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"I will not attempt to pick our son's wife based on whether or not she can feel a pea through a stack of mattresses. Any woman dainty enough to feel a single dried pea through one mattress much less dozens of them, is far too dainty to ever give me grandchildren."

So, you've grown up and flown the nest. When you look in the mirror, you see a confident, sassy young woman (usually) with a great career, and everything to be proud of.

Well. Not quite. See, your parents know that the only way you'll truly make them proud is to pop out a few kids of your own, allowing them to live their dream of being grandparents.

The reasons for this can differ from parent to parent. Maybe they really do think the only way for their child to be happy is to have children. Maybe they think the only reason you exist is to give them what they want. Maybe they just want some cute kids to dandle on their knee and show photos of them to strangers. Maybe they need someone to carry on the family name. Maybe they want all the joy of children with none of the responsibility of raising them, or maybe they just want to watch you endure all the torture you gave them. If you want to go by evolutionary psychology on this, the entire point of life (as much as life can be said to have a point) is to produce healthy — and fertile — grandkids, as it means that your genes have passed the test of natural selection.

Either way, you can bet they'll be taking every opportunity to remind their children that their biological clock is ticking, and they should hop to it and make some kids. If the children resist, they can expect to be treated to Not Wanting Kids Is Weird.

Expect things to be awkward if these parents get introduced to a new love interest, or even an opposite sex friend. You can also expect the occasional mention of how the parents spent the child's entire teen years telling them sex is bad, only to turn a complete 180 at some point and suddenly start telling them to get on with it.

If the child is bereaved, this may be one reason why they urge them to seek out a new partner, telling them You Have Waited Long Enough.

This can be Truth in Television, but it's so common that there's no need for Real Life examples.

Note that, despite the above description, this trope is not Always Female. Both male and female examples are straight uses.

Contrast Siblings Wanted, where it's the characters' own children who demand from them to get busy (again) rather than their parents.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • In an ad for DirecTV, a young man hooks up his mother's cable connection, and the latter promptly asks "When are you gonna hook me up with some grandkids?"

    Anime & Manga 

  • The Beautiful Skies of Houou High: Kei's mother is so worried about the possibility that her daughter won't end up giving her grandchildren that she tricked her into going to an All Boys School; while this would be a secret fantasy for most girls, it's a nightmare for Kei due to a number of reasons. First, the Principal has threatened to erase her if she tries to expose herself as a girl (thus ruining the school's reputation); second, she is allergic to guys which makes her throw up a lot; and lastly, she is a lesbian (it is this fact that the mother is trying to cure).
  • Bi no Kyoujin: A big point of contention between Kabu's father and Kabu himself isn't the fact that Kabu is dating another man in the person of his second-in-command Nirasawa, but rather the necessity of the presence of an ane (usual title for the clan's leader's consort) for diplomatic reasons on one hand and the necessity to at least produce one male heir to perpetuate the clan. Kabu's father points out to Nirasawa that the only tenable position for him is to accept being Kabu's ''mistress''.
  • Bitter Virgin: Daisuke's mother states early on that she'd like her son to get a local girl pregnant. This is not because she wants a continuation of the family line, though; it's because a baby will help tie him down so he can't escape her plans for his future.
  • Devil Hunter Yohko:
    • Used along with a subversion of Virgin Power — Yohko's grandmother impresses on her that a Devil Hunter must be a virgin to take on the power, but once they've acquired their powers, they can go ahead and have sex! In fact, guess who wants great-grandkids...
    • Similarly, her Mother wanted her to go out and get laid as soon as possible, presumably to avoid the whole Virgin Power thing.
  • Gou-dere Bishoujo Nagihara Sora: Tenka's parents want grandchildren so badly that they don't mind Shouta's Unwanted Harem and even try to give him relationship and sex advice so he will sleep with Tenka sooner. Needless to say, Shouta and Tenka are embarrassed beyond belief.
  • Guardian Ninja Mamoru: Since the line of Kagemori Ninja needs to continue, Mamoru's parents are very pushy when it comes to these matters. For example, when he was possibly going on a date with Hotaru, he comes home to find that his parents have already named his and Hotaru's child.
  • High School Dx D: Issei's parents are happy when they see him genuinely interacting with girls. They expressed a fear that they would never have grandchildren because Issei is a perverted idiot who spends most of his time ogling girls or his Porn Stash instead of actually talking to them. This is a bit less funny with later revelations that Issei was actually their third attempt at a child (having two older siblings who died of miscarriages), so their complex on this is a bit less purely comedic. As for actually wanting grandkids? Well, they got their wish. All 20 of them.
  • Horimiya: Hori's father tells Miyamura that he expects them to give him a grandchild (preferably a girl) as soon as possible, and even tries to come up with baby names. Keep in mind that at this point Hori and Miyamura are still in high school and have only been dating for about a week.
  • I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying: Hajime's mother has a desire for grandchildren. A desire she expresses with shark teeth and demonic reverb. In the end of episode 13 it is revealed that her wishes had been fulfilled, with Kaoru expecting at least one child.
  • If Her Flag Breaks: The "Elder" praises Akane and encourages her and Souta to hurry and give her some grandchildren. It doesn't seem to matter to the Elder that neither of them are actually her children, or her relatives for that matter.
  • I'll Bring You Mille-Feuille!: Midori's mother jokingly says she brought her into the world to give her grandchildren. She complains that Midori isn't married yet, not realizing her daughter is gay.
  • I Think Our Son Is Gay: Downplayed, but for drama, in Chapter 10. Akiyoshi told his sons he would "love to see our son's wedding" and "see our grandkids' faces". The tone is hardly serious, but it's enough to cause his Closet Gay elder son Hiroki to fall into one of his rare Gayngst moments. His mother Tomoko gives him a Cooldown Hug to make him know she'll support him always.
  • Japan, Inc.: Ueda's mom comments that Miss Amamiya (his boss!) has the right shape to get many children, hint hint. When the latter can hear it.
  • Maison Ikkoku:
    • One reason why Grandma Godai uses her funeral savings to pay for Godai and Kyoko's wedding is that she wants to see her great-grandkids.
    • Kyoko's mother is constantly pushing Kyoko to remarry, and uses this trope as an excuse at one point. She might have something of a genuine desire for grandchildren, but the excuse is primarily a means to an end.
  • Mission: Yozakura Family: Ban Yozakura says this to his new grand-son-in-law Taiyo. The former Yozakura patriarch laments how prudish spies are these days compared to his youth spent drinking, partying, and smoking, and wishes Mutsumi and Taiyo would just give him great-grandkids to dote on already.
  • My-Otome Arashi: Lena Sayers hopes for this.
  • Naruto: Mentioned in a flashback, when the Konoha children and teenagers are banned from joining the adults in fighting the Kyuubi on the loose. The one leading the operation is Kurenai's father, who tells the trope almost word by word to not just his daughter but to the boys he's taking to safety as well. Notable in that this was more a case of More Expendable Than You than pressuring his child to have children. He's in no rush to be a grandfather; he just wants his kid to live long enough to have kids.
  • Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!: Nyarko starts telling their friends that she's pregnant with Mahiro's baby...and to his annoyance, they believe it. He asks his mother to be the voice of sanity, but she's too busy blushing and muttering "My first grandchild..." blissfully to herself.
  • Otome no Iroha: The grandmother came back to life due her concerns that her two grandchildren, Iroha, a masculine girl, and Hifumi, a feminine boy, won't be able to get married and continue the family line due to their gender dissonance. Her solution: magically Gender Bend them.
  • Rosario + Vampire: Both Mizore and Kurumu's mothers tell them that they expect Tsukune to pop out some kids with them, much to his chagrin. Highly justified in Mizore's case, as her people hit menopause in their mid twenties, leaving them a very narrow window in which to produce the next generation.
  • Tokyo Ghoul: Downplayed for the most part. Mirumo's diary mentions how eager he is to see Shuu have children of his own, but the father and son haven't been shown discussing the issue of marriage or children. Instead, he seems content to support his son's pursuits and wants him to find an epic romance before grandkids come into the picture. In comparison, when Kuroiwa is visited and the topic of his son's upcoming marriage is discussed, it becomes clear that Takeomi is expected to start having children immediately.
  • Vampire Game: Lady Ramia expresses this desire in the epilogue.
    "Vord! Baby! Now!"

