"I try to be careful because technology changes so much over the years. But some things don't change. Kids and parents have disagreements, kids try to manipulate, parents try to sit down with rules and regs. That part never changes"
About this Quote
Danziger opens with a little feint toward the future - technology, change, the slippery pace of new gadgets - then snaps the focus back to what her books have always treated as the real plot: family life as an endless negotiation. The line works because it refuses the easy generational panic. She acknowledges that tech dates quickly (a practical problem for a writer of contemporary kids' fiction), but she quietly demotes it from "cause of everything" to background noise.
The subtext is almost anthropological, and a bit mischievous. "Kids try to manipulate" isn't a moral condemnation; it's an admission that childhood includes strategy. Meanwhile "rules and regs" is the parental fantasy of control, said with a faint eye-roll baked in. Danziger's rhythm sets up a tug-of-war where neither side is purely villain or hero: kids test boundaries because they are growing, parents codify boundaries because they're scared, tired, or responsible - usually all three.
Context matters: writing across the late 20th century into the early 2000s, Danziger watched each new cultural "threat" cycle through (TV, video games, the early internet). Her intent is to protect the emotional core of her stories from becoming obsolete and to reassure readers - kids and the adults who buy the books - that conflict at home isn't proof something is broken. It's proof the relationship is alive. The punchline, "That part never changes", is less nostalgia than durability: the best teen drama isn't in the device, it's in the power dynamic.
The subtext is almost anthropological, and a bit mischievous. "Kids try to manipulate" isn't a moral condemnation; it's an admission that childhood includes strategy. Meanwhile "rules and regs" is the parental fantasy of control, said with a faint eye-roll baked in. Danziger's rhythm sets up a tug-of-war where neither side is purely villain or hero: kids test boundaries because they are growing, parents codify boundaries because they're scared, tired, or responsible - usually all three.
Context matters: writing across the late 20th century into the early 2000s, Danziger watched each new cultural "threat" cycle through (TV, video games, the early internet). Her intent is to protect the emotional core of her stories from becoming obsolete and to reassure readers - kids and the adults who buy the books - that conflict at home isn't proof something is broken. It's proof the relationship is alive. The punchline, "That part never changes", is less nostalgia than durability: the best teen drama isn't in the device, it's in the power dynamic.
Quote Details
| Topic | Parenting |
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