My Beloved Smother/Playing With
Basic Trope: A mother is a bit too controlling and has a hard time "cutting the apron strings" from their kids.
- Straight: Alice dotes on her son Charlie a little too much.
- Exaggerated: Alice constantly calls Charlie and meddles with his everyday life to make sure he is always comfortable.
- Justified: Charlie is a really dependent person who needs attention and help from his parents even as he gets older.
- Alice is the one who's really dependent and needs attention. Life wasn't kind to her, and now Charlie, her only child (or, perhaps, her only son - she doesn't care about daughters that much), is the only person in her life she can cling to.
- Inverted: Alice is a "hands off" parent who lets Charlie go completely after he leaves the house.
- Alice's son keeps bothering her because he still hasn't matured enough.
- Subverted: Charlie complains about his mother's overbearing nature to everyone in earshot; when she finally appears, it's revealed he was exaggerating wildly and she's a perfectly normal mother.
- Double Subverted: ... Or at least, it seems that way, until she asks him if he washed behind his ears.
- Parodied: Alice will come into Charlie's work place and call him constantly, cooing over him and even spies on Charlie's Love Interest to make sure that everything is fine for him.
- Deconstructed: Alice is so overbearing she drives away Charlie's Love Interest and friends. Charlie is too smothered by Alice's behavior and he calls her out on it, and it tears their relationship apart.
- Alternately: Alice forgets about her own life because she worries about Charlie's before her own, and Charlie is ungrateful.
- Reconstructed: Alice comes to realize that she needs to give Charlie his own space to grow and develop; she lightens up and backs off a bit, becoming less overbearing and allowing Charlie to mend his friendships and romances. She remains quick to interfere, however.
- After Alice dies, Charlie realizes how ungrateful he's been and dedicates his life to his own son.
- Zig Zagged: Alice is a beloved smother, but realizes she needs to give her son some space. But when Charlie manages to make a mess she's overbearing again and the cycle repeats.
- Averted: Alice gives Charlie enough breathing space to be comfortable but still cares about him.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "Isn't she a bit too watchful over her son?"
- Invoked: Charlie is The Chosen One or is otherwise prophecised to have some kind of significant destiny; Alice smothers in in order to ensure that his destiny either (a) comes to pass or (b) is avoided.
- Defied: Alice's own mother smothered her, so she decides to focus on making her child comfortable, but not overbearing.
- Discussed:
- Conversed: "She better learn to cut those apron strings soon enough..."
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