Why are the Protagonists of Pokemon Let Loose on the Region?

Happy Pokemon Day! In celebration of 20 years of the glorious little critters, here's another Pokemon theory for you guys to read.

So, the protagonists in Pokemon are around 10-16 years old. AKA, the exact age that kids should be attending school. But everyone's just happy to let them go off gallivanting around the country, catching wild animals to play with.

Why do they not have school to go to? Why are they just letting the kids wander around?

Seriously, kid, where are your parents?

Well, firstly, its implied in Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald that because of the long grass, people are completely cut off if they don't have Pokemon. This means that each town in Pokemon has to establish their own way of educating their kids. Whilst some places have schools, most don't bother, especially smaller places such as the starting areas, so it's more likely than not that kids in Pokemon are homeschooled, learning from their parents.

But why are the parents of Pokemon protagonists willing to just let their kid wander off with a random animal after being told some man said it was a good idea. Love letters and fun times with the professor aside, the world of Pokemon isn't exactly the safest place to let a kid loose onto, with the bad guys popping up all over the place to steal your Pokemon, try to kill everyone or expand or reduce the land mass (Archie and Maxie never get invited to the cool villain parties...).

Pokemon battling is institutionalised into society. The gym leaders practically lead any city they're in, and Pokemon have become inherent into the way of life for people of this world, whether it is battling them, using them for unpacking, or having them as fire fighters (Yes. Just look closely at the Sun and Moon trailer, and you'll see Fire fighter Blastoise. Yes, this is very awesome. As is the announcement of Sun and Moon.). Also, you practically need Pokemon to live in this world, otherwise you'd be banned from many of the routes for your own safety due to the wild grass where the Pokemon live.

So, wouldn't it make sense to have an environment where kids could make sure they'd have powerful enough Pokemon to help them with the rest of their life, and they'd be encouraged to do so? It's implied that most kids never get to the Elite 4, they just do a gym or two and decide they want to do something else with their life, and leave. And the fact is, the kids that you follow are the exceptions. For every Red, or Kris, or Serena and Calem, or May and Ethan, or any of the other kids you follow, there's probably hundreds more that did one gym and headed home, or even if they defeated the gym leaders, wouldn't have the nerve to go face the Elite 4.

The protagonists are the ones you follow because it's a rare occurrence, that happens at most, every few years. And even when it does happen, even if people aren't so used to the idea that kids battle, they'll just think, well, it sorted itself out. The protagonists are the exceptions when they have an interesting journey, and the others, well, they just become the next cashier at the Poke-Mart.

And if you wonder, why are they seeing the weird things, well, if it was another person seeing it, we'd be following them, wouldn't we?

So have a great Pokemon Day, maybe play a little of your favourite generation.

Now, who's looking forwards to Pokemon Sun and Moon?