#sometimes bumi can be responsible and a good mentor for toph

[xxxcertifiednerdxxx]

is there any fanart, fanfic, or other fanworks about Bumi and Toph hanging out? Bc two incredibly powerful earth bending chaos gremlins being even 30 feet close to each other is a recipe for disaster that we should be exploring

[theotherace]

Would Toph and Aang be bad parents? What's their parenting style and challenges they face?

I don't think so, no.

I think they'd be parents who try really, really hard, honestly. Like, they always put in the effort. And sometimes, they make dumb decisions or fuck up, but I reckon everybody does. They certainly aren't perfect.

I think Toph would have trouble sometimes saying no, making rules that stick (outside of bending practice). Giving her kids too much freedom, so to speak, because she never wants them to feel caged the way she did. Aang grew up in a Temple, though, where there presumably were a fair amount of rules, and those didn't hurt him, so he's good at reigning this in, usually. No rules aren't the solution, and he knows that. The kids still go to her when he's already said no, and unless their ideas are too insane, she'll probably say yes.

Aang would struggle a bit with giving everybody enough attention, I think. Not because he favours any of the kids over their siblings, but because he's a very busy man, and the way he was raised, there wasn't just one person (or two people) responsible for five kids. Sure, Gyatso was his main caregiver, but he grew up in a big community with lots of other children and more than enough adults that one of them always had time for the kids. He's not Monk Aang, though, or a mentor, he's Dad, and he loves that, but it's difficult sometimes. By the time there's five of them, he'd probably have it more or less figured out, actually, but there's definitely a bit of a rocky start.

Both of them would make an effort to encourage their kids' interest and talents, no matter how outlandish or weird to them. Aang grew up in an environment where I imagine that would be fostered, anyway, and Toph knows how much it hurts to hide a big and important part of yourself from the people who (should) love you most. Toph isn't into poetry and music, but Kavi is, so she listens and praises him. She can't see Norbu's drawings, but if he sketches something into the dirt, she compliments his skill and builds him little models once he starts designing buildings. (He becomes an architect.) Aang doesn't get how all of his children ended up loving Earth Rumbles, but he'll still take them and cheer with them and root for the twins and Asha when they sign up for Bending Tournaments (usually as a team).

They probably lean a bit too much on Bumi (their eldest) on occasion as well, but I think that's just something that tends to happen with a lot of kids and very demanding jobs. They try to make it up to him when they notice they've been doing it, but he does end up probably too responsible for his own good nevertheless.

They face different struggles with each kid (ranging from very small, like Asha schlepping home wild animals every second day, to pretty big, like Tenzin's inferiority complex or Bumi losing his arm), but they manage those all more or less without building too much resentment or losing the kid. Tenzin lives at the Southern Air Temple for a while because he needs to get away from all the Perfect Benders Who Are Better Than Him (none of whom can relate to his struggles because basically all of them are prodigies), but he ultimately still comes home again, and they build bridges.

They love those kids, and their kids love them. Aang, especially, is somebody who loves very hard and very loud, and he's already lost all that's dear to him once without so much as a proper goodbye, so he'll make damn sure those kids know they're his whole world. Toph's love is quieter, a lot more patted heads and squeezed hands, but she never wants the kids to feel like they aren't loved just the way they are.

And ... I think this is long enough for now. Sorry if it got a bit rambly, and thank you for the ask!

[shifuaang]

Rewriting the Cloudbabies Conflict in LOK

Here’s how I would rewrite the Cloudbabies conflict so that it would align with the established characterization of Aang and Katara and not recycle the same bad parenting tropes as ATLA:

I actually like the majority of the personality traits that were given to these characters, so they will mostly be kept intact. 

Bumi is still the eldest and a non-bender, but he’s the one who really takes an interest in the restoration of the Air Nomad culture. He steps up and becomes involved with the Air Acolytes and is the most enthused out of his siblings about field trips to the different Air Temples. The whole family goes on these trips, not just Aang and Tenzin when he’s old enough. Aang and Katara are proud to share their heritages with all of their children.

Bumi reflects Aang’s happy-go-lucky personality and great sense of humor but can also be spiritual and in tune with nature when the occasion calls for it, so he naturally meshes with his father’s culture and traditions. He’s one of the first people to be matched with a sky bison after he helps Aang find a surviving herd. The one belief he doesn’t adhere to is being a vegetarian because, in his own words, “mom’s two-headed fish soup is just too good.”

