You forget that in his culture airbenders aren’t raised by their parents, so I would say it’s a bit of a step up that he still was at least a father figure to his kids
In the end though, it's because they weren't interested in the Air Nation or where their father came from. They had more in common with their mother and their uncle rather than their father. It's only now, when they are older and looking back, that they realize how much they missed out with him. They could have ridden the elephant and built the sandcastles if they just said, "Can I come?" 'Cause we all know Aang would let them have fun with him.
Was he not supposed to? Was Aang supposed to just let the air nomads die out, and Sozin's genocide become complete? "Oh welp first kid's a non bender guess the air nomads die with me lmao"
Ppl forget that when Aang dies, Tenzin would be the last airbender in the world, and somebody’s gotta teach the Avatar. He kinda has to focus on training Tenzin, the only airbender left so his nation’s culture, history and existence doesn’t die out with him. It made him a flawed dad, but not a horrible one.
More than teach the avatar, when it is the airs nations turn to have the avatar, they would be no more nation, so it would end up there, so he needed to have a slender who is a Airbender, who can still push on the air nation
@@Derekmilewskicrap I forgot about the cycle in all the talk of his family. Depending on how long each of them lived the family would still be growing and if not for harmonic convergence the descendants would be directly from ang which I think is even more pressure. Each of tenzins kids would've been pressured to have big families as well. It's pretty sad if u think about how it might get out of hand
That's basically saying it's okay to neglect your other children and family; there is no reason the other two kids COULDN'T have gone on vacation with them. Aang was a flawed father, just like he's a flawed person and his flaws were shown repeatedly in ATLA.
@@kellevichy they really didn’t even seem like they cared about any of the monk/air monad things would not have enjoyed learning about things that they couldn’t even do
@@kellevichyThis is also an issue of memory, it's revealed later that it wasn't so easy going for Tenzin. I don't think these "vacations" were actually vacations, though, I think they were more like the diversions in Season 1 of ATLA; They're flying somewhere (E.g., one of the temples) for a purpose and they're close enough to this other thing (Kyoshi Island, for example) so Aang decides to stop by.
Being a neglectful parent is verging on being a bad parent. Being a “good parent,” is so far beyond just not harming your children. It requires you be an active part of their life.
The main issue is that I’m pretty sure Aang was trying so hard to not be a pushy/overbearing parent like Lord Beifong, but also not strict/abusive like Ozai, so when Kya and Bumi showed even the slightest boredom at his lectures, he stopped “pushing” his lectures and culture on his kids. It was a failing on Aang’s part but he wasn’t purposely excluding his older kids from the other half of their culture. He genuinely didn’t think they were interested.
The thing we see in by "Korra's time" is that they are grown up and looking back now that their father is gone. They realized they COULD have gone on all those great adventures with Aang had they just asked instead of brushing it off. They listen to Tenzin and realize what they missed out on. And they know Aang wouldn't have excluded them unless he was certain they weren't going to have fun and he had listened to them over and over again about what they liked to do, which wasn't what he did with Tenzin. So what they couldn't Airbend? Neither could Katara and Sokka and they still had fun with him. Really they're spouting sour grapes at Tenzin for no other reason they're upset at themselves
I can easily imagine that Aang raised his kids more like a teacher than a dad since that's how he was raised, and I see how that would 100% prioritize Tenzin over the others. What I don't see him doing is *going on vacation with only one of his kids* I don't know any parent who would do that
@@Chaosking707 Nah bro they went surfing and shit. In fact it would've been better if Tenzin felt like his only relationship with his dad was through airbending, whereas his siblings got a normal father who wasn't entirely invested in their training
Tenzin was so focused on rebuilding the air nation that he didn't even realize the absence of his siblings. Probably because every cool thing he did with Aang was followed up by a lot of air nomad teaching
Yeah I don’t think they were actual vacations. But instead probably diversions from him flying somewhere for teaching, and because the attraction was close, he would stop by. Which would show why the other siblings didn’t go because they weren’t actual vacations. Just diversions from air nomad/bender teaching which they already disagreed their interest in for the first place
The whole ordeal is really sad when you consider just how much pressure Aang was under to keep the Air nation alive through Tenzin with his lifespan being much shorter than he anticipated. In the end though, Tenzin did succeed at successfully passing along Aang's wisdom and culture, it just unfortunately came at the cost of his siblings not being able to spend as much time with their father.
There evidence that Aang attempted though teaching the air nomads culture to them but They were bored by his teaching so he pretty much took a step back and focused on his airbender son, an example was when the water bender lady brought up the gurus and confusing name of them
It's his duty to help his children to live a happy life the way they want to. Not just teaching them the one thing he wants them to be and abandon them when that's just not them. People are individuals and so are children.
