Doting Parent: Difference between revisions

[[File:dotingparent.png|link=Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|frame|[[Crowning Moment of Funny|Hughes is gonna tell you about his daughter. Whether you want to hear it or not.]]]]

 

 

Unlike the [[Overprotective Dad]] or [[My Beloved Smother]], the Doting Parent is generally not controlling or overprotective and does not view their child's potential or actual love interest as a threat. They encourage dating and find it amusing to tease their child relentlessly about and progress or lack thereof in their relationship. They even go so far as to "adopt" their children's significant others into the family well before either of the parties involved are ready to make that sort of commitment because they are so confident in their children's ability to choose a fitting partner.

Likewise, they have no problems with children leaving the nest, however, there are similarities to Overprotective Dad and My Beloved Smother in that there may be some elements of smother. To this end, the Doting Parent may come to face some of the same situations, as their children tend to choose to live on their own as early as humanly possible in an (often vain) attempt to avoid their parent's embarrassing behavior.

 

 

{{examples}}

* Kurosaki Isshin from ''[[Bleach]]'' is like that about all three of his children {{spoiler|and yet lets Ichigo run off to another dimension and fight life-threatening battles without his supervision, not to mention that he lets Ichigo's shinigami partner, Rukia, move into their house. This is largely because in actuality he is a former captain-level shinigami who lost his powers and doesn't get them back until the start of the Arrancar arc, at which point he becomes a major league [[Papa Wolf]].}}

* Chiaki's father in ''[[Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne]]'' marries woman after woman because his son "needs a mother" but (reluctantly) lets Chiaki live on his own and is very fond of Chiaki's girlfriend, Maron.

* Tamaki's father Yuzuru in ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'', who gets sad when Tamaki won't spend enough time with him.

* Maes Hughes in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is the epitome of a doting papa, as well as an [[Overprotective Dad]].

* Spain from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' is a volatile combination of this trope and [[Shotacon]] in regards to his ward, South Italy.

** To a degree, England was like this towards his adoptive brother America. He's now quite the [[Tsundere]] towards him.

* Most of the parents in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', to some degree or another. Of note is Mr. Satan, who makes no secret of the fact that he absolutely adores his daughter and granddaughter. Krillin and #18 also deserve a special mention.

* The anime-only character Daddy [[Badass Nickname|'the Father']] Masterson of ''[[One Piece]]''. He quit his job as a skilled and high-ranked Marine Officer and reduced himself to taking out some of the One Piece world's more pathetic criminals for a living, all so he wouldn't run the risk of getting killed and leaving his daughter with no one to take care of her.

* Spirit Albarn from ''[[Soul Eater]]'', to his daughter Maka. Thinks she's an angel, insists on her general loveliness (and in a misguided moment of parental support, ''attractiveness''). [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents|This is not appreciated]] by [[Tsundere|Maka]].

** Shinigami doesn't count in practice, but could be seen as this from at least his and Kid's first exchange in the series. Well, Kid's stripes are cute...

* Sachiko Yagami of ''[[Death Note]]'', which makes [[Break the Cutie|her situation at the end]] [[The Woobie|all the more heartbreaking.]]

* The ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] Comics A la Carte'' official anthology book has the one-shot comic "[[Has Two Mommies|2nd Mother's Day]]", which portrayed Fate as this.

'''Nanoha''': Fate-chan, you're disturbing the neighbors. }}

* Mrs. Katsura of ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', as Hinagiku's foster mother, is often seen acting this way. She's probably the first one who adopted Hayate into their family, despite Hinagiku just being a leading member of Hayate's [[Unwanted Harem|unnoticed harem]], and actually tells him to resist her attacks when she's probably the only young woman who hasn't taken any action towards him.

* In ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'' Hazumu's dad is this. It comes off as somewhat incest-ish though.

* ''[[Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo|Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo]]'' has Shioya, who when he talks about something that isn't work, it's about his daughter. And often instead of work.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Spider-Man|John Jonah Jameson]] yes, THAT [[Bad Boss|John]] [[Hates Everyone Equally|Jonah]] [[Ungrateful Bastard|Jameson]]. He REALLY cares for his son.