    Comedy 

  • Israeli comedienne Hadar Levi once joked about her mother taking this attitude:
    Hadar: Mum, I’m going to the grocery shop, what should I get you?
    Mother: A grandchild.
  • Canadian comedian Tim Nutt notes that since he got married, he gets all kinds of comments, like "MAKE ME A GRANDMA!!!"

    Comic Books 

  • Circles: Marty's grandmother wants grandkids, even after she finds out her grandson is gay.
  • The DCU:
    • Vandal Savage wants his daughter Scandal now formerly of the Secret Six to have kids. This is not going to happen with Scandal's consent for a few reasons: 1) Scandal hates her father, 2) she is a lesbian with absolutely no interest in the opposite sex, and 3) she is convinced (with good reason) that the only reason Vandal wants grandchildren is so that he can harvest them for organs to sustain his immortality. Ironically, in the reboot version of the series it's implied he might get his way after all, when Scandal calls up Catman and tells him that after a lot of discussion she and her two wives have decided to start a family, and they want him to be their sperm donor. Who's going to carry the child is left ambiguous.
    • Wonder Woman (2006): Even Wonder Woman gets this from her mother, Queen Hippolyta, when she introduces new love interest Tom Tresser during Gail Simone's run. Is no one safe? Granted, this was during a time when Diana and Hippolyta were the only two Amazons left which strongly influenced how they were thinking. And of course, Hippolyta was so desperate for a daughter that she moved the gods into miraculously creating Diana. She just really seems to like kids. She's not alone either: one Amazon led the others into revolt mostly out of envy that Hippolyta got to be a mother and she didn't.
    • Somewhat justified given that Amazons were all innocently slain women brought back to life through magic, with some obviously being mothers in their former lives. Presumably, some still maintain the aspect of motherhood in their old life, but are denied it because of Amazon traditions (with Hippolyta being the exception, which leads to resentment.) One Amazon treated a dolly she made as her infant after she snapped.
    • Doom Patrol: The Beard-Hunter in Grant Morrison's run still lives with his mother, who berates her son for never settling down and giving her grandchildren.
    • Green Lantern: Bleez of the Red Lantern Corps, during her Origins Episode in Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, was set up with suitors against her wishes because her mother wanted grandchildren.
  • Empire State: The protagonist's mom sets him up on a blind date, and explains:
    Mom: I'm fifty-five already. I just want to see the face of my grandson before I die.
    Jimmy: Geez, Ma.
  • Empowered: Ninjette's parents had this plan for her, but it's even worse than most examples and not played for laughs: They plan on cutting off her limbs and basically turning her into a Baby Factory. Another ninja basically let herself be sterilized to avoid this same fate.
  • Hellboy: One short story has Kate Corrigan dealing with this. From her mother's ghost.
  • The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (by Don Rosa): A hilariously pragmatical example can be found in chapter ten, where the Beagle Boys conclude that four of them against Scrooge is not enough anymore, so Blackheart Beagle tells his sons that "You boys need to start raising families. We need more Beagle Boys", prompting one of them to make an Aside Glance.
  • Marvel Universe: This might be one of the reasons Galactus stops his estranged daughter Galacta's attempt to destroy the "Tapeworm Cosmic" (actually the larval form of Power Cosmic entities like Galactus and Galacta) near the end of her one-shot. He doesn't want her or his unborn grandkid to be destroyed.
  • Sin City: Senator Roark has his son undergo unorthodox (putting it mildly) methods to regrow his shot-off genitalia, which have unfortunate side-effects, so Senator Roark can have a grandchild to carry on his legacy, though the legacy is the only thing he really wants — he has no interest in children or in being a grandparent.