@@happilyevernever4289Ungrateful? Because he tryed to teach them one thing they just weren't and abandoning them the second they are not interested in that? He could have had a fatherly bond to all of them without teaching them how to be air nomads.
You know there is a difference between teaching your children history and culture. And going on vacation with them, building sandcastles, or going to kioshi island.
I think it’s pretty well shown in the show that Aang wasn’t a bad dad, they just remember him not being around a lot. Because he was building the world, but also because they had no interest in building the Air nation. You can see in the show that they had no interest in the history of the air nomads, they probably just didn’t care very much about it, but Tenzin did.
So because they didn’t want to learn air nomad history maybe because both of them aren’t air benders aang basically just left for the milk with tenzan sound like a bad dad to me
@@fathimathrenisha7258u wouldn't? An entire nation of air nomads was dead, and there were only 2 people on this world who knew how to airbend, and one will die and the next avatar needs to learn how to airbend, so obviously he cared more about Tenzin because he was the last airbender left
Yeah. If your children are not interested in something your logical reaction is to neglect them and just leave them to keep doing your things. Please don't have kids if that's your ideology
To be honest... It is not only about Tenzen, but I think Aang knew after his death all the responsibility and knowledge of Air Nation will be in Tenzen's shoulders... Could Aang do anything else? I think not. I have a feeling he was afraid after his death all remaining of his culture and nation would dissappear with him, so he tried his all to pass the knowledge and everything to his son.
He wasn’t a bad dad. Literally tenzin was the only one who cared. Kya literally says “I can’t remember all those gorus” and bumi when he got bending said “I never wanted to me an air bender or monk”. They didn’t care. Not saying aang couldn’t have tried harder with them but they act like he completely neglected them. Tenzin is the only one that shared his dad’s dream.
@@doodoohead5631maybe those vacations only happen because during the travels, they took a stop and did it along the way. Aang was the type of person who stopped once in a while. So, it's possible if they followed aang and chose to follow him even just a little, maybe they could've joined in on the fun.
@@pat1r1ck that’s horrible logic, him and tenzin were not doing anything air bending related and spending genuine time together while he neglected his other kids
"children hate homework so when the parent doesn't make them do homework it's the childs fault for being uneducated" is the logic you're running with. They're KIDS. Of course they wanted to focus on other things than monks and airmad culture; they were CHILDREN. Tenzen never got a choice but to have it pressured on him and be put in a situation where he HAD to have kids if he wanted them or not. How is that fair?
Wasnt it because Tenzen had air bending and was interest in Aang's goal whilst the other 2 had other interest. You could still be a monk without bending. So Aang travelled a lot with Tenzen in order to train and develop him.
@@TheEckoEchoTenzin make that choice not aang, Lin doesn't want to have kid while Tenzin have the responsibility to rebuilt the air bending civilization and want to have as many kids possible.
Kya and bumi expressed a few times in the show that they were never interested in air nomad culture and because of that Aang decided to not force them into it which is not a bad decision at all but effected the dynamic of their family. Plus Aang came from a nation where parenting wasnt exactly a thing, while not an excuse he wasnt as bad a father as kya and bumi remember but also wasnt as good a father tenzin remembered.
@@user-jx6zw6su3ithese “vacations” were just trips to further his knowledge I believe? So the riding koi fish or wtv happened during the free time on the trip, which wasn’t much ig
But he still favorite one kid over the others. I have kids myself and one of them favors motorsports which I'm I into so why do lot of motorsport stuff together but I can reganize that the other two hates that stuff so while one other enjoys basketball ball while I don't I still play and the last one enjoys documentary I'll sit on the couch Friday night and watch documentary with her. But at least every school break we will do something as family like Disney or something. My boy Aang chose to choose favorites and not inviste time into the family as a whole
Except in this case, you miss one class so your miss any field trips till the end of your life💀 Yall really trying to justify being a bad parent while you're being raised with two parents who are prolly there nonstop
@@willisstillhere8846 what? Aang wanted to teach them all but only tenzin was interested, so aang only taught him about his people and didn't try to make the other two learn it, if they aren't learning about the historical places why take them there so they can see it, and if tenzin has fun after all the power to him Yes I get it was unfair he didn't take the others on any trips, but aang wasn't that bright
@@willisstillhere8846Aang is the type of guy to bring ANYONE on a field trip, its the first thing he did when he met Sokka and Katara. He's always trying to loosen up and stop to visit places, I DOUBT he didn't try to bring them along but they weren't interested. Also please stop bringing in personal matters while discussing a fictional story, it seems as though you're projecting.
