under construction
Both Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad appear to be gender-specific variations of Parental Abandonment, except only one parent is doing the abandoning. The biggest difference appears to be that one happens more commonly than the other.
I'm pretty sure there is some meaning to a character growing up only knowing one parent in their life, but, not unlike Parental Abandonment, it can get chairs-y when the parent simply does not appear, even in works with Free-Range Children who still go to school regularly or when the character with the missing parent is an adult.
Edited by AnotherOnlinePersona on May 4th 2024 at 4:20:47 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Parental Abandonment is different in both parents are absent.
What do you mean "one happens more commonly than the other"? Do you mean Missing Mom more than Disappeared Dad or the opposite? (I got a mere 10% difference in number of wicks which isn't meaningful.) Or did you mean MM or DD compared to PA? (Which leaves no expiation for why MM and DD are/should be separate tropes.)
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
They have different manifestations. An MM will almost always be explained somehow, even if it's just "she died". They impact their child's life to a certain degree stereotypically expected of mothers.
A DD is less likely to be explained, and the dad is more likely to be a deadbeat somewhere if we get an answer at all.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
n/m
Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on May 5th 2024 at 5:05:38 AM
I have two questions about Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad:
Just realized both might suffer People Sit on Chairs; just being parents absence as opposed to how it affects the narrative (how it effect it might decide if it should go under the parent or child). Thoughts?