History Main / PushoverParents

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Implied with Sarah and Ed's parents -- except [[ParentalFavoritism mainly to Sarah]]. Ed is infamously grounded in one episode, and his parents remove the stairs to ensure he can't escape.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'': Woody Johnson lets Malloy walk all over him while spoiling him with junk food, video games, and weapons.

** In "Appetite For Destruction", Rita and Lynn Sr. never do anything to punish Lily for her destructive behavior [[spoiler:which is revealed in the end to have been constipation brought on by cheese consumption]], even when Lily crosses the line at physically attacking an innocent kid, [[KarmaHoudini allowing her to get away with her bad behavior]].

** In the episode "Angelica for a Day", a bratty little girl is screaming at her father to buy her ice cream, and the father gives in. Drew sees this and laughs while saying, [[HypocriticalHumor "I wouldn't wanna be in that guy's shoes."]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Andre Bourgeois is the mayor of Paris and the father of [[AlphaBitch Chloe Bourgeois]]. He bends over backwards to make his daughter happy, which [[FreudianExcuse could be chalked up to his wife leaving while Chloe was a little girl]]. Naturally, she's developed into a gigantic bitch.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Andre Bourgeois is the mayor of Paris and father of [[AlphaBitch Chloe Bourgeois]], and he bends over backward to make his daughter happy -- which [[FreudianExcuse could be chalked up to his wife leaving while Chloe was a little girl]]-- and -- [[SarcasmMode big shock]] -- she's developed into a giant bitch.

** In "The Tsironis Family", three-year-old twins Teddy and Nicholas hit bite their parents, Bob and Elizabeth, and their older sister, Kate, throw their toys, and throw their food on the floor at dinner time. However, Bob and Elizabeth find it hard to discipline the twins for their bad behavior [[PrematureBirthDrama because they were born prematurely]]. Jo has to help Bob and Elizabeth discipline the twins by reminding them that they are healthy now and need to be disciplined for their bad behavior in the (then)-present day. [[FoolishHusbandResponsibleWife Elizabeth catches on quickly, but Bob finds it more difficult because he doesn't want the twins to scream and cry]].

** Poor Doofus Drake's parents are terrified of their SpoiledBrat son, who UsedToBeASweetKid until he inherited his Grandma Frances' fortune and [[EnfantTerrible went power-mad]]. Now Doofus reveres his late "Gummeemama" and treats his biological parents like servants, forcing them to cater to his every whim.

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* ''Series/{{Maury}}'': Shown many times with violent teenage girls, with parents (usually only moms) who are terrified of their daughters, and are afraid of disciplining them.
* ''Series/{{House}}'': [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in a Season 2 episode of when House's three fellows wonder what his parents were like. Foreman assumes [[FreudianExcuse he's such a jerk because they mistreated him]], but Chase theorizes it was the reverse ("probably tortured his parents, not the other way around"). Naturally, it turns out neither extreme is true.

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Mary. Aside from telling Ellie off when the latter keeps acting up at Charlie's place, she doesn't seem to do much else about her behavioral issues (like take her to a mental hospital or have her seek therapy) and instead abuses drugs and [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol]] as a coping mechanism.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': George [=McFly=] is a pushover, not so much in disciplining his kids (Marty, while in the past, asks them to go easy on their 8-year-old son if he sets the rug on fire, implying he was disciplined for doing such a thing), but when it comes to getting pushed around by people outside the family, especially Biff as he totaled George's car and George didn't even try to stand up for himself. By the end of the movie, Marty's events in the past cause this trait to go completely away.