@@janinebelleestrada7096he did, he tried to teach them about the air nomad traditions but they didn’t care, that cause aang to focus on tenzin because he actually cared about his father and his people
Aang being inattentive to most of his kids is both sad, and also something that makes absolute sense. Of course he gave more attention to Tenzin, who would be the sole caretaker of air nation culture once Aang died. It wasn't fair to Bumi and Kya, and they are 100% in the right to have some resentment for theire dad over that, but I get why he was like that.
Aang was never raised by his parents so he probably never learned how to be one and thought that mentoring and taking care of Tenzin was what he was supposed to do, but I’m sure his still loved all of them
I mean cut the man some slack. He LITERALLY saved the world as a little kid, he never was raised really and was always on the road, we don’t know aang that much but we know him enough to know that he definitely did his best that he could. He always did,even with his enemies he’d do all he could to be chill with everybody. Being a parent isn’t easy, so while they may resent him a little, I know deep down inside he loved his kids.
The way I felt so bad for Bumi during Korra. I just couldn’t help but feel like he literally basically got shown hardly any attention from either of his parents once his siblings came along. Katara probably spent a lot of time with Kya teaching her water bending and then Aang was off with Tenzin. Kind of reminded me of that scene when the Gang were all bending and Katara told Sokka to sit down, I reckon Bumi probably got a lot of that. His lack of attention from his parents would also explain why he was such a storyteller as it was probably his only way he felt he could get attention and why he was so desperate in early scenes to prove he was just as good/capable as Tenzin AND Kya. I would actually love a backstory on what it was like for him growing up. I kind of feel like he would have had a closer relationship with Sokka than he did with Katara or Aang.
@@rkdarkangel it’s always funny when mfs look at my channel then act like what I said has no merit because it proves they don’t have a counterpoint so they resort to insults. The fact is the only reason yall are bending over backwards to defend Aang being a bad parent is nostalgia that’s it. Aang is my favorite avatar character and I can confidently say he’s a bad dad. Don’t be a meatrider, lil bro.
@@ultraisaiah7859 So Aang was bad father because his other 2 children didnt care about the air nomads? Or their history? And because Aang, the AVATAR, has a much bigger role in the world, trying to run around everywhere fixing everything the 100 year war screwed up, trying to bring the air nation back aswell, considering he was the LAST one until Tenzin. ONTOP of that, he was never raised by traditional parents, he was raised in a atmosphere where there are no one sole care-takers, and everyone just kinda takes care of everyone. He also felt that it was his fault the air nation fell because he already ran away from his duties once, which puts an insane amount of pressure on him AFTER he learns Tenzin is an airbender, and that Aang can rebuild the air nation. If Kya and Bumi were more willing to learn and understand the air nations history, and help rebuild it like Tenzin, they wouldve been with him on his travels. It's not that hes a bad father, it's that he had way to many expectations that everyone wanted from him. Be a good father to 3 children, keep the world at peace, rebuild the air nation, etc. You can believe hes a bad father, but if he just stopped being the avatar, and directly focused on his kids, the world would fall apart once again, the air nations history lost, and some new guy taking over everything, this time with no one to stop him because the avatar decided to be a father.
For all the grief this show gets, there really are some gem moments. Aang playing favorites and neglecting two of his kids makes sense given his childhood, and I like that they explore it several times over the course of the show. I don't know, it would've been a whole lot less interesting if on top of saving the world Aang was also the perfect family man.
Yep, right on the money. Aang can't be a good father and save the world at the same time. The gap between them is too big, that is why Aang and his team founded Republic City to reduce the responsibility. Even so, fate is just that harsh.
@@SLESFMOfficial The problem isn't with the show writing Aang to be a bad father, The problem is the writing making no sense and clashing with Aang's personality. Literally no parent would only take one of their children for a vacation and leave the rest at home So you're telling me the fun loving childlike guy DIDN'T bring the rest of his family on vacations with him or paid ANY attention to his other kids
@@JRKFR343 it is the fact he is running out of time. Yes he did spend a lot of time with his kids, but Tenzin being an airbender in the first place gave Aang hope for the future of his culture. Making the right decision is the hardest to make as a human being, and being decisive is more harsh. Roku and Kyoshi did the total opposite and Aang has to clean up their mess in less than 100 years.