    Comic Strips 

  • Baby Blues: Wanda's sister has a rather strained relationship with their mother due to constant badgering for grandkids. Wanda already has kids so she doesn't get ragged on as badly.
  • Beetle Bailey: Seems to be the case with Ms. Buxley's mom, seeing the methods she uses to watch her and Beetle.
  • Cathy: The titular character's mother constantly nags Cathy to marry so she can give her grandkids, to the point that she sent cards to Cathy's ex-boyfriends. The nagging only increases when Cathy does get married, to the point when Cathy and Irving even suggest the idea of kids at their age, she comes storming in with material to help them out. When Cathy announces she is pregnant in the final strip, her mother fell to her knees in jubilation. It's to show the differences between the attitudes and aspirations of Cathy and her mother; Cathy wants to further her career; marriage and children were not high on her priority list. Meanwhile, her mother was raised with the idea that a woman's purpose in life is to get married and produce Babies Ever After.
    • Exaggerated in a MAD parody of the strip, where Cathy's mother decides to prevent her from getting an abortion by burning down the local abortion clinics and having two pro-lifers move in with her, even though she was date-raped. Even though she justifies it by saying that she doesn't want Cathy to violate God's laws, she admits after hanging up that "The need to be a grandmother overrides all else."
  • For Better or for Worse: When Elly learns that her son and daughter-in-law are dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, she is ecstatic apparently without giving a fig for the turmoil they are feeling.
  • Garfield:
    • Since Garfield's owner Jon is regularly dating Liz the veterinarian, his mother comes right out and says she wants to see grandchildren before she dies.
      Garfield: Moms are not masters of subtlety.
    • In another strip, when Jon's parents are introduced, one of the first things we hear Jon's mother say (besides "Eat, eat, eat!") is "You meet some nice girl. Settle down. Start a family." She never touched on the issue again... that is until Jon and Liz started dating.
  • Non Sequitur: One 2021 arc has Eddie go into a largely idyllic parallel universe where Donald Trump was arrested for tax fraud in the 20th century and his friends find his stories legitimately interesting. However, Kate and Danae don’t exist and alternate universe Flo expresses good-natured jealousy that the Flo Eddie knows has "grandbabies."
  • The Phantom: The Phantom has 20 generations of dead Phantoms looking over his shoulder for an heir to the mantle.
  • Retail: When Val's asked how her parents will react to her engagement to Cooper, she says her mother will be disappointed that the engagement wasn't spurred by a pregnancy, and then start hounding Val for grandchildren.
    "I may have to get a new phone."
  • Safe Havens: Jeanine apparently started texting Shondra once a day every day after Shondra turned thirty reminding her that she still wants grandchildren. It doesn't get much better for Samantha, either, once she marries Dave (and it doesn't help that basically everyone else wants her to have children too). Everyone finally gets their wish when Samantha gets pregnant...during the mission to Mars.
    All the other parents: One of us...one of us...

    Fan Works 

General:

  • Nunnally wanting Lelouch to give her nieces and nephews to spoil is not a hard joke to find in Code Geass fanfics in general.
  • Dragon Ball Z has this pop up in so many fanfics for the series that it's not even funny anymore. Chichi is the usual culprit, despite the fact that she's usually nagging her sixteen-year-old son while she still has a seven-year-old at home.
  • Ranma ½ Fanon traditionally has this as a major motivation for Ranma's mother, Nodoka. This probably arose as a way to justify her concern with Ranma's "manliness" with the opposite sex, especially since he spent most of his life away from her during his training trip. Canonically, both of the fathers want Ranma to "carry on the School of Anything-Goes martial arts", which would involve grandchildren.

Specific works:

