Ok, this has been bugging me for a while. If you go to avatarspirit.net, and click on this link with that Kyoshi costume lady. One of the tidbits of information it gives you, is that 100% of the Air Nomads were benders as well, due to "a huge spiritual connection to the earth" or something. Now that would most likey/positivetly mean that everyone lived in the temples and were monks/nuns or whatever. So if aang's parent were like monk/nun people, why would he have been "given" to Gyasto. Why couldn't his own dad/monk train him? It'd be like saying nowadays to a kid, you do have parents but we decided to give you to just a random guy. Thnaks to anyone who solves this!

i dunno... you can make up a lot of reasons for this... one of the things that could be it: the FN was preparing its attack on the other nations about 8 years before the invasion (they had to prepare, cause they knew about the komet). they tried to kill the avatar before that time, because he would be like the only person to stop them... his parents got him away safely, but were killed themselfs in the proces (just like a lot of other people). he was handed over to the monks in the Southern Air Temple to look out for him. when he was 12 years old, they couldnt wait anymore because there wasnt anymore time left; they NEEDED the avatar. btw, they DID know pretty early about him being the avatar (they knew it because of the toys he had chosen. probably they did this because they knew the avatar would get reborn in their nation. this way they would find out pretty fast who was the avatar). anyways, everyone knew about the excistence of an air nomad being the avatar, so it would be logical for the FN to try killing him before they invaded the other nation. ah well... this post is long enough allready. maybe im on to something, maybe im talking sh*t LOL ^^

Read JasonG2006's "Birth Of Aang" Teory. It's quite interesting.

If I can find it i'll try.

Read up on Hindu practices.

I'm too lazy to. Do they give their kids away or something?

No, they throw them into the ocean tied to balloons and wish them the best.

I'M NOT ABOUT TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK FOR YOU. Wiki it.

You're forgetting what the word "nomad" means. They're people that travel around everywhere and don't have a permanent home...So, obviously, not all Air Nomads lived in the temples just because they were all airbenders. My guess is that they gave Aang away for some reason because it's hard to travel with a baby (possibly because they found out he was the Avatar) or let him stay in the temple to start training and such. But I'm not positively sure...in fact, no one is (except the creators [if they've thought about it])

I believe that the airbenders allow marriages to occur so children can be raised.?? its not like they are priests (or are they?) Aang was probably born and then taken somewhere to be raised by the monks.?? His parents might have been alive 100 years ago but now they are dead.

It's quite possible that his father wasn't able to train him. Even if you're a monk, it doesn't mean you're the best. It's quite possible that Gyatso was the best choice because they knew he was the Avatar. It's also possible that because he was the avatar, he was given to Gyatso. They could have special training ideals and such. But I was always under the impression that Aang didn't have parents. Anytime you see the Air temples, you never really see any females. It looked as though most children (boys) were put there or dropped off there.

I just always assumed that he was given to the monks when he was a baby. Even if his parents were benders the training they would have provided would not have been as advanced as the powerful monks of the temples could. Besides with all the other kids there i assumed it was just an airbender tradition.