@@JRKFR343 in other words, Aang sacrificed his happy personality in a way for the sake of being the only person to bring balance to the world. The Avatar's purpose is doing whatever it takes to protect the world. Not only Lord Zuko mentioned that, but the previous Airbending Avatar did as well.
@@JRKFR343 Wisdom is not taken for granted. Aang cannot just simply enjoy his life with his kids and Katara as his wife, he'll repeat the same mistake as what Avatar Kuruk did, or what Roku did when he tried to be restraint. Aang needed to be involved in life-endangering crimes or scenarios to keep peace.
Keep in mind that the whole air nation got slaughtered and with it Aang's family,friends,childhood and home. I'm not that surprised rebuilding his nation was the priority in his mind.
Doesn't excuse what he did. I've seen doctor parents have kids and barely raise them and some of the kids turn messed up while the others use their dads mistake as a way to not raise their children And rebuilding the Air Nation has nothing to do with "going to the beach" or going to Kyoshi's Island, two tourist spots. No amount of reaching justifies that
@@willisstillhere8846it absolutely does, he prevented the genocide of an entire people in exchange for upsetting a couple of insignificant children. Priorities.
Aang would have sacrificed himself for the air nomads, but Zuko failed to make the distinction that Aang wouldn’t want anyone else to be sacrificed for it.
We have to remember that in S2, Bumi and Kya weren't calling Aang a bad dad. They didn't say they hated him, or that he didn't love them. They simply were reminding Tenzin that he wasn't perfect. In Patterns In Time (new TLOK book) Bumi tells Meelo that Aang really loved him and how he understands Aang better now.
A doctor has three children but only one of them is interested in medicine and two of them have their own things. Guess which one will spend more time with the Doctor.
@@50mile.entertainmenthe’s also the last doctor alive and arguably the most important doctor in the world, tasked with the duty of the safety of the world, having saved it at least once.
His son literally was the only Airbender he had to pass on as much knowledge of his people to him and the air Nomad acolytes both his waterbending daughter and his son that had no bending became successful in their own right but didn't have families I think their depression and self-loathing comes from that not the daddy issues they look at their brother and are a little bit resentful that he has a large family while they have nothing
@@gatoradeblue1589it kinda seems like he tried to teach them but neither of them cared enough to learn. Both of them have at least surface level understanding of the air nation. When Boomie became an air bender he couldn't sit still and learn to save his life. Now imagine that as a kid.
I like how the Gaang grew up to have normal adult problems like Aang struggling to give the proper amount of attention to his children and Toph being a single mother of children with a sibling rivalry.
In my opinion Aang was teaching Tenzin how to be future leader to Air nation. He knew that rebuilding the Air nation was the Tenzin path, because he was the only Air Bender amongst his children. So he gave him a happy childhood with a fun in order not to put much pressure on him
nope they undermined his character especially since katara wouldn't have stood for it, neither would Sokka, Zuko, Toph, or their own grandfather Hakota who would have wished to see his grandkids grow up, but i guess legend of korra kinda forgot he ever existed because he isn't mentioned once in the show
He tried to be a good father, it's just that their complaining about Aang not being there even though the only reason he wasn't with them much is because they didn't want to learn anything about air nomad culture.
@@istoppedcaring6209or you're just not very good at judging good writing. Aang had one dream to rebuild the air nation. His other two children had no interest in anything he had to say.
Making Aang a bad dad undermines his character. You’d think that, after not having a childhood, someone like Aang would wanna give all of his kids a great one, but no.
I feel he was just bent on trying to recreate the air nation, and always trying to train tenzin. If all the children were airbenders he would have trained them all. But since they weren’t, didn’t it’s pretty sad.
He has little to no reference of a father figure, and bumi and kya did not show an interest in what he was teaching. It’s just regrettable that they didn’t realize he was helping them reach their culture
You have to remember that air nomads never had a typical family setting like we do. Aang has parents sure, but they weren’t the ones who raised him and they never showed up in the show nor did he ever talk about them (I believe). Because when they are born, the children are taken to a place where they are all raised and trained together by air nomads, like Gyatso for example. It’s not far off to say he didn’t know how to be a father figure. It was never in his people’s customs
why is literally every character from shows i grew up with a shit parent, Aang, Naruto, and Naruto's emo friend whose name I can't spell right now. what the hell
To be fair, if the other two had showed ang more intrest in the idea of it then he would've brought them along but he probably needed to zone in on tenzin cause he was literally the only chance he saw at the time to revive the air benders
I meaaaaan they were young nd when ure not an air bender u dont care much abt it. It's like when most parent force their child to go to church...etc they dont rly care (Gotta say though that they all deeply love Katara so she must've been an amazing mom)
@@Bala_Niranna worst way to describe what I said, his entire heritage was on the line if he didn't focus on tenzin, he literally needed to, the others weren't interested so he didn't het to teach them as much, doesn't mean he wasn't there for em at all
@@Bala_Niranna he'd want to spend time with all of them, it is their fault he didn't teach them though cause of their disinterest, he wouldn't want to force that on them
Not saying Aang was a bad father but, he did treat Tenzin as his favorite. I get Kya and Bumi didn't wanna learn about the monks and culture however, Aang and Tenzin having mini vacations after learning away from the other kids. Its like secretly sneaking McDonald's to 1 child after a football match but, not getting any for the others when you got home. (Poor analogy) But you get the picture.