  • A.A. Pessimal: In Pessimal's version of the Discworld, licenced Assassin Johanna Smith-Rhodes is pretty much an emancipated career woman with no fears or worries. Much. But one thing that irks her is the continual stream of letters from her mother back home in Howondaland which lament the ongoing absence of husband, and always end on the dire warning that it will get worse after you turn thirty. Her mother is completely clear on her wish to see grand-children before she gets too old and senile to appreciate them and is unrelenting in her prompts. By the time of Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Johanna is at least married to a man her mother approves of and adores. Now the emphasis is on children. Johanna eventually obliges. The same story also deals with the universal concept of the Jewish Mother, or its Discworld analogue, seen through the eyes of a young Cenotian student at the Assassins' Guild School. Her mother appreciates that Rivka ben-Divorah is at least training for a profession, but is insistent that Rivka attends Temple every Saturday, keeps a kosher diet, and marries a good Cenotian boy in a profession at the earliest opportunity, so as to get down to the really important business of having children. In a continuation tale, the emphasis shifts to Johanna's unmarried brother and sister with the same end goal — marriage and grandchildren — in mind. Danie and Mariella respond as you might expect.
  • Aftermath of the Games: In the sequel Integration, Flash comments that part of the reason his mother is okay with him dating Princess Twilight is that she already has two kids of her own (namely Spike and filly Starlight).
  • Baby Boom (Shawna Canon) (a Miraculous Ladybug fic): This trope kicks off the plot — Mabel LaCrux is so frustrated by her daughter's lack of interest in children that she gets akumatized into "Fairy Grandmother" and goes around the city spreading Mind Control gas that causes thousands of people to get busy making babies. Including not only the heroes who could have stopped her, but the villain who was responsible for the akuma. (When Mabel comes back to her senses, she's horrified.)
  • Black Sky: Daniela Vongola is quite disgruntled by her grandsons for failing to marry when they already are forty-and-more years old and giving her babies to spoil. She outright dotes on her granddauther Erica — for being a mother of two — and her grandson Xanxus — because she raised him and he's still young enough for a good wedding. When she learns Xanxus discreetly married and fathered three children, she's ecstatic and declares he's her favourite.
  • The Bolt Chronicles: Played with in "The Coffee Shop." Bolt is concerned that his master Penny is into her mid-twenties and not married, specifically saying, "At this rate, I'm never gonna have grandchildren." This technically isn't possible, however (as Mittens painstakingly explains to him), given that he's not Penny's dad, he's a dog and she's a human, and he's eight years younger than Penny.
  • Changeling Courtship Rituals: Twilight Velvet is overjoyed to realize that technically the entire changeling race are now her grandkids, crowing how she'll rub that in her neighbor's face.
    Twilight Velvet: Your grandkids have all been in the top 5% at the university? Mine conquered Equestria!
  • Child of the Storm has Frigga, though she's more laidback than most examples. Her lifespan means that she's perfectly happy to wait-when you still have a couple thousand years left in the tank, a few decades won't matter too much. Also, considering that she's already got a grandson to spoil (and is the mother of Loki), it could very well be that she's just doing it to wind up Thor.
  • A Clash of NEETs: Hestia is the divine equivalent, being the goddess of family; she views all mortal followers of the Seven Goddesses as her children, and part of her scripture implores them to give her many, many grandkids to dote upon (something she helps with due to also being the goddess of fertility and new life. It's noted, however, that she's a little less accepting of gay couples than her sisters for this reason, since they can't procreate, but encourages adoption since her church runs most of the orphanages in Westeros.
  • Crossing Subspace Bridges has a male example with Patrick Sheppard, driving his tentative reconciliation with his older son. Yes, John ran away from hom to enlist into the military and left his younger brother to inherit the family business, but said younger brother won't have any children while John already has a daughter and could potentially sire more offspring. Both sons are aware of their father's intent and quite uneasy about it.
  • Dead or Alive 4: The Devil Factor: Normally, Bass Armstrong is overprotective and doesn't want his daughter Tina dating anybody. However, when Tina remarks on what fine children she would have if she and Dante were married, Bass becomes excited and imagines himself playing with grandchildren.
  • Destiny Intertwined: General Tordner, Lynerius' father, is deeply irritated at his son's childlessness and intent to stay that way because Lynerius is his eldest son and thus heir to their clan and also one of the most powerful living masters of the element of lightning. Under the social customs of Warfang's nobility, Lynerius has a moral obligation to wed and reproduce — or, at least, that's how Tordner sees it.
    "Ancestors, Lynerius. You are far too old and far too powerful to be childless. You are an elemental, the living embodiment of lightning. One of Warfang's strongest! You should be having as many children as possible."
  • The Differentverse: Twilight Velvet immediately became attached to Spike after Twilight hatched him, telling him to "Come to Grandmare" after Princess Celestia asked if Twilight could take care of him.
  • A Diplomatic Visit:
    • In chapter 3 of the sequel Diplomat at Large, Windy Whistles expresses a desire for grandfoals, but is more reasonable about it than most examples, pointing out that Rainbow Dash has career plans and she won't ask her to put those on hold — she can wait until later.
    • Velvet expresses a desire for grandfoals from Twilight in chapter 13. The fact that the prospective other parent is another mare doesn't stop her in the slightest.
    • Velvet again hints at this in chapter 2 of the second sequel, Diplomacy Through Schooling, eying Cadance and Shining Armor this time.
  • The Dragon prince: Population problems (a The Dragon Prince fic): Triz's mother is ecstatic that her daughter has received an invitation for the "Man Hunt"note  because it means that she'll get grandchildren. It would be perfectly fine — if it didn't involve kidnapping a human man, forcibly transforming him into an elf, then raping him, thanks to a Sterility Plague making it impossible to bring a male elf to term. Even more disturbing is that the kidnappers and victims both tend to be teenagers.
  • Empath: The Luckiest Smurf: A justified example in that since there's only one adult female Smurf among them who's about the same age physically if not chronologically as her fellow adult male Smurfs, Papa Smurf is hoping that one of his little Smurfs would marry her and have children so that their people would not die off. The only problem with that idea was that Papa Smurf was also in love with Smurfette, and in an alternate timeline even marries her.
  • Fate/Harem Antics: Irisviel von Einzbern desperately wants grandkids, even though she is already dead. So from beyond the grave, she manipulates things so that every Servant summoned in the Holy Grail War and every Master except Shirou is female, and they start joining Shirou's harem.
  • Fusion Impression: Having seen that Steven and Connie's relationship is pure and genuine, not only does she give them their blessing, but she then sees Stevonnie as what she would picture their kids to be like.
    Priyanka pecks him on the cheek. "Our grandchildren are going to be gorgeous."
    Doug freezes.
    "Curry, you said?" Priyanka continues with a grin. "I hope you didn't use too much paprika like last time."
    Doug stands by the door, his brain desperately struggling to reboot. Finally, he manages to utter a single word.
    "Grandchildren?"
  • Ghosts (How To Train Your Dragon): Almost the entire village is harping on Hiccup and Astrid to have kids to the point of openly questioning whether they're "doing it right". Stoick is the worst with this.
  • Hard Reset (Eakin): Twilight's mother feels this way. The fact that Twilight's a lesbian only means she expects both her and her future girlfriend to churn 'em out.
  • The Heart Trilogy (a The Hobbit fic): In Heart of Ashes, Andraya tries to bargain with Smaug to have him impregnate her daughter Freyja while he's still in human form. She believes that the old magic of the Third Age's greatest fire drake combined with the magic stored in her otherwise normal daughter would make the offspring powerful enough to rival the wizards, and Andraya would use the offspring to keep herself and Freyja free of the men Andraya hates. The reason she's not planning to mate with Smaug herself is because she sacrificed her fertility to awaken him from a coma. Andraya never manages to make Smaug comply with her goal, and both she and Freyja die before any grandchildren can be gained.
  • How the Light Gets In: Laurel's grandparents were really the only members of her family to support her relationship with Dean. Her grandmother (Beatrice) eventually threw (literally) her engagement ring at Dean, in an attempt to get him to propose citing this reason, among others.
    Beatrice: Do not mess this up. We want our girl to be happy. You make her happier than she's ever been. And also, I want great grandbabies. Preferably before I die.
  • How Eating a Strange Fruit Gave Me My Quirk (a My Hero Academia fic):
    • Inko Midoriya grows excited every time the idea of grandchildren comes up. She even has "Potential Daughter-In-Law Senses" that allow her to sense when Izuku is talking to other girls.
    • According to Mandalay, part of Pixie-Bob's desperation for finding a boyfriend is a mix of both constant nagging from her parents to give them grandchildren and how despite being 18 at heart, physically she's not getting any younger.