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* Developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind's research on parenting styles revealed the "permissive parenting" style, where the parents combine high responsiveness with low demands. That is, they cater to their children's wishes and impose few to no rules on them. They might let them stay up all night and eat all the candy they want without enforcing bedtimes or healthy diets. These parents tend to try to be more of a friend to their children than a parent, and it usually doesn't end well because children ''need'' to have set boundaries to promote good behavior.
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* A ''Literature/JudgeDee'' fanfic uses this: a young boy with many facial tics, whose father seems completely indifferent, never beating or praising him, while his mother alternates between love and hate. It turns out the man was sterile, so his wife slept with another man to conceive (which, in eight-century China, was a horrifying crime, both the adultery and the fact that the husband did nothing against it). Ever since, the father doesn't punish the boy for fear of going too far, the mother is constantly reminded that she failed as a wife, and as a result the poor boy is growing up very confused.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': George [=McFly=] is a pushover, not so much in disciplining his kids (Marty, while in the past, asks them to go easy on their 8 year old son if he sets the rug on fire, implying he was disciplined for doing such a thing), but when it comes to getting pushed around by people outside the family, especially Biff as he totaled George's car and George didn't even try to stand up for himself. By the end of the movie, Marty's events in the past cause this trait to go completely away.
* ''Film/GirlsJustWantToHaveFun'': Millionare Bennett Sands basically lets his daughter Natalie do what she wants (until the end), making her a RichBitch.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Susan too hesitant to punish Manny simply because he's the youngest and also her favorite. However, she has sometimes acknowledged some of Manny's bad deeds, like when he broke Greg's console in ''Rodrick Rules'', leading her to tell him what he did was wrong, or in ''Cabin Fever'', whereas despite not grounding him for nearly accidentally killing her and his brothers, she isn't shown to be happy with him after giving him his presents.

** The Dursleys utterly spoil Dudley. As a baby, it's mentioned that he was seen "kicking his mother up and down the street, screaming for sweets" and as a child, he's constantly pacified by being bribed with gifts (his father considers this a ''good thing'', that his son wants his "money's worth"), seems to never be scolded for breaking or abandoning said gifts, and gets away with bullying all the time. His parents overlook school reports on his bad behavior and weight issues (at least until the fourth book, when he reaches "roughly the same size and weight as a small killer whale", and even then Petunia ''still'' gives Dudley as large portions of food as she can get away with). The only notable times when he doesn't get his way are in the first book, when panic over Harry getting his Hogwarts letter overrules the Dursleys' desire to spoil their son, and the aforementioned diet regime. It gets to be so bad that when Dumbledore visits the family in the sixth book, he notes that their treatment of Dudley is, in a way, even ''worse'' abuse than what they inflicted on Harry.

* ''Series/TheMick'': Mickey starts off wanting to be the cool aunt, and later her attempts to discipline Sabrina and Chip are fruitless. Luckily for her Ben is still small enough for her to spank.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'': In the episode "It's Still A Good Life" (the sequel of "It's a Good Life", from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''), Anthony ends up being this for his own daughter, Audrey. Because he was coddled throughout his life, while he loves Audrey, he's rarely shown actually parenting her. He sets one other parent on fire for letting it slip that he hadn't wanted his son to play with Audrey, angry at the idea that anyone would disapprove of their children associating with her. Audrey, meanwhile, knows full well that her father's wrapped around her fingers and uses this to manipulate him into not hurting people she cares about (for example, distracting her father when he starts to lose his temper at the bowling alley and then pretending she's tired, so they can leave right away). [[spoiler:When Anthony sees that her powers are even greater than his own and that she seems to have no issues with sending her own mother to the Cornfield (something which [[EvenEvilHasStandards not even he ever considered doing]]), he begins to behave towards her in a way similar to how his own parents treated him, being visibly nervous while speaking to her when she asks how he feels.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': In one episode, there was a rich father who didn't want to discipline his snobby son, Eustace Strych, for his behavior because he was too ashamed. At the end, after Hugh gives him tips, he finally disciplines Eustace by not letting him seek vengeance against Jimmy for a month. However, it's implied that this doesn't stick later as in the second episode that features Eustace, Jimmy makes a CallBack to the father having grounded him, only for Eustace to reply, "My father's will is easily manipulated."