@@tetragaming6332 I don't remember an Air Nomad temple on Kyoshi island🤔 Can't recall an Air Nomad temple by the beach of Amber Island either nor what building sand palaces has to do with Air bending culture.
Aye, my dude acted exactly like the only father figure he ever had. Monk Gyatso. I think the comics clarify, that the air nomads do not have family units in their culture. If a child is born, it's raised in the community. When Monk Gyatso started to treat Aang more familial, he did so because Aang was a singular person with one big fvcking responsibility: Be the Avatar. Something that stressed out Aang extremely and he even ran away, when they wanted to seperate them. Monk Gyatso saw that and tried to help him, by doing positive things with him (pranking on the other Masters a.e.) He probably saw himself in Tenzin. Tenzin was the last remaining Air bender and the only one that will be able to teach the future generations of air benders. The alcolytes can keep the knowledge alive, not the practices. Aang never intended to become a "bad" dad, but at this point everyone should know, that your childhood has an extreme effect on your adult life. My dude never was part of a family unit. Him not being perfect at it is perfectly reasonable (next to stuff, like REBUILDING A WAR-RIDDEN WORLD) His children are absolutely allowed to feel dejected about it, it is shite after all, but I'm more plssed at the fandom, for refusing to accept a character flaw. Aang was a good boy in the original series, but he had flaws and was not some perfect person. Edit: I saw some people say it's on Kya and Bumi for not being interested in the air nomad culture. NoooOoooo. Yes, a child should accept influence from their parents and also dabble in their interests, but a parent has to do the same. Going to Kyoshi Island and building sandcastles could have been just family bonding time. Not just an airbender thing
I actually think this was one of the best aspects of Korra. It was genuinely a very bold move for them to cast Ang in such a potentially negative light. Ang was our boy. THE Avatar. And pretty much throughout his whole run, although he was flawed at times, he was a good spirited and often sage-like individual, despite his youth. So the idea that he would be such an imperfect father to his kids, is kinda shocking. It made him more human, and showed that even someone like Ang, who's always been so well-meaning in his actions, could be tempered by his circumstances and life experiences to such an extent.
Aang wasn't a bad dad, he was just a flawed one. He wasn't there for his other kids, but was there for Tenzin. Even though his older kids were not that interested in air nomad culture, they were kids. (Fy: Going on vacations and building sand castles are quite different from air nomad culture) Looks like Katara was the one who made sure to give equal love to all.
It possible those adventures he went on with Tenzin were repeats of what he did when he was younger, to help foster Tenzins interest in it "Theres always time to learn but also time to play"
Equal love and equal attention are two different things. Aang loved all his kids equally but didn't give them equal attention because that's impossible and kids have different interests.
Considering how forgetful Tenzin was that his siblings weren't on those vacations. No doubt he was really little when aang travelled with him, provably when he was just old enough to actually be allowed to fly everywhere. Meaning not too long after Tenzin was born, Aang essentially took off with him, leaving their family behind to make him into an airbrnder
It’s one of those things where when you have something that you and your kids share something. If you really like rebuilding old cars but three out of your four kids are just kinda meh about it you tend to share your passion with the one who shows interest in it. It’s the same as how you make friends.
Growing up is realizing Aang and Toph weren’t the best parents yet they was always their for they kids which is very accurate in real life not all parent are the best but we can deny their efforts
You teach the one who wants to be taught and you don’t teach the ones who don’t. Tenzin was the only one that actually valued what their dad held dear. it’s like your dad loves cars and so does your brother so they hangout while fixing up a car, you don’t join because you find cars boring, if he doesn’t teach you how to fix cars it because you didn’t want to be taught.
Basically. Like, were Kya and Bumi that's pressed during the time all this was happening in their youth? Most likely not bc dad was alive and whatnot. Hindsight and bitterness in recollecting is maybe the energy they feel here.
