History Main / TrophyChild

* In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to Disney's ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' parents [[ArrangedMarriage married for the]] [[AltarDiplomacy sake of politics]] and to expand the Westergaard clan's lineage. Hans' father sees his wife as a BabyFactory, giving birth to 13 sons; likewise, the king encouraged his 12 older sons to produce more heirs for the kingdom: these sons were also molded to be reflections of their father to fuel his own ego, while forcing them to be obedient and emotionally dependent.

Whatever the reason, these children grow up being viewed as status symbols, rather than actual children. In many cases, there's emphasis is on the child learning to climb the social latter themselves, but at the cost of their emotional and psychological development; looking perfect on the surface is more important than being stable on the inside as far as these parents are concerned. It may cause them to be neglected or outright abused, especially if they are expected to be perfect their entire lives in public and in private; such a child can end up a LonelyRichKid, as their parent will frequently be willing to pour money into making them ''look'' well-provided for, but neglect anything else required to keep them happy. It can also cause a major case of [[WellDoneSonGuy needing approval]], if the character doesn't just start CallingTheOldManOut from being treated like an object their entire lives.

->''Who is the son you know, Dad? You don’t know me, you never bothered. You shipped me from one boarding school to another and nobody paid any attention as long as my grades stayed high. [...] At least Bruce cares about '''me'''. Not just how I '''reflect''' on him! You don’t know me! You don’t know a '''thing''' about me!''
-->--'''Tim Drake''', ''ComicBook/RobinSeries''

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Pacifica Northwest was neglected and abused by her parents, who favored their own social lives and status over her, and scolded her for the most minor mistake; in addition, she was taught to see herself as above everyone else, while still being conditioned to obey and be inferior to them.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[HonestCorporateExecutive Nicholas Schnee]] single-handedly created a powerful legacy as the world's leading supplier of good-quality Dust, a mined substance that forms the basis of all technology and combat capability humanity possesses. He passed this inheritance on to his son-in-law, Jacques, who only married Nick's daughter to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive obtain control]] of the Schnee Dust Company and the prestige of the Schnee name. He isn't interested in being a husband to his wife or a father to his three children, as they exist solely to service his public relations. When the Kingdom of Atlas is framed as an instigator of the invasion of the Kingdom of Vale, Jacques recalls his daughter from studying in Vale. He isn't concerned about her welfare and safety, he wants to engage in a PR stunt to protect the SDC's profit margins: he forces Weiss to sing at a benefit concert to raise aid money for Vale just to remind Remnant that a Schnee fought on the front lines in Vale's defense. When she loses control of her Semblance in public, he disinherits her in order to protect his company's reputation. Weiss escapes her home and flees from Atlas as a result, attempting unsuccessfully to find her oldest sister, Winter, who escaped Jacques years ago by joining the Atlasian military. Weiss' brother, Whitley, strongly implies to her that the only way to deal with their father is to allow him to mold them into exactly the same kind of monster he is.

A [[CharacterizationTropes Characterization Trope]] where children are looked at as their parent's status symbols.

Maybe their parents thought that having kids would somehow aid their social standing. Maybe they're [[StageMom stage parents]], who use their kid's looks or talent as a means of getting wealth and fame. And, sometimes, [[ItsAllAboutMe they're just selfish]] and want children who are just as "perfect" as they see themselves to be, regardless of the stress it puts their kid under.

Can be TruthInTelevision, with many narcissistic parents. As with the AbusiveParents page, however, there's no need to say more than that, due to how sensitive the topic is.

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': Tim accused his father of only caring about how Tim reflected on him instead of for Tim as a person. Though Tim felt guilty about it immediately Jack's behavior makes the accusation seem fairly accurate.

** This was the circumstance surrounding Breezepelt's birth. His father, Crowfeather, only agreed to have kits with his mother, Nightcloud, to prove himself a loyal warrior to [=WindClan=] after he ran off with Leafpool, the medicine cat of [=ThunderClan=]. Throughout the series he was seen as a lousy father who was a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful parent]] at best and an AbusiveParent at worst, while Breezepelt didn't handle the treatment very well, joining the Dark Forest with this as a FreudianExcuse.