  • I Hope You're Prepared For An Unforgettable Wedding!: Agnes Skinner says she'll only go through with her son Seymour's decision to marry Superintendent Chalmers if he can still find a way to have a child (since two men can't naturally make a baby), because she wants grandchildren. Seymour finds a solution by entering into a surrogacy agreement, and having a surrogate mother carry his and Gary's child.
  • Jujutsu Kaisen: Gojo's New Students: Non-Parent Example. The Elders have been pressuring Gojo to get married and father an heir for his Clan. Unfortunately for them, Gojo's not in a hurry to settle down and begin fatherhood anytime soon.
  • Justice League of the Rebellion: Big Barda bluntly tells Kallen on Kamina Island that she wants her and Lelouch to marry and have children. She later elaborates that right now Lelouch is focused on his rage and fury. Being married to the woman he trusts and loves along with having a family will provide him a peaceful life once the war with Savage and Darkseid is over, saving him from his pain. It will also allow Barda to see her son live a full life since as an immortal she will eventually witness Lelouch and Nunnally die from old age while she remains physically unchanged.
  • Lucina Reacts: Sumia wants Lucina and Robin to, ahem, "make Morgan" already. She also spoils the future version of Morgan quite a bit.
  • MGLN Crisis:
    • Amy suspects that Lindy went a bit further than most aspiring grandmothers would in Red Jewel Diaries by swapping her birth control with sugar pills.
    • Nanoha's parents indirectly implied this in a letter in Through a Mirror, Darkly. Sure, they already had Vivio to dote on, but they wanted somebody to carry on the family bloodline. And if your wondering why they didn't pester her older brother and sister instead, Kyouya and Shinobu couldn't have kids (since Shinobu is a vampire) and Miyuki didn't have anybody. Nanoha was married to Yuuno (and Fate) and shouldn't have any problems having a kid.
  • The Mixed-Up Life of Brad: Celestia playfully asks this of Cadence (who is her protege and thus the closest thing she has to a daughter.) Cadence responds by revealing to her "auntie" that she is, indeed, pregnant.
  • My Hero Playthrough: Izuku narrates "For a moment, I could have sworn I saw the kanji 孫 in (his mother Inko's) eyes." after he tells her Tsuyu wants the two of them to practice swimming. 孫 means grandchildren.
  • My Huntsman Academia has an inversion of this. Inko Midoriya faints when she learns that her son Izuku is the leader of a team of three gorgeous Huntresses and is sleeping in the same room as them. When she comes to, she then proceeds to fly into a panic and squeals that she's not ready to be a grandmother. Izuku has to make several hurried assurances to her in public that he's not going to impregnate any of them. A while later, she sends an entire box full of condoms to him as a precaution, which Weiss and Pyrrha find first. Inko faints again when Nora's vague wording makes it sound as though Izuku is in a polyamorous relationship with every girl on his team.
  • The New Adventures of Invader Zim: The first chapter of the non-canon spinoff New Adventures: Mature Edition has Professor Membrane at one point musing on how he wants grandkids to carry on his legacy one day. In front of Dib and his not-girlfriend Viera, to their utter mortification.
  • Nobody Dies: Lilith, progenitor of humanity. Simply being in her presence compels humans (of opposite gender) to think of one thing and one thing only. Babies.
    • Kyoko invokes the trope by name after Shinji and Asuka's first time.
    • This carries over into ND's sister fic, Walking in the Shadow of Dreams, as Rei is more or less fixated on the BABIESBABIESBABIES drive.
  • Omakelous Ladybug: In one chapter, while Adrien is telling his father about how he is in a polycule with Marinette and Kagami, he brings up how Kagami's mother was initially against their relationship until she realized she can expect twice as many grandchildren. Hearing about potential grandchildren also causes Adrien's mother Emillie to wake up from her Miraculous-induced coma.
  • Oneiroi Series (a The Order of the Stick fanfic): The only reason Redcloak's mother is willing to give Vaarsuvius, an elf, a chance with her son is because of this trope. That, and they already have a kid with each other and a second on the way.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: A couple of cases pop up:
    • The elders of the Blackthorn Dragon Clan are pressuring Clair to get married so as to secure a future heir. She's not amused in the least.
    • Lorelei's parents (half-jokingly) tell her that they would like if she and her boyfriend Frey brought them grandkids for Christmas. While they're not adverse to the idea, they're not in a rush to settle down yet.
  • RealityCheck's Nyxverse: In Nyx's Family, Twilight Sparkle's mother has been standoffish and fearful ever since Twilight adopted Nyx, the filly version of Nightmare Moon... till the moment she sets eyes on the filly.
    That instant, she realized that nagging fearful voice had a competitor. The moment she clapped eyes on the tiny, wide eyed little black filly, a second voice had come roaring up behind the first, chased it down a back alley of her mind, and gleefully stomped it into the mud: "I'm a Grandmama!"
  • The Royal Sketchbook: Both Cadance's guardian Celestia and Shining's mother Twilight Velvet would really encourage them to give them grandkids. They soon got their wish with Flurry Heart.
  • RWBY: Scars: When Blake tells her mother that she's in love with Weiss, Kali jokingly asks if that means she shouldn't expect grandkids.
  • Six Paths of Rebellion: A variant — Nunnally is quite insistent on Lelouch getting a girlfriend and giving her lots of nieces and nephews to spoil.
  • Solar System (a Pokémon fanfic): B-2 has an overbearing mother who wants him to have kids soon. Unfortunately, he hasn't had a girlfriend since 6th grade.
  • Son of the Sannin: Mei Terumi at one point complains about how much her parents were nagging her about having children so she could pass down her two bloodline limits, especially since she was busy leading the rebellion in Kirigakure to overthrow Yagura and end the Bloody Mist regime. The epilogue reveals that she and Zabuza had six children, since after their second child inherited both both bloodline limits, it wasn't enough for Mei's parents and they continued having them until the sixth one did it as well. When they tried to pressure her to have even more kids, she responded by having her tubes ligated.
  • Starfall (Star vs. the Forces of Evil): A very dark example with Tom's mother Ishtar. She has wanted Tom to marry Princess Star since before Star was even born, and makes it very clear that it's for no other purpose than because she wants a grandchild from Star's line. It doesn't matter that both Tom and Star are deeply in love with other people; Ishtar will do anything to make sure they are together. As it turns out, Ishtar is the second-to-last step in a centuries old breeding program to bring all thirteen lines of royal magic into one. Star is the last line. If Star has Tom's child, the girl will inherit both Ishtar's twelve lines and Star's, making her an invincible goddess.
  • That Twerp is Trouble: Delia Ketchum is starting to have this drive, having had her fill of reclaiming her lost youth. The trope is in play with a mixture of genuine worry about her son ever noticing someone, girl or boy, to love him. This concern promptly has her experience a jump scare nightmare where Ash more than fulfills the need for grandchildren.
  • Thicker Than Blood: A variation is brought up jokingly when Lincoln's sisters learn his relationship with Ronnie Anne is getting more serious, Luna tells her little brother to get around to making her an aunt in a teasing manner.
  • Til Death Do Us Part: Delia brings this up in Empty Nest when she tells Ash to apologize for upsetting his wife:
    Delia: "Go apologize to Misty."
    Ash: "What? Why should I? I didn't do anything wrong."
    Delia: "Just go tell Misty that you're sorry. Besides, the sooner that you do, the sooner you and Misty can get started on giving me some grandchildren."
  • Unsuitable Suitors (a Total Drama fanfic): Noah's parents want grandkids, so, they sign him up for a reality show where he has to date the ENTIRE cast.
  • The Vow: Lord Chang of the Shēnghuó Province is determined to marry off his only child Lianne in order to gain a grandson who'd continue the legacy he has built for his family to the point of obsession. While he complies with his wife's refusal to put Lianne into an Arranged Marriage, he foists numerous suitors on her. After she humiliates one of the more lewd suitors and calls her father off, he sends her to Gongmen City to be courted by Lord Shen, thus starting the plot. When thirty years later Lianne becomes expectant with Shen's child, the gravely ill Chang is happy enough for his estranged daughter to care about the child's gender or the fact that the father is the peacock he hates. He allows himself to die contently after he gives blessings for his daughter and grandchild.
  • White Sheep (RWBY):
    • Salem is obsessed with having as many grandchildren as possible. Besides constantly trying to arrange a harem for her only son Jaune, she adopted Cinder so she could marry Jaune, and made sure Jaune was never taught about contraception at all.
    • In Chapter 100, Salem tells Jaune that her son-in-law Qrow might well take his place as her favorite son because he hasn't left his bedroom (except to get food, Noodle Implements, and an unbroken bed) in the week since he married her daughter, while Jaune and Yang want to take their relationship slow.
    • When an army needs a place to rest, Salem says there's enough room in the tower, because "I've been preparing for grandchildren for years." She is rather unconcerned that there are more than four hundred people who need rooms.
    • It's mentioned that Salem and Nicholas renew their vows in a big ceremony every couple years in a not-so-subtle hint to her unmarried children that they need to get on with it already. They remain oblivious.