Aang had the weight of singlehandedly having to rebuilding an entire nation. It wasn't that he liked Tenzin more, it was that he had to pass on every experience and every bit of knowledge he could to the ONLY other Airbender in the entire world. Aang was the last Airbender, Tenzin was the first new Airbender in over 140 years. He had to give him every bit of his free time for their people. Aangs responsibility, and debt to the air nation was infinitely more important than being just a father.
Well actually Kya and Bumi once said they weren't interested in their father Aang's culture. Im sure he invited or pushed them to understand it, but them not wanting to learn or get involved pushed Aang to unintentionally put most of his attention towards Tenzin. Do remember that Aang can get so caught up in his activities that he would even sometimes forget about Katara. One of Aang's weaknesses is tunnel vision, however i do also think he shouldve put some interest in Kya and Bumi's hobbies
The real Aang would have taken them with him. He literally met Katara and Sokka and IMMEDIATELY wanted to take these STRANGERS doing all of that stuff with him. Bro would have taken anyone and anything that wanted to go. I'm not believing for a SECOND that he didn't try to take his other kids with them.
He probably wanted to take them but like we saw in the show they didn't have any interest in any of the air nomad culture and stuff So aang only focused on tenzin
@@KrizalNep I really don't get this excuse I'm seeing over and over again. Maybe I'm misunderstanding but what does going to Kyoshi island have to do at all with learning about Air Nomad culture? He doesn't call it 'lessons' or 'retreats', he calls it 'vacation'.
@@alice88waprobably he was taking Tenzin on trips to teach him and also was casually stopping at some points and having fun with him. Like when you have a few hours of driving, and on the way, there is some entertainment park, having Aangs love of the fun, you would stop there too. In the first season when he was going to North Pole, we literally see him planning to stop and show Sokka and Katara riding koi fish and monkeys and so on and so on, don't think he wouldn't do that with his son. *Sorry for bad English.
This is a big reason I am critical of LOK. Because we are just told that Aang didn’t bond much with his other children, we have no freaking clue why the kid who was always concerned with balance would later grow up to show favoritism towards only one of his children. Instead of all these live actions, let’s get an interim series that explains a little of what happened between ATLA and LOK.
The reason is that the writers hate the original series. Pretty much most of the original avatar cast is thrown under the bus. They wanted to replicate the edginess of Zuko, without the Counterbalance of Iroh. Tenzin has none of the counseling tact and patience of Iroh. Korra is the new writer's Zuko. But Their Iroh stand in can't make headway with Korra. Almost every single relationship in Korra is filled with angst and loathing.
@@catdogfishdogcatsI think it's less they "hate" the OG series and more that they didn't have Aaron around to help balance it out. Cuz if memory serves, he was the main reason Toph and Iroh and even Zuko are who they are on the OG. And I'ma be honest... Him not being there kinda shows
From a viewer’s perspective yes, but from an airbender’s perspective, he was a great parent. His children included every air acolyte he taught which Tenzin was a part of. Kya and Bumi decided not to learn the culture of the air nomads. Aang obv isn’t someone who will force them to learn. But it’s all he knows and all he has time for.
Tbh peopme are judging him by todays standarts. He didnt have a 9-5 with time for the kids after. Hes the avatar trying to rebuild the air nation which is an important part in the balance of the world.
People say that Kya & Bumi were neglected and that makes Aang bad but I think it’s more complicated here, Aang not only had the burdens of being the avatar restoring peace after a century of war & the genocide of his people but had to be a father, husband & friend. His children showed disrespect to his culture when he tried sharing with them, his dream to rebuild was lofty & needed support especially from his own household, so he put focus on Tenzin. Timing of Aang’s death means that he never met Tenzin’s kids in life, so the pressure to rebuild the air nation that Aang felt went squarely on tenzin and Aang’s shortened life (being frozen caused him to die at the biological age of 66, long before seemingly all his friends & family, though sokka’s death is shrouded in mystery). It’s my full belief that Aang’s favoritism of his kids would have been lessened by katara & others if the time allowed.
Sokka was probably killed by the Red Lotus when word got out that Korra was the new avatar, they attempted to kidnap her, but Sokka Tenzin, Zuko and Korra's dad made sure she was protected
On one hand, he wanted to rebuild the Air Nation. On the other, he ended up ignoring his older two, who aren't airbenders. Someone said that what happened is like if the youngest son had interests in learning how to be a doctor by his doctor father. But I never realised Aang didn't balance his love for his kids.
