was very difficult, but I was happy to do it because she took care of my brothers and me for so many years that a few weeks caring for her are nothing compared to all that she has done for us.
I hope to visit her again soon — when the waves of pandemic are over.
Have a wonderful weekend in the Lord!
Indeed, parents are sometimes under appreciated, especially godly Christian parents!
Thank you for your comments. Have a wonderful weekend in the Lord!
I love when an author carries bits of a parent’s story into the series. It is always nice to know when a character acts one way or another and a parent replies, that was something you got from your dad. We do not celebrate parents day. In my opinion. Parents should be celebrated everyday. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
Mum never remarried and had no desire to but we had some other couples remarry after losing a parent. I know it was hard on the daughter to accept for awhile but it was partly for companionship more than anything. Dad was 66 when he died and mum was 56. I did ask if she thought she could get married again and she said no. I have another older friend who has remarried and is so happy.
I think it would be good to see a book with widows or widowers. Even if you had on and a single never married before. We have a friend who married a widower with a couple of teen boys. I think it would give hope to singles and be good stories
Do you celebrate Parents’ Day at all? No, I had no idea it exists.
Among all the novels you have read, have you ever been fascinated by parents in the book, causing you to want to know more about the couple? Yes! Race and Penny Steiner from the Cowboy Mountain Christmas series by Jessie Gussman – what a couple!
We don’t really celebrate Parents Day cause we each have our own day. As for wanting to know more about couples in books I’d love to.
We’ve always celebrated Mother’s day & Father’s day of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Parents day.
My husband’s parents passed away when he was a teenager so I never got to know them. Just from what he’s shared, I’m sure I would have loved them. My dad passed away in 2014 & my mom moved to New Zealand in 2001. So while I still have a living parent, I don’t get to see her except if we do a Facebook live chat. We tend to talk more on the phone though. I’d love to visit someday if I ever have the money to do so.
I like stories with single parents finding love…either they were widowed or a second-chance type troupe. Just my opinion, but I think kids thrive better when they have both parents :-)
Yes, indeed re: every day.
I agree that a bit of story with the family and parents does help to make the series more realistic.
Thank you and have a wonderful day in the Lord!
It’s new to me too! I don’t recall it being a thing in the past until I was looking up the various family days.
Yes, it’s fun for both readers and writers to keep up with book parents. To me, I just try to to forget their timeline LOL because it can be a few years before I mention them again.
Thank you for your comment, and have a wonderful day in the Lord!
That’s probably why it’s not as popular or well-known. There is Grandparents’ Day in September, but there doesn’t seem to be Grandpa Day or Grandma Day separately.
Thank you and have a wonderful day in the Lord!
I agree about kids doing better with both parents — especially if they are loving and godly parents.
I hope you’ll be able to visit your mom soon. NZ is a long way, but I thank God for technology. At least you can chat with her live!
Thank you for your comment, and have a wonderful day in the Lord!