At the start of the series, he lives on Air Temple Island and has married another non-bender. They have teenage twins a little older than Korra - a boy waterbender and a girl airbender. 

Kya, the second oldest, is a waterbending master like her mother but very much considers herself half-Air Nomad, half-Water Tribe. She delights in the fact that she gets two bending teachers and that her bending is diversified by her father’s knowledge as the Avatar, as he incorporates other elemental styles into her lessons. 

Lin is Kya’s childhood best friend, and there are definite romantic undertones to their relationship. Because Kya knows about the Air Nomad’s acceptance of all forms of love, she is unashamed of her sexuality. She is extremely close with her Grandfather Hakoda growing up, and once she is old enough, she assists him in continuing to rebuild the Southern Water Tribe. 

She is child-free at the start of the series and living with Lin in Republic City but frequents the Southern Water Tribe often. She also has a spare room so that her mom can visit her whenever she likes.

Tenzin, the youngest, is an airbending master, but takes longer to get there than he would like. He is serious and disciplined and can become hot-headed like his mother on occasion. Tenzin does not fall as naturally into Air Nomad culture as Bumi, (after all, air is the element of freedom), so there is a bit of tension between the two brothers. In spite of this, his love for his parents runs deep. In times of trouble, he gravitates towards Katara as he feels she can relate to him a bit better. 

While he isn’t an airbending prodigy like his father, he does end up receiving his tattoos in his late teens. He marries Pema (though let’s make their age gap less significant and not have their power dynamic be mentor/student), and their children are still Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo at the start of the series.

Because Katara and Aang have to navigate raising a family, uniting the four nations, and rebuilding their own cultures, things are going to get rocky at times. Family vacations, outings, and schooling are often interrupted by duties that they need to attend to, and their children get dragged along to political functions and events. Though Katara and Aang do their best to shield and protect Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin from the more serious issues in the world, it’s impossible not to let things seep through the cracks sometimes.

The central conflict for the three siblings then becomes less internalized and more societal. "Mom and dad did their best to give us a normal childhood, but we can't pretend that we didn't hear some of the things said in those council meetings or whispered outside of the carefully curated safety of our home.”

Tenzin feels pressure as the only remaining airbender besides Aang to carry on that lineage. Kya, as a woman, also feels pressured by society to conform. They bond because of this, and are somewhat resentful of Bumi’s ability to forge his own path forward. 

When Aang passes on, it’s heartbreaking for all of them, most especially Bumi who felt that he could rely on his father to be around to help him with his two children when it came time for them to learn how to bend. The siblings remain close in proximity but become emotionally distant and carry the sadness of losing their father too early in life. Because Kya is the most balanced of the three, she thinks she’s responsible for their fallout when she can’t find a middle ground this time around.

Bumi begins to feel inadequate, especially as his twins grow up and, like most teenagers, are less interested in the knowledge that he can offer them about Air Nomad culture and more interested in things like Pro-bending and showing off for their new friend, the Avatar.

This brings us to the beginning of LOK when Tenzin becomes Korra’s airbending teacher. After struggling to connect with her and find a method of teaching that works, he reluctantly asks Bumi for help, as he knows he can help bridge the gap between Korra’s inherent desire for freedom and lack of discipline. The brothers are forced to work together, especially when Bumi’s twins start to gravitate towards their bending aunt and uncle and Tenzin’s children become attached to Bumi.

The twins get captured while spying on an Equalist Rally and publicly get their bending taken away by Amon. (Though in my version, he can only bloodbend and take away bending on the full moon.) Bumi’s children are devastated, particularly his daughter who is not only mourning the loss of her bending but also feels she let down the world as they lost one of the few remaining airbenders. Bumi is offended by the notion that non-benders can’t pass down Air Nomad traditions, and Tenzin mumbles something unhelpful about how at least now she won’t feel obligated to do so. 

Everything comes to a head then, and the siblings are forced to confront the emotions and issues they take with each other. Tenzin has to come to terms with his jealousy of Bumi’s easy relationship with Air Nomad culture and society’s expectations of him. Kya has to reconcile with the fact that she can’t always do the emotional labor for others and it’s unfair that she placed that burden on herself for all of these years. Bumi has to recognize that he needs to let his father go and live his own life and that his love for Aang can be reborn in his love for his siblings.

After a long, emotional shouting match (and maybe some petty fighting a la Katara and Toph in The Runaway, because that’s always fun), they get some much needed catharsis, and they go on to form a plan with Korra about how they’re going to take down Amon together.