Oh my god he didn't neglect them Asides from airbending he also wanted to pass on spiritual knowledge of the monks to all 3 of them But kaya and bumi weren't interested in learning about the spirit world or the monks teachings But tenzin was Thats why aang took him all those trips round the world and did his best to teach him bout the monks from all the air temples He WOULD have been a bad dad IF he forced bumi and kaya to learn them
Incorrect ang tried to get them into air nomad culture they weren't interested and probably through fits like children do so he only took his air bending child with him to study the culture and left them with their mom where the daughter studied water bending, which left bumi feeling left out because his brother and sister all had something that connected them to their parents while he essentially had nothing, the problem lies not in his poor parenting, but just the fact that kids will be kids and a unfortunate turn of events in the fact one kid had waterbending the other had air and one had nothing other than being a normal human. Bumi felt left out but i highly dought ang full on ignored his children more he didn't push air bending culture onto them and focused on tenzen, if anyone was truly wronged its tenzen from a young age it has been his entire responsibility to continue the legacy of air bending culture while bumi and his sister got to play and be normal kids tenzen had to study and practice since childhood to be the best airbender possible.
I love when they give flaws to characters that sre realistic. So their not this perfect person. Aang had to deal with the mentality that he was one of two air benders. He was a great leader.
Agreed, it makes a ton of sense. Air nomads aren’t taught by their direct parents, their parents are the air bending elders. Aang took every single air bending elders place and taught his children (air acolytes + tenzin) everything he knew. As an airbender, Aang was an amazing parent. Kya and Bumi did not want to be a part of the Air acolytes so he didn’t teach them. In hindsight, he should have forced them to be a part of the air acolytes, but obviously, that’s something that Aang would never do. So the result is Kya and Bumi feeling like they were abandoned. Even if theoretically Aang was able to learn to be a water nation parent, the time spent would mean that Aang would have been a worse parent to Tenzin and the air acolytes which in turn would have damaged the revival of the air nation.
Bro had the duties of being the Avatar, rebuilding the air Nation, restoring a lost culture and also being a father, two kids had no interest in taking part in all of that and just wanted to be like other kids whilst the last one loved to be apart of a near extinct culture, so of course Aang is going to focus on him whilst Katara did her best to give the other two the lives they wanted, thats not being a bad dad, thats called being responsible, he had more duties than just being a father of three. 🙄🤣 Yet people are like "oh hes such a terrible dad because kids are being kid's". 🤣
He was a bad parent and toph was too. I don’t understand this obsession to defend them when we know if the same backstory was given to anyone else we would have labelled them as deadbeats. It’s okay if a character that we like failed at one aspect of the life.
He was never a bad father, his other children simply didn't care about the air nomads so he let them do their own thing, he took Tenzin on those "vacations" to teach him about air bending history, it isn't his fault his other kids didn't want to spend time with him learning about his history.
@@maryboyd8126you know nothing about parenting it seems. Being present to instill your values onto your children at the cost of tantrums is being a good parent. Letting them run loose and not caring because they don't care is laziness, negligence, and spoiling. Kids need parents for a reason, they don't know what's best for themselves. That's why so many Americans struggle, the parents don't care enough about their kid's education enough to force them to study, then they grow up unable to do anything.
I don’t like how LoK paints Aang as if he was a bad person :-// we see how Aang is in the series even as a child- with less experience. He cares more about the people he loves than anything else. The idea that Aang just wouldn’t care about two of his children is absurd to me.
The show doesn't present him as a bad person, but as a bad father. Poor father figure. Who did a lot of great things, but it took his time away from his three children, and among them he chose a favorite
@@dushistaya yeah but I just have an extremely hard time believing Aang would be like that as a parent. We see how mature he is as a child, and how much he loves and cares for people. I can’t imagine this outcome for him realistically.
@@prollydatboi8841 Aang wanted to be a good father to his kids, but with the amount of time he has after 100 years ice-olated, he was running out of time. He loved all his children and especially his wife Katara, but as the Last Airbender, Aang had to give Tenzin all the teachings and responsibilities to keep the culture safe to sprout. That's why Tenzin was seen as 'favored' over the others, but Kya and Bumi already understood Tenzin's burden from the getgo.
@@SLESFMOfficial yeah but like I can’t imagine that realistically. Even the way it’s presented as a burden, the way it’s presented as if he was an absent father to the others. We literally see Aang stop at nothing to find Appa in season 2. Aang is distraught over the loss of the air nomads in season one- the only thing that makes it ‘better’ is that he still has family - as Sokka and Katara assure him. Aang in the series is like, the utmost good. Aangs portrayal in LoK doesn’t feel like the same Aang we see in TLAB.