    Films — Animation 
  • Disney Animated Canon:
    • Cinderella: The King has this bad, to the point that the whole reason he announces the ball is so he can find a suitable wife for the prince, which will hopefully lead to grandchildren. He later takes the prince's comment about how he'd marry the girl Cinderella's slipper belongs to (not knowing her name) literally, and tries to find any girl that will fit the slipper, regardless of if it's the same one. Justified, since producing heirs (and having his heirs produce heirs) is the only way a royal dynasty can survive. However, the King is clearly more interested in "hearing the pitter-patter of little feet again" and actually dreams about doing "grandfatherly" things like playing horsey with a grandson and granddaughter.
    • Sleeping Beauty: On top of uniting their kingdoms, both King Stefan and King Hubert have expressed this as another reason for arranging for their children to be married. Hubert is the more enthusiastic at first, but Stefan quickly warms to the idea.
    • The Princess and the Frog: This is apparently one of the reasons Eudora wants her daughter Tiana to settle down a little.
  • Fire and Ice (1983): Queen Juliana is the Evil Matriarch to Nekron and very adamant that he produces an heir, going as far as kidnapping Princess Teegra to provide her son with a consort/concubine. Nekron on the other hand is repulsed with the idea and throws Teegra in the dungeon instead. The film's prequel comic reveals that Nekron had an elder brother named Kaledan whom the former had poisoned, making Nekron the only remaining son of the royal house. Juliana wanting Nekron to produce children makes perfect sense in that context.
  • Shrek 2: Queen Lillian implies this by saying the swamp would be a fine place for Shrek and Fiona to raise their children. Both Shrek and Harold are against the idea of children though. Lillian is delighted in Shrek the Third when Fiona announces her pregnancy. At the end of the film, she becomes a grandmother when Fiona gives birth to triplets.
  • Strange Magic: The Bog King's mother keeps trying to pair him off with various women. She even tries putting him together with a woman who just tried to kill him moments ago!
  • Toy Story 3: Present in sentiment though not literally (in light of the toys-as-parents metaphor) when Woody mentions that "Someday, if we're lucky, Andy may have kids of his own."