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Bob and Linda Belcher zigzag with this trope. On one hand, they give their kids a bit too much freedom and the end result is them being a bit troublesome and get roped into their situations without any resistance. That said, when the kids do something genuinely wrong, they're not afraid to ground the kids.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': Mandy's parents They cave into Mandy's desires. Part of the reason is because they fear her, but it's implied she has some kind of supernatural control over them.

** In "Appetite For Destruction", Rita and Lynn Sr. never do anything to punish Lily for her destructive behavior [[spoiler:which is revealed in the end to have been constipation brought on by cheese consumption]], even when Lily crosses the line at physcially attacking an innocent kid, [[KarmaHoudini allowing her to get away with her bad behavior]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Andre Bourgeois is the mayor of Paris and father of [[AlphaBitch Chloe Bourgeois]], and he bends over backwards to make his daughter happy-which [[FreudianExcuse could be chalked up to his wife leaving while Chloe was a little girl]]-and-[[SarcasmMode big shock]]-she's developed into a giant bitch.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': An implied zig-zagged example is with Daddy Morebucks, Princess Morebucks' father. It's shown that he rarely disciplines his daughter when she throws temper tantrums, and gives her money to get her silenced. But when making Princess mayor ends up with their mansion robbed, he taps the rolled-up morning paper against his palm repeatedly. So despite spoiling her, he'll still discipline her if she causes something he ''cares'' about.

** Drew Pickles zig-zags this in regards to his daughter Angelica. He does spoil Angelica, and bows to her whim on many occasions. That said when it's clear to him that Angelica's done wrong, however, he puts his foot down. A good example of this occurs in one episode where Angelica steals one of Chaz Finster's favorite Latvian Folk Dance CD ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story, don't ask]]), when Drew discovers her crime, he marches her to the Finster house, makes Angelica apologize and makes his overall displeasure with her ''very'' clear. Though usually Charlotte disciplines Angelica much more than Drew (at least during the rare moments when she's not [[{{workaholic}} distracted by work]]), Charlotte still has occasions where she is as well, such as in "Princess Angelica" where she disregards Angelica's self-entitlement as mere "self-esteem."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'':

* '''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''': Andre Bourgeois is the mayor of Paris and father of [[AlphaBitch Chloe Bourgeois]], and he bends over backwards to make his daughter happy-which [[FreudianExcuse could be chalked up to his wife leaving while Chloe was a little girl]]-and-[[SarcasmMode big shock]]-she's developed into a giant bitch.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Gideon Gleeful's parents do nothing to curb his behavior. His dad Bud is a pretty laid-back guy who usually goes along with whatever Gideon's planning, while his mother is practically catatonic, only ever seen vacuuming. However, Gideon ''is' [[EnfantTerrible a complete psychopath]] and is probably responsible for his mother being in such a state in the first place. The only time Gideon's father is seen telling Gideon to behave, he's put back in his place:

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Gideon Gleeful's parents do nothing to curb his behavior. His dad Bud is a pretty laid-back guy who usually goes along with whatever Gideon's planning, while his mother is practically catatonic, only ever seen vacuuming. However, Gideon is [[EnfantTerrible a complete psychopath]], and is probably responsible for his mother being in such a state in the first place. The only time Gideon's father is seen telling Gideon to behave, he's put back in his place:

* George [=McFly=] in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' is a pushover, not so much in disciplining his kids (Marty, while in the past, asks them to go easy on their 8 year old son if he sets the rug on fire, implying he was disciplined for doing such a thing), but when it comes to getting pushed around by people outside the family, especially Biff as he totaled George's car and George didn't even try to stand up for himself. By the end of the movie, Marty's events in the past cause this trait to go completely away.
* In ''Film/GirlsJustWantToHaveFun'', millionaire Bennett Sands basically lets his daughter Natalie do what she wants (until the end), making her a RichBitch.
* Regina George's mom in ''Film/MeanGirls'' has shades of this, as shown in a scene when Regina tells her mother to stop talking, and she stops.