@@prollydatboi8841 That's because he finished the war, and that's only one priority. He founded Republic City to reduce the size of the responsibility, but realistically that only made his situation worse. He does care about his children, but his hands are always full due to the world's problems surfacing.
If Aang really wanted to rebuild the Air nation and would sacrifice anything for it, He should have gone full Gengis Khan and have 400 children. At least 40% of those would turn out Air benders 😂😂😂
i mean.. If i were Katara i don't think i would be giving my avatar husband who was previously the single last airbender known at that time shit for putting more time and effort into a new descendant whose responsibility it will eventually be to carry on the traditions and culture and bending art of an entire nation that for 100 years was extinct.
Also, they're in an era where 'heir' is a big thing. In that era, it's normal to tilt all resources to the chosen heir and spend all efforts to raise them. So for katara, as long as Aang isn't a 'bad' father, having a favorite isn't a big problem.
in which part of the information that was given here gave the impression that katara didnt do shit? stop continuing the stupid ass mindset that when men fail as a parent, the burden has suddenly shifted to the woman
@@imperialtowerbro that’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying that it’s out of character for Katara to not immediately call out Aang for neglecting two of their kids and make sure he never did it again. If Aang just took Tenzin and left the others, she would smack him upside the head for it
Parents do have favourites, but it's based on what they need. like i have 3 younger siblings, our mom's favourite would be me when she wants to chat about random things, and it's my younger sister when she wants to go shopping, and then it's my younger brother whenever its about school achievements. ... now, aang one day woke up that ALL the airbenders were gone, and he's the last remaining one. So obviously, there's anxiety if there will be another one ever after he gets old and die. THEN BOOM!! Tenzin, his youngest, is an airbender! Aang's excitement probably was skyhigh.
Aang was a good dad. Aang just had responsibilities. Once he saw he can remake the air nation that was the most important thing to do you have to make tough choices in life this can't make him a bad dad by saving a whole race of benders and bringing balance back there's a need for all elements around. Bumi gets airbending and all of a sudden wants to know all about airbending and its history when no one cared about the airbenders throughout both shows besides aang or tenzin
Ok buddy, Goku is a GREAT father, He spent 5 years with gohan, gohan got kidnapped and sacrificed himself for his safety, he died 2 times, the 2nd being so villains won’t come to earth, and look how that turned out… Vegeta on the other hand is just tryna act cool in front of his kids.
and? what does it have to do withim beeing a bad dad? I woud understand it if its about teaching, that the woud ony teach the interested one, but going on vacation, and only taking one child is pretty bad...
@@m_lies Because he doesn't have much time left, he had to give all his wisdom and responsibilities to the next airbender as a former airbender. He had to decide on that, because that's the wisdom Roku gave. Aang was pressured, so while it looked like it's one-sided favoritism whatever situation, there's no doubt that it wouldn't be that without a very good reason.
Fun fact: it’s stated multiple times that all people in the air nation are airbenders and everyone is born with airbending, so Bumi not having bending makes 0 sense as he should have been born with airbending unless Aang having kids with a non-airbender cancelled this out for some reason.
I thought After the war ended and marrying his love, he would be a good father or caring father but nah i never knew Aang was a douche bag and asshole dad 💀
He never had parents. He could Not Know how to be a good father. And Just because he had a favorit, it does Not mean he was a Bad father all the time. Nobody are perfekt.
He wasn't an asshole dad lol, he showed favoritism to Tenzin because they were the only two airbenders, he had to pass on all the knowledge and teachings of the airbender monks as well as prepare for when he passed on and the next avatar needed a teacher for airbending off to someone, and Kya and Bumi showed no interest, so he didn't force it on them.
People forget that when Aang dies if he didn’t teach Tenzin all he needed to know and try to rebuild the air nation it could never be rebuilt, he has a job to the world, not just his children
He wasn’t a bad father. He was very flawed in his parenting, but he 100% loved all of his kids and you also gotta remember in his culture. Airbenders aren’t raised by their parents so I would say it’s a step up that he was still a father figure
I’m so mad that they did that. Like Aang personality would totallly take all his kids to random adventures together or at the very least Aang would take each kids separately to a random adventure. So each kid has their own story.
Tbh I never noticed that air nomads don’t get raised by parents so it makes sense Aang is a flawed father tbh, plus the stress he went through in the show and the comics when people started cosplaying as air nomads and Aang had to remind them that the tattoos were a whole culture that’s been wiped out and not a costume it’d make sense he’d be stoked when he learned Tenzin was also a air bender