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Apocalypto: Poor Blunted is apparently impotent. His hunting buddies find ways to tease him about this when on a hunt, and he returns to find his mother-in-law completely uninterested in the meat he's caught, but hollering out this trope to no end. Mother-in-law grabs her daughter and all but pitches the two of them into the tent with orders to get busy. Poor, poor Blunted. This is the day the old huntmaster also chose to pull a practical joke on him regarding his ineffectual genitals. Think, son, why would Gramps be carrying Jungle Viagra on him during a hunt? No good reason. But Jungle Heat Rub?
  • Bachelor Mother: when J.B. Merlin finds his son David with his employee (and David's eventual girlfriend) Polly with a baby boy, thanks to a misunderstanding, J.B. thinks the baby is David and Polly's. When Polly realizes this, she tries to come up with a scheme to convince him the baby (which isn't even hers) belongs to someone else aside from David, J.B. roars, "I don't care who the father is, I'm the grandfather!"
  • Besties (a French lesbian romance film): Protagonist Nedjma's mother wants her daughter to find a "nice Algerian man" to have a family with, not knowing that she's in a lesbian relationship.
  • Bride and Prejudice (the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice): This is a great concern of the Mrs. Bennett equivalent. The original Mrs. Bennett was more concerned about impending homelessness.
  • Carmen y Lola: This is one of Lola's mother's laments after learning she's a lesbian, saying her duty is to bring her parents grandchildren.
  • Clock: A childfree couple, Ella and Aidan have Ella's father over for Sabbath dinner, who compliments her on her cooking and their life, but laments the empty chairs on account of them being childfree. It drives Ella to seek help to "fix" her lack of desire for children.
  • Don Jon: Jon's mother constantly pesters him about finding the right girl and settling down because she feels old enough to be a grandmother already.
  • Entre Nous (2021): Elodie's stepfather Roity is very enthusiastic at the idea of her having a child. When her fiancée Laetitia gets pregnant and they decide to raise the baby together, he's overjoyed at being a (step) grandfather.
  • Give 'Em Hell, Malone: Malone's mother is not very subtle about her want for grandchildren.
    Gloria: Esther's granddaughter was here. She looks fertile, Malone.
    Malone: Wow. You got a hell of a way of selling a gal.
  • Get Married If You Can: Don Gustavo’s main wish is for a grandson to carry on the family name, Mendes (spelled with an s!).
  • GoodFellas: Gangster Tommy's mom keeps contrasting with his friend Henry who has settled down and is producing grandchildren.
  • Gowri Ganesha: In this Sandalwood film, a financially desperate Gowri is asked by a man named Chandramouli to take part in a make believe "wedding reception" at a Bangalore hotel just to convince his parents that he has married someone. Said parents were threatening to fire him from the family run business and cut him off unless he gets married and produces grandchildren.
  • Imagine Me & You: One of the reasons why Tessa tries to talk her daughter Rachel out of the whole "being gay"-thing.
    Tessa And what about my grandchildren? Who will provide me with them?
    Ned: Well, kids these days have many amazing new methods at their disposal.
  • Mystic Pizza: At the end of the movie, after Jo has married Bill, she mentions how Bill's mother asked her, "So when am I gonna hear some good news?"
  • Paranormal Activity: The third film has this. Julie already has two daughters and is content with them, but her mother, Lois, still nudges her to have another baby, preferably a son. Julie is of course annoyed at the implication. In hindsight, her mother simply wanting a son to cuddle on is much easier to accept than if she were to present him to a demon. Lois later indirectly disposes of Julie and sets her sight on her younger granddaughter, who eventually does conceive a son.
  • Saving Face: The last line of the film involves Wilhelmina's mother asking when she can expect grandkids from Wil and her girlfriend. This prompts a Spit Take. What makes it funnier is that Wil's mother has just had a kid with her boyfriend, so it's not like she needs a baby right then.
  • Some Guy Who Kills People: A variant occurs when Ken's mom finds out about his illegitimate daughter, who he never told his mom about. she’s very eager to meet the girl and says that she can stay and her son can leave if he feels so uncomfortable about Amy's presence.
  • TRON: Legacy: Kevin Flynn's smile at his son Sam and Quorra's growing interest in each other suggests this.
  • The Truman Show: Truman's "mother" is pushing Truman to have children on this excuse; what she really wants is to fulfill the wishes of Christof, who is still holding out for the first on-air conception.