* In ''Literature/ItsAGoodLife'' (and ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'' episodes) the parents are pushovers because the kid has dangerous psychic powers.

* [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Bella Swan's]] father is one of the most laid-back and hands-off parents around. Throughout the series, Bella continuously ignores the rules he sets, particularly the ones about him not wanting Edward over all the time, and he either doesn't notice or doesn't do anything about it. This gets pretty absurd in ''New Moon'' (when he makes one heartfelt effort to get Bella to see sense and move on past Edward but drops the subject when she refuses to talk about it) and ''Breaking Dawn'' (when Bella strongarms him into accepting her getting married at 18 and squashes his argument that maybe she and Edward are a little too young to be raising a child).

* Gloria Mott from ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryFreakShow'' was rather [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] when her son Dandy was a baby. Now that he's grown up a sociopath, she's unable to control him.
* Shown many times in ''Series/{{Maury}}'' with violent teenage girls, with parents (usually only moms) who are terrified of their daughters, and are afraid of disciplining them.
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in a Season 2 episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' when his three fellows wonder what House's parents were like. Foreman assumes [[FreudianExcuse he's such a jerk because they mistreated him]], but Chase theorizes it was the reverse ("probably tortured his parents, not the other way around"). Naturally, it turns out neither extreme is true.

* In "It's Still A Good Life" from ''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'' (the sequel of "It's a Good Life", from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''), Anthony ends up being this for his own daughter, Audrey. Because he was coddled throughout his life, while he loves Audrey, he's rarely shown actually parenting her. He sets one other parent on fire for letting it slip that he hadn't wanted his son to play with Audrey, angry at the idea that anyone would disapprove of their children associating with her. Audrey, meanwhile, knows full well that her father's wrapped around her fingers and uses this to manipulate him into not hurting people she cares about (for example, distracting her father when he starts to lose his temper at the bowling alley and then pretending she's tired, so they can leave right away). [[spoiler:When Anthony sees that her powers are even greater than his own and that she seems to have no issues with sending her own mother to the Cornfield (something which [[EvenEvilHasStandards not even he ever considered doing]]), he begins to behave towards her in a way similar to how his own parents treated him, being visibly nervous while speaking to her when she asks how he feels.]]

* ''Series/HenryDanger'': PlayedForLaughs. The Harts are so spineless that they almost ''never'' discipline their daughter [[BrattyHalfPint Piper]], even when she outright ''breaks the law'', and instead give her whatever she wants.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', there was a rich father who didn't want to discipline his snobby son, Eustace Strych, for his behavior because he was too ashamed. At the end, after Hugh gives him tips, he finally disciplines Eustace by not letting him seek vengeance against Jimmy for a month. However, it's implied that this doesn't stick later as in the second episode that features Eustace, Jimmy makes a CallBack to the father having grounded him, only for Eustace to reply, "My father's will is easily manipulated."

* On ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Gideon Gleeful's parents do nothing to curb his behavior. His dad Bud is a pretty laid back guy who usually goes along with whatever Gideon's planning, while his mother is practically catatonic, only ever seen vacuuming. In fairness to them, Gideon is [[EnfantTerrible a complete psychopath]], and is probably responsible for his mother being in such a state in the first place. The only time Gideon's father is seen telling Gideon to behave, he's put back in his place:

* Mandy's parents from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''. They cave into Mandy's desires. Part of the reason is because they fear her, but it's implied she has some kind of supernatural control over them.
* A ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode has him babysit a kid with magic powers (a parody of Timothy from ''It's a Good Life''). The parents are afraid of the kid big time, so they let him do what he wants.

* Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':

* An implied zig-zagged example of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' is with Daddy Morebucks, Princess Morebucks' father. It's shown that he rarely disciplines his daughter when she throws temper tantrums, and gives her money to get her silenced. But when making Princess mayor ends up with their mansion robbed, he taps the rolled-up morning paper against his palm repeatedly. So despite spoiling her, he'll still discipline her if she causes something he ''cares'' about.

* Liane Cartman from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' admits that she doesn't give Eric any discipline because she is insecure about not having any friends. [[CharacterDevelopment She actually starts becoming less of a pushover over time]]. In season 15, she refuses to buy Cartman an iPad after he humiliates her in public. By season 19, she orders Cartman to go to bed. AT GUNPOINT! [[note]] Cartman did point a gun at her first. [[/note]]
* Kelly from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' starts off this way, allowing her BrattyTeenageDaughter Taylor to walk all over her. However, as the show progresses, Kelly becomes less patient with Taylor's insolence, climaxing in "Hawaiian Honeyruin" where Kelly gives Taylor a scathing, yet long overdue, reality check.

* ''Series/HenryDanger'': PlayedForLaughs. The Harts are so spineless that they almost ''never'' discipline their daughter [[BrattyHalfPint Piper]] and give her whatever she wants, even when she outright ''breaks the law''.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', there was a rich father who didn't want to discipline his snobby son, Eustace Strych, for his behavior because he was too ashamed. At the end, after Hugh gives him tips, he finally disciplines Eustace by not letting him seek vengeance against Jimmy for a month.
** It's implied that this doesn't stick later as in the second episode that features Eustace, Jimmy makes a CallBack to the father having grounded him, only for Eustace to reply, "My father's will is easily manipulated."
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', Katie Ka-Boom's parents try to discipline Katie when she can't get her way, but Katie's violent outbursts terrify them to the point where they're too frightened to properly discipline her.

* Gloria Mott from ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryFreakShow'' was rather [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] when her son Dandy was a baby. Now that he's grown up a sociopath, she's unable to control him.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in a Season 2 episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' when his three fellows wonder what House's parents were like. Foreman assumes [[FreudianExcuse he's such a jerk because they mistreated him]], but Chase theorizes it was the reverse ("probably tortured his parents, not the other way around"). (Naturally, it turns out neither extreme is true.)

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** Implied with Sarah and Ed's parents - except [[ParentalFavoritism mainly to Sarah]]. Ed is infamously grounded in one episode, and his parents remove the stairs to ensure he can't escape.
--->'''Edd''': That's disturbing.
** This may be implied regarding Sarah's behavior towards Ed, however. Sarah is shown frantically putting ice cream back in the container after Edd snitches on everybody for breaking their parents' rules in "Stop, Look, and Ed." This means that Sarah's parents may only discipline Sarah whenever she violates any of their rules not related to her brother.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents:''Vicky's parents are downright ''terrified'' of Vicky, and they are afraid of disciplining her.

* Drew Pickles zig-zags this in regards to his daughter Angelica in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''. He does spoil Angelica, and bows to her whim on many occasions. That said when it's clear to him that Angelica's done wrong, however, he puts his foot down. A good example of this occurs in one episode where Angelica steals one of Chaz Finster's favorite Latvian Folk Dance CD ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story, don't ask]]), when Drew discovers her crime, he marches her to the Finster house, makes Angelica apologize and makes his overall displeasure with her ''very'' clear. Though usually Charlotte disciplines Angelica much more than Drew (at least during the rare moments when she's not [[{{workaholic}} distracted by work]]), Charlotte still has occasions where she is as well, such as in "Princess Angelica" where she disregards Angelica's self-entitlement as mere "self-esteem."

* Kelly from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' starts off this way, allowing her BrattyTeenageDaughter Taylor to walk all over her. However, as the show progresses, Kelly become less patient with Taylor's insolence, climaxing in "Hawaiian Honeyruin" where Kelly gives Taylor a scathing, yet long overdue, reality check.