gamer says: June 20, 2012 at 8:47 am As someone who???s inadvertently done this in her own stories, I have two reasons: A) I was raised solely by my father after my mother died, so it???s very natural to me (though I realize this likely not the case for 99% of the people who write this), and B) parents in the picture just bog down the story, especially if you???re writing children or young adults