Parental Substitute

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An amazingly large number of children and teens in the media suffer from Parental Abandonment. Others are "lucky enough" to have both parents, but unfortunately live in worlds where there are no Happily Married families. For most such children, life is an endless series of disappointments and let-downs. A lucky few, though, manage to find a Parental Substitute.

A Parental Substitute is an adult friend who fills the children and teens's lonely life with guidance and (often) love. They guide the child and teach them how to stand on their own feet, how to have fun, and how to not be so bothered by the fact that Mommy or Daddy isn't around (or ignores them). If the parent is dead, they may have known him and are able to answer when the child says Tell Me About My Father. They often tell the kid they are So Proud of You. Usually, by the end of the story, the Parental Substitute leaves as well, but at that point the kid is able to stand on their own two feet.

This trope is often a feature of Tear Jerkers, especially if it follows Take Care of the Kids. If it's an older sibling who's taken over the parental role, that's Promotion to Parent. The Old Retainer may take over this role in event that his employer's children are suffering from Parental Abandonment. If an entire society has teens become parental substitutes, that's a Teenage Wasteland. If the child gets into a big argument with the substitute, expect to hear "You're Not My Father" by the time things get really heated.

Imaginary Friend is often involved. If the Parental Substitute decides to make their status official, as it were, the kid becomes Happily Adopted.

Compare Children Raise You (for less willing parental figures), Promotion to Parent (when the parental substitute is a sibling), Like a Son to Me, Team Mom, Team Dad.

Examples of Parental Substitute are listed on these subpages:

Other Examples:

Fan Works[]

Gensokyo 20XX:
- We have this happen with Yukari and Reimu, the former being the latter's wet-nurse. However, this was played for slight drama, as, to be expected, Reimu was bonded to her and wouldn't take anyone else. Tying into that, we had her play this role to Ran, taking her in as a baby, and Maribel and Renko, taking the two in after a nuclear holocaust.
- Later on, we have Ran and Ren playing with role to Marisa, leading to an instance of Interspecies and Oblivious Adoption. Before that, Ran took in Chen.
- Foundling (a branch off), Ran and her husband, Ren, reprise this role to Reimu, the titular foundling. Later on, she comes to acknowledge them (along with Yukari) as parental figures. ^[1]
Kiryuuin Chronicles: Rei plays this role with Satsuki, Ryuuko, and Nui and has been doing so since birth, raising them more than their parents do. Of course, she does have a reason to be, considering how their parents are.

Mythology[]

In Greek myth, the philandering Zeus fathered a number of sons, none of which he actually helped raise. Some of them were lucky enough to find substitute father figures who took care of them: Heracles was raised by Amphitryon, his mother Alcmene's mortal husband, while Perseus was raised by the fisherman Dictys, who took his mother Danae in when she was abandoned by her own father, and Dionysius was raised by the mortal woman Ino and her husband, who Zeus gave to them to take care of so his jealous wife Hera wouldn't find out about his affair.
- Zeus himself was raised on a secluded island by nymphs, a goat named Amalthea, and his grandmother Gaia. He liked the goat best — enough to make it the constellation Capricorn after its death.

Theatre[]

In Philoctetes, Neoptolemus is mostly a good guy who is lacking in guidance. While Odysseus first takes on this role for him, Philoctetes becomes a more sincere parental figure to him by the end.

Web Original[]

In the League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions Artsy-Fartsy became the substitute mom to Mysterious Waif Quito Power.
Mirrorfall - Ryan for Stef, starts referring to her as his daughter in the third book.

↑ Yukari (narrating): Naturally, they became "An" and "En", in much the same vein that a child's parents would become "Haha" and "Chichi", thus to some extent, she acknowledged them as parental figures or something very similar.[...]She sat silent before me, as if in some thought, before she finally opted to place a name for me. "Fukona-ha" was the name for me. (from Foundling)

[1] Yukari (narrating): Naturally, they became "An" and "En", in much the same vein that a child's parents would become "Haha" and "Chichi", thus to some extent, she acknowledged them as parental figures or something very similar.[...]She sat silent before me, as if in some thought, before she finally opted to place a name for me. "Fukona-ha" was the name for me. (from Foundling)

[1]