* [[Batman|Jim Gordon]] is this to his daughter [[Batgirl 2011|Barbara]], especially after the 2011 reboot, where it's revealed that Jim was the one who found the clinic in South Africa that helped Barbara regain her ability to walk follow being shot by [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Killing Joke]]''.

 

== Film -- Animation ==

* In ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' "Big Daddy" La Bouff gives his daughter everything - in an inversion she turns out [[Spoiled Sweet|spoiled but really sweet and nice.]] Honestly she's more [[The Ditz|oblivious]] than anything else.

 

== Film -- Live Action ==

* ''[[Cherrybomb]]'': Malachy's family (especially his mother) are a relatively subtle version of this trope.

* Gunn's Mom, and his dad to a degree in ''[[Make the Yuletide Gay]]''. This actually drives most of the plot, as Gunn doesn't want to lose this by coming out to his parents for fear of being rejected by them. {{spoiler|The parents don't care and actually placed a bet on whether or not he actually is.}}

* Sam's parents in ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' are this, along with being [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents]].

 

== Literature ==

* Roald Dahl spends the first several paragraphs of ''[[Matilda]]'' sticking it to this type of parent, and suggests increasingly creative ways for a teacher to inform them that their little darling isn't as wonderful as they think. However, he does note that doting parents are on the whole preferable to the neglectful kind, offering up the Wormwoods as a case in point.

 

* Simon Tam in Firefly is sort of like this except he's not a parent. He would be a doting big brother.

** "She wasn't just gifted, she was a gift"

* Marshall Ericksen's parents in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' are like this, which gives Lily a lot of anxiety about not being able to live up to their expectations for how well their beloved son's wife should treat him. Barney and James's mother Loretta also is this, although she was rather inept at it when they were kids.

* Hester Crane from ''[[Frasier]]'' is [[Posthumous Character|described]] as this. In her one appearance on ''[[Cheers]]'', she threatens Diane (who was Frasier's girlfriend at the time) because she thought Diane wasn't good enough for her son.

 

== Video Games ==

* It is hinted that King Krichevskoy from [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness|Disgaea]] was one of these. His son [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness/Characters|Laharl]] seems to have distanced himself from Krichevskoy after his mother’s death, but that did not stop Krichevskoy from thinking very highly of his son and having great faith in him. He also thinks Laharl inherited his own [[The Dandy|“sparkling good looks”]]. He also executed a plan that evidently involved getting [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness/Characters|Laharl]] two pretty girls and willingly acts as a [[Stealth Mentor|“rival” to help his son get stronger]]. [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness/Characters|Laharl]] is also a [[Royal Brat]], [[Sarcasm Mode|no idea where that came from]].

* Hakan from [[Street Fighter IV]] has ''seven'' little girls, apparently septuplets. His ending shows him as being this through and through to all of them.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In the webcomic ''[[Misfile]]'', the Ash's father is like this post [[Cosmic Retcon|misfile]], which leads to some extremely embarrassing moments for Ash, considering he's the gynecologist for all of Ash's friends.

* Steve's parents in ''[[Khaos Komix]]'' [[Too Much Information|are bit too understanding for comfort]].

* John's Dad in Homestuck positively smothers John with cakes, and his house is filled with notes informing John how proud he is of him, just in case John happens to perform the feat involved to reach the note. However, given John is {{spoiler|Traumatized by a [[It Makes Sense in Context|Doll version of Jack Noir]], and scribbles things like, "Lame kid" all over his walls}}, it's very understandable. Post-Scratch Dad is similarly supportive of Jane, although {{spoiler|Assassination attempts}} have forced him to be a bit more protective of her.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Dr. Doofenshmirtz of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' has a bit of this towards his teenage [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|daughter Vanessa]], such as when he throws her an embarrassingly-childish birthday party and invites all her friends. She found this annoying in early episodes, but more recently their relationship has become warmer. The turning point was when he presented her with a doll she'd said she wanted when she was seven, and reveals he spent the last ''ten years'' scouring garage sales and the internet looking for it.

* [[Kim Possible]] has Mr. and Mrs. Drs. P, Kim's loving parents who encourage their children with the family creed of "Anything's possible for a Possible."

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Parental Issues]]