** Played with, with Bluestar's kits. As being a pregnant queen prevented her from being considered for the deputy position, which she needed to take to keep [[BloodKnight Thistleclaw]] out of the leadership position, she gave up her kits to live with their father in [=RiverClan=]. There they were raised lovingly and well to be strong warriors, but Bluestar always regretted that she had to give them up for her own ambition.
* In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to Disney's ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' parents [[ArrangedMarriage married for the]] [[AltarDiplomacy sake of politics]] and to expand the Westergaard clan's lineage. Hans' father sees his wife as a BabyFactory, giving birth to 13 sons. Likewise, the king encouraged his 12 older sons to produce more heirs for the kingdom. These sons were also molded to be reflections of their father to fuel his own ego, while forcing them to be obedient and emotionally dependent.
* A lot of noble parents in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' exhibit this behavior, to varying extents, but nobody plays this straighter than Tywin Lannister. He had it drilled into his children's heads since they were very young that their whole purpose in life was to bring glory to the Lannister name and doesn't give a damn about their personal happiness or emotional well-being. Even when they're well into adulthood, Tywin routinely forces his children to do things they don't want to do if he thinks it'll improve the family's social and political standing. Part of the reason he hated his youngest son Tyrion so much was because he saw Tyrion's dwarfism as a stain on his reputation.

* ''Series/MadMen''. Don and Betty Draper seem to be the living embodiment of the wholesome 1960s nuclear family with a professional dad, a stay at home mom, and two perfect kids, one girl and one boy. However, the Drapers are more in love with the idea of marriage and children than their actual spouse and kids. Neither spends much time with their children and the emphasis is placed on the children looking immaculate and behaving well at all times. Once Don and Betty have their third child and divorce, the kids are used at chess pieces to punish each other with most of the child care falling to nannies and respective step-parents. In one episode, both Don and Betty and their respective spouses spend most of the episode thinking the other is taking care of the kids while the kids are actually in Don's apartment with a house burglar who is pretending to be an old friend of Don's while actually robbing the place.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[HonestCorporateExecutive Nicholas Schnee]] single-handedly created a powerful legacy as the world's leading supplier of good-quality Dust, a mined substance that forms the basis of all technology and combat capability humanity possesses. He passed this inheritance on to his son-in-law, Jacques, who only married Nick's daughter to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive obtain control]] of the Schnee Dust Company and the prestige of the Schnee name. He isn't interested in being a husband to his wife or a father to his three children, as they exist solely to service his public relations. When the Kingdom of Atlas is framed as an instigator of the invasion of the Kingdom of Vale, Jacques recalls his daughter from studying in Vale. He isn't concerned about her welfare and safety, he wants to engage in a PR stunt to protect the SDC's profit margins: he forces Weiss to sing at a benefit concert to raise aid money for Vale just to remind Remnant that a Schnee fought on the front lines in Vale's defence. When she loses control of her Semblance in public, he disinherits her in order to protect his company's reputation. Weiss escapes her home and flees from Atlas as a result, attempting unsuccessfully to find her oldest sister, Winter, who escaped Jacques years ago by joining the Atlasian military. Weiss's brother, Whitley, strongly implies to her that the only way to deal with their father is to allow him to mould them into exactly the same kind of monster he is.

* This is how Jeff and Liu's parents act in the 2015 remake of ''WebOriginal/JeffTheKiller''. When he and his brother get in trouble for standing up to the local bullies, their parents take the side of the cops, refuse to listen to their children about what happened even when in private, and even send Liu away as punishment. This is all because the bully, Randy, is the son of their father's new boss, and they'd rather look good to their new neighbors than support their children. After Jeff is in the hospital for being hit with a flare gun, his mother is more concerned with how he'll look than if he'll be okay mentally or physically. All of this makes it no wonder they die in this version of the story.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Mei's parents raised her to be perfectly behaved, with her opinions and emotions hidden, in order to help her father's political career. In return, she got whatever she wanted, though she wasn't interested in material wealth and rebelled against them later on.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Pacifica Northwest was neglected and abused by her parents, who favored their own social lives and status over her, and scolded her for the most minor mistake. In addition, she was taught to see herself as above everyone else, while still being conditioned to obey and be inferior to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Helga's older sister Olga is the favorite child in the family because of this. She is a straight A student, concert pianist, spelling B champion and is popular and admired by most who meet her. Her parents are constantly showering attention and praise on her because she is " a winner", much to Helga's jealousy. However Olga secretly hates being this because of the insanely high expectations her parents place on her, leaving her to be very neurotic and spiral into a deep depression when she thought she made TheBGrade (she didn't, it was a prank Helga did out of jealousy).
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': This seems to be the case with Diamond Tiara's mother, Spoiled Rich. In the episode she was introduced in, "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark Crusaders of the Lost Mark]]", it was revealed that Diamond Tiara's AlphaBitch status was largely due to her mother putting her under extreme pressure to be perfect and above everyone else, while teaching her that anyone not of their status was to be looked down upon. She tells Diamond Tiara to "always think of your social standing" and berates her for making, what she considers to be, mistakes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Defied in the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E19AFishCalledSelma A Fish Called Selma]]". Troy [=McClure=] marries Selma to be his [[TheBeard Beard]], which she's actually OK with because [[MarriageOfConvenience even if they don't love each other, it benefits her as well]]. However, when Troy's agent suggest they have children to improve his image even more, Selma balks (even at Troy's suggestion to adopt).

* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode [[FamilyGuyS14E11ThePeanutButterKid The Peanut Butter Kid]] involves Lois and Peter exploiting Stewie after his success in a peanut butter commercial, so he could become a child star and they could make money. They went so far as to keep him drugged and stimulated so he can rehearse non-stop.

* A lot of noble parents in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' exhibit this behavior, to varying extents, but nobody plays this straighter than Tywin Lannister. He had it drilled into his children's heads since they were very young that their whole purpose in life was to bring glory to the Lannister name and doesn't give a damn about their personal happiness or emotional well-being. Even when they're well into adulthood, Tywin routinely forces his children to do things they don't want to do if he thinks it'll improve the family's social and political standing. Part of the reason he hated his youngest son Tyrion so much was because he saw Tyrion's dwarfism as a stain of his reputation.

-->''Who is the son you know, Dad? You don’t know me, you never bothered. You shipped me from one boarding school to another and nobody paid any attention as long as my grades stayed high. [...] At least Bruce cares about '''me'''. Not just how I '''reflect''' on him! You don’t know me! You don’t know a '''thing''' about me!''
--->--'''Tim Drake''', ''ComicBook/RobinSeries''

-->''Who is the son you know, Dad? You don’t know me, you never bothered. You shipped me from one boarding school to another and nobody paid any attention as long as my grades stayed high. [...] At least Bruce cares about '''me'''. Not just how I '''reflect''' on him! You don’t know me! You don’t know a '''thing''' about me!''

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[HonestCorporateExecutive Nicholas Schnee]] single-handedly created a powerful legacy as the world's leading supplier of good-quality Dust, a mined substance that forms the basis of all technology and combat capability humanity possesses. He passed this inheritance on to his son-in-law, Jacques, who only married Nick's daughter to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive obtain control]] of the Schnee Dust Company and the prestige of the Schnee name. He has no interest in being a husband to his wife or a father to his three children, as they exist solely to service his public image. When the Kingdom of Atlas is framed as an instigator of the invasion of the Kingdom of Vale, Jacques recalls his daughter from studying in Vale. He isn't concerned about her welfare and safety, he wants to engage in a PR stunt to protect the SDC's profit margins: he forces Weiss to sing at a benefit concert to raise aid money for Vale just to remind the world that a Schnee fought on the front lines in the defence of Vale. When she loses control of her Semblance in public, he's willing to protect the SDC's reputation by disinheriting her for disobeying him one too many times. Weiss escapes her home and flees from Atlas, attempting unsuccessfully to find her oldest sister, Winter, who broke free of Jacques years ago by joining the Atlasian military. Weiss's brother, Whitley, strongly implies to her that the only way to deal with their father is to allow him to mould them into exactly the same kind of monster he is.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[HonestCorporateExecutive Nicholas Schnee]] single-handedly created a powerful legacy as the world's leading supplier of good-quality Dust, a mined substance that forms the basis of all technology and combat capability humanity possesses. He passed this inheritance on to his son-in-law, Jacques, who only married Nick's daughter to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive obtain control]] of the Schnee Dust Company and the prestige of the Schnee name. He has no interest in being a husband to his wife or a father to his three children, as they exist solely to service his public image. When the Kingdom of Atlas is framed as an instigator of the invasion of the Kingdom of Vale, Jacques recalls his daughter from studying in Vale. He isn't concerned about her welfare and safety, he wants to engage in a PR stunt to protect the SDC's profit margins: he forces Weiss to sing at a benefit concert to raise aid money for Vale just to remind the world that a Schnee fought on the front lines in the defence of Vale. When she loses control of her Semblance in public, he protects the SDC's reputation by disinheriting her after disobeying him one too many times. Weiss is forced to break out of her own home and go on the run, attempting unsuccessfully to find her oldest sister, Winter, who broke free of their controlling father years ago by joining the Atlesian military. Weiss's brother, Whitley, strongly implies to her that the only way to deal with their father is to allow him to mould them into exactly the same kind of monster he is.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[HonestCorporateExecutive Nicholas Schnee]] single-handedly created a powerful legacy as the world's leading supplier of good-quality Dust, a mined substance that forms the basis of all technology and combat capability humanity possesses. He passed this inheritance on to his son-in-law, Jacques, who only married Nick's daughter to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive obtain control]] of the Schnee Dust Company and the prestige of the Schnee name. He has no interest in being a husband to his wife or a father to his three children, as they exist solely to service his public image. When the Kingdom of Atlas is framed as an instigator of the invasion of the Kingdom of Vale, Jacques recalls his daughter from studying in Vale. He isn't concerned about her welfare and safety, he wants to engage in a PR stunt to protect the SDC's profit margins: he forces Weiss to sing at a benefit concert to raise aid money for Vale just to remind the world that a Schnee fought on the front lines in the defence of Vale. When she loses control of her Semblance in public, he protects the SDC's reputation by indefinitely confining her to her bedroom and stripping her of her inheritance to make his son the sole heir to the company. Weiss is forced to break out of her own home and go on the run, attempting unsuccessfully to find her oldest sister, Winter, who broke free of their controlling father years ago by joining the Atlesian military. Weiss's brother, Whitley, strongly implies to her that the only way to deal with their father is to allow him to mould them into exactly the same kind of monster he is.

