History Main / AlwaysAChildToParent

* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', this is a recurring theme in the relationship between Rick Castle and his precocious overachiever daughter Alexis, particularly as the series continues and she graduates from high school and moves out to go to Columbia. Castle is frequently shown having to remind himself that she's not a little girl anymore, and in one episode is unpleasantly surprised to run into her at a con dressed in [[BareYourMidriff midriff-baring]] {{cosplay}}.

If the parent can't rein in their tendency to control every aspect of their child's life regardless of their having grown up, such a parent can go from simply denying their fledgling is ready to fly, and go straight on to being an HelocopterParents or MyBelovedSmother. If they have been told and told and ''told'' repeatedly to quit trying to interfere and act like they know best, this trope joins with HelocopterParents. More insistent examples may eventually get an AntiSmotherLoveTalk.

If the parent can't rein in their tendency to control every aspect of their child's life regardless of their having grown up, such a parent can go from simply denying their fledgling is ready to fly, and go straight on to being an MeddlingParents or MyBelovedSmother. If they have been told and told and ''told'' repeatedly to quit trying to interfere and act like they know best, this trope joins with MeddlingParents. More insistent examples may eventually get an AntiSmotherLoveTalk.

* ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'': Macie turns thirteen. Her parents completely forget her birthday. When she reminds them, they are appalled at having forgotten, and appropriately apologetic. They throw her a huge party: suitable for a five year old. Ginger tries to intervene, but Macie gets angry with her for doing so. In the end, her parents do acknowledge she's older.

* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', this is a recurring theme in the relationship between Rick Castle and his precocious overachiever daughter Alexis, particularly as the series continues and she graduates from high school and moves out to go to Columbia. Castle is frequently shown having to remind himself that she's not a little girl anymore and he can't be an OverprotectiveDad forever, and in one episode is is unpleasantly surprised to run into her at a con dressed in [[BareYourMidriff midriff-baring]] {{cosplay}}.

If the parent can't rein in their tendency to control every aspect of their child's life regardless of their having grown up, such a parent can go from simply denying their fledgling is ready to fly, and go straight on to being an OverprotectiveDad or MyBelovedSmother. If they have been told and told and ''told'' repeatedly to quit trying to interfere and act like they know best, this trope joins with MeddlingParents. More insistent examples may eventually get an AntiSmotherLoveTalk.

* Implied in ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2''. Using Clairvoyance on Raz's mother Donatella reveals that she sees him as a baby sucking from a bottle and holding a rattle.

* Played with alternatively for drama, angst, and laughs in Series/OnceUponATime with Emma and her parents. Emma is an adult when she meets them and they are roughly the same age she is, but they still have a strong desire to parent her and struggle to find a balance between this and understanding that their daughter (who they last saw as a newborn) is an adult capable of making her own decisions. Emma, for her part, has both a desire to have parents and a lot of emotional baggage that comes from feeling abandoned and growing up in the foster care system.

* In a sketch from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' two pepperpots talk about one of their sons, marveling at his progress growing up. Then the son enters and it turns out he's a fortysomething Government employee.

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'''s ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' has a PromotedToParent variant. It turns out the escaped convict is the brother of Baskerville Hall's housekeeper, and she keeps smuggling him food and clothes since to him he's still her little brother who needs her constant supervision (and Watson notes that a man is truly done for when no female member of his family feels like this).

Compare TheBabyOfTheBunch when an individual receives this in a group where parents are not necessarily involved. See EveryonesBabySister for a person who has this issue with all the older people in their lives. Also compare JustAKid.

* A played with example. Franchise/Batman -- ''the'' Batman made Robin his {{Sidekick}} when the boy was only 8 or so. His acrobatic prowess meant he mostly kept out of trouble, distracting the villains while Batman did the heavy lifting. But in TheSeventies continuity, a villain was sharp enough to shoot Robin and hit him. Batman's trouble coping with the idea that his Robin -- his ''son'' in all but name -- had nearly died -- that he forbade Dick Grayson from being Robin for fear of it happening again. Dick, already used to a life of costumed crimefighting, rebelled. This caused the two of them to have an enormous fight resulting in a falling out, and the creation of Nightwing.

* ''Anime/MaquiaWhenThePromisedFlowerBlooms'': Ariel feels like Maquia is treating him this way after he becomes a teenager.

* A played with example. Batman -- ''the'' Batman made Robin his {{Sidekick}} when the boy was only 8 or so. His acrobatic prowess meant he mostly kept out of trouble, distracting the villains while Batman did the heavy lifting. But in TheSeventies continuity, a villain was sharp enough to shoot Robin and hit him. Batman's trouble coping with the idea that his Robin -- his ''son'' in all but name -- had nearly died -- that he forbade Dick Grayson from being Robin for fear of it happening again. Dick, already used to a life of costumed crimefighting, rebelled. This caused the two of them to have an enormous fight resulting in a falling out, and the creation of Nightwing.

* ''Film/FatherOfTheBride1991'' opens with the family at the table. As they eat, a little girl of lower elementary school age announces that she met a man in Rome, and they are getting married. Her father is startled. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Camera cuts back to the daughter, who is actually an adult, repeating joyfully, "I'm engaged! We're getting married!"

* In the film ''The Baby'', the mother and her grown daughters took her denial to an unhealthy extreme. She had her adult son who had to be in his 20s-30s, still in diapers and babbling like a baby, playing with rattles, etc. They even called him "Baby" instead of by name. The implication here is that the Baby was mentally challenged, but with treatment, might grow to behave and function closer to his correct age.

* ''Film/{{Wolves}}: In the beginning, Cayden's parents respond to his CatapultNightmare as if he's much younger than his late teens, both running into his bedroom to hug and reassure him. This trope is possibly the reason they [[ObliviousAdoption haven't told him he's adopted]].

* ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' has Jason [[https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp10112019.shtml approach his daughter about trick-or-treating that year]], which she blows off as "kid's stuff" because she's 10 now - only for Aubrey to admonish her for [[InvokedTrope invoking this trope]] as a means to play on Jason's fears about Pamjee growing up.