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': Tim accused his father of only caring about how Tim reflected on him instead of for Tim as a person. Though he felt guilty about it immediately Jack's behavior makes the accusation seem fairly accurate.

* In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to Disney's ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' parents [[ArrangedMarriage married for the]] [[AltarDiplomacy sake of politics]] and to expand the Westergaard clan's lineage. Hans' father sees his wife as a BabyFactory, giving birth to 13 sons. Likewise, the king encouraged his 12 older sons to produce more heirs for the kingdom. These sons were also molded to be reflections of their father to fuel his own ego, while forcing them to be obedient and emotionally dependent.

[[folder:Film-Animated]]
* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'': In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to the movie, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' parents [[ArrangedMarriage married for the]] [[AltarDiplomacy sake of politics]] and to expand the Westergaard clan's lineage. Hans' father sees his wife as a BabyFactory, giving birth to 13 sons. Likewise, the king encouraged his 12 older sons to produce more heirs for the kingdom.
[[/folder]]

Maybe their parents thought that having kids would somehow aid their social standing. Maybe they're stage parents, who use their kid's looks or talent as a means of getting wealth and fame. And, sometimes, [[ItsAllAboutMe they're just selfish]] and want children who are just as "perfect" as they see themselves to be, regardless of the stress it puts their kid under.

** This was the circumstances surrounding Breezepelt's birth. His father, Crowfeather, only agreed to have kits with his mother, Nightcloud, to prove himself a loyal warrior to [=WindClan=] after he ran off with Leafpool, the medicine cat of [=ThunderClan=]. Throughout the series he was seen as a lousy father who was a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful parent]] at best and an AbusiveParent at worst, while Breezepelt didn't handle the treatment very well, joining the Dark Forest with this as a FreudianExcuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': This seems to be the case with Diamond Tiara's mother, Spoiled Rich. In the episode she was introduced in, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark'', it was revealed that Diamond Tiara's AlphaBitch status was largely due to her mother putting her under extreme pressure to be perfect and above everyone else, while teaching her that anyone not of their status was to be looked down upon. She tells Diamond Tiara to "always think of your social standing" and berates her for making, what she considers to be, mistakes.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Pacifica Northwest was neglected and abused by her parents, who favored their own social lives and status over her, and scolded her for the most minor mistake. In addition, she was taught to see herself as above everyone else, while still being conditioned to obey and be inferior to them.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Powerful bureaucrat Jacques Schnee married his wife and had three children with her (one being protagonist Weiss Schnee) just to usurp his father-in-law's company and to cement his status as a powerful figure in the community. He makes sure his children go to prestigious combat schools and join military and Huntsmen organizations so that they may help uphold his family's status.