    Literature 

  • Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess: One Jager is a nuisance to his great-great-grandson owing to his wanting great-great-great-grandchildren. It is noted that many Jagers have hobbies trying to reconnect with the humanity they left behind him, and preoccupation with his family is his, and has nearly wiped out his descendants.
  • Belisarius Series: At the end of the series, Belisarius asks one more favor from his beloved stepson and daughter-in-law. "As soon as you can manage it, I'd like a lot of grandchildren." Justified in that said stepson is the Emperor of Rome and the daughter-in-law is a high Persian noble; the hope is that the children will stabilize the dynasty and create a lasting peace between Rome and Persia.
  • A Brother's Price: Queen Elder explicitly tells the protagonists that her family's numbers are reduced, and she wants grandchildren. Justified in that she is one of the Queens, and there need to be heirs of the throne. She doesn't pester her daughters about this, though — they know what is expected of them.
  • The Cat in the Stacks Mysteries:
    • Despite the fact that they tend to butt heads on several matters, Azalea Berry is fiercely proud of her daughter Kanesha and her accomplishments, with one exception — Azalea is disappointed that Kanesha hasn't married and given her grandchildren, which is a touchy subject between the pair.
    • Charlie is mentioned as looking forward to being a grandfather as well. He gets his wish when, at the end of book 6, his daughter Laura informs him that she's pregnant; in book 7, his son Sean informs him that Sean's fiancee Alexandra is also expecting, so they're moving their wedding up to immediately.
  • The Cattle Raid of Cooley: Medb and Ailill use this as an excuse when they start offering their daughter Finnabhair to ANYONE who's able to kill Cú Chulainn for them. Cú Chulainn ensures she dies a virgin.
  • The Chronicles of Dorsa: Akella reflects on the fact that her mother found it hard accepting that she's a lesbian as she wouldn't provide her with grandchildren.
  • The Decline of the West: Oswald Spengler gives the justification for this trope: "He does not entirely die who lives on in sons and nephews."
  • Deryni series: In the novel King Kelson's Bride, before her son Kelson leaves for Torenth, his mother Jehana informs him that "All apart from Gwynedd's need for an heir, I would have grandchildren to dandle on my knee."
  • The Dresden Files: In Blood Rites, Karrin Murphy's mother would really like her to have some kids by now. It's one of the things they fight about. Karrin's untimely death in Battle Ground means that Mrs. Murphy will never get her wish.
  • EarthCent Ambassador: Main character Kelly Frank, a functionary at the EarthCent consulate on Union Station, is nagged by her mother on a weekly basis about giving her grandkids.
  • Esther Diamond: The title character's sometimes boyfriend Lopez is on the receiving end of this from his mother.
  • The Forsyte Saga: Both James and his son Soames. James, unfortunately, dies before he can see his grandchild Fleur, but Soames lives long enough to see his grandson.
  • A Frozen Heart: Hans' father wants his sons to marry off and produce more heirs to the kingdom.
  • The Handsome Squirm: The narrator's mother don't care the slightest that her son is going to die, as long as she's getting a litter of grandchildren in exchange.
  • Hannah Swensen: Or rather, "I want grandkids from my older daughter too". Delores tends to nag Hannah about finding a man and having children — while Hannah's happy babysitting for her niece, Delores insists that that's no substitute for having a baby of her own.
  • Honor Harrington: The titular character's mother is obsessed with getting her daughter knocked up and drops hints about bring vials when she meets her boyfriend. Since they can raise the babies in tubes, it's not even a problem that she's an active duty navy officer. In some ways not having grandchildren actually creates huge problems when Honor is believed dead due to inheritance laws being complicated.
  • I Am J: J's girlfriend Blue has a mother who really wants grandkids. The problem is that Blue doesn't like kids much and her sister wants to be a nun.
  • The Innsmouth Legacy (a sequel to The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft): In Winter Tide, Aphra (one of the two surviving Deep One hybrids from the original Innsmouth Raid) is nonplussed that all the Elders, especially her grandfather, want her to breed as quickly as possible. Still traumatised from her decades in a US government concentration camp where she saw everyone except her brother die, she's really not happy at the potential heartbreak involved in raising children.
  • The Irregular at Magic High School: It's a major plot twist that Maya Yotsuba, of all people, wants kids and grandkids. Unfortunately, prior injury meant she couldn't bear kids herself. So she "stole" her sister's son by driving a wedge between the two, ensuring that he would be considered The Unfavorite due to Unequal Rites. Then she suggested that the clan make a female Artificial Human to be the next heir, specifically modifying said homunculus' genes so that she could reproduce with the son. note  16 years passed, during which Maya's sister and only co-ruler. Then she told her nephew and the homunculus that they were going to be married, and the next rulers of the clan, and that he was really Maya's son, regardless of biology. Nobody really believed this bullshit, but they went along with it because Maya would run them through with laser beams if they didn't.
  • John Putnam Thatcher:
    • In East is East, the one scene where Dr. Khan's parents appear has them urging him to date while pointing out that his sister has given them grandkids, but they'd like more. He's already married to a woman who is helping him embezzle money.
    • In Something in the Air, Mitch Scovil's sister-in-law has recently had a baby, and during Thanksgiving dinner, Scovil's mother-in-law accidentally shows frustration that Mitch and his wife haven't had kids.
  • Journey to Chaos: BloodDrinker, a sword containing the souls of Basilard's ancestors, convinced Basilard to accept Zettai as his daughter because otherwise the guy will never give them grandchildren.
  • The Joy Luck Club: Lindo Jong's first husband, Huang Tyan Yu, hasn't even hit puberty yet, meaning he's physically too young to be a father. Tyan Yu's mother doesn't care and keeps pushing them to have kids.
  • Kate Daniels: Aunt B joins the Panacea-retrieval team in the hopes that her grandchildren will have it and survive. Roland also leaves very strong hints to this effect as well.
  • Kitty Norville: The title character's mother has been nagging her about it. Due to being a werewolf, she can't... until magical intervention prevents her from changing long enough to conceive, carry and give birth.
  • Legacy of the Force: In Betrayal (the first book of the series), Leia inquires as to when she could become a grandmother. Her son Jacen shuts her down. Ironically, in typical Star Wars fashion, Leia already is a grandmother to Allana Djo, heir to the throne of Hapes. The nature of Hapan politics means Jacen and Tenel Ka (Queen Mother of Hapes) were unable to be together openly and thus Allana's parentage is known to only a handful of people.
  • Letters to His Son: Discussed and averted. "As fathers commonly go, it is seldom a misfortune to be fatherless; and, considering the general run of sons, as seldom a misfortune to be childless." (letter 152)
  • Liquor (by Poppy Z. Brite): Rickey's mother Brenda asks him when he's going to meet a nice girl and give her some grandbabies... despite knowing that he's gay.
  • The Love And Death Of Caterina (by Andrew Nicoll): Luciano Hernando Valdez is a popular and respected writer from an unnamed Latin American country. But his success does not mean much to his widowed mother, who nags him to get married and give her grandchildren whenever they meet.
  • The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali: Even after she's finally accepted Rukhsana being a lesbian, her mother still wants to have grandchildren someday, querying how that works for lesbians. Rukhsana puts that aside until another day.
  • Loveless: The parents of Georgia's cousin Ellis, who is over 30 and still single, use this rhetoric on her, believing that she'll grow up lonely without a husband. Ellis doesn't budge because she's aromantic/asexual, and she prefers to adopt children if she wants them.
  • Mahabharata: The conflict in the epic is set in motion because of the Puru desire to have as many grandkids as possible. Queen Satyavati wants Puru heirs really really soon and she is willing to do anything to get them. So she makes her very teenage son sleep with two adult women until he dies. Then she makes her stepson Vyasa impregnate his two widowed wives almost immediately even when Vyasa asks her to wait for a year. Of course, the sons who were born were blind and sickly. The first son conceives his sons artificially and the second son asks his wives to bear children from the Gods.
  • Master Of The Game (by Sidney Sheldon): Kate Blackwell is positively obsessed with this, to the point where she urges her daughter-in-law to ignore her doctors warnings about getting pregnant. The result? The woman dies in childbirth, her widower is so grief-stricken that he goes mad and tries to kill his mother, and of the twin granddaughters, one is so evil that she repeatedly tries to kill her sister, starting from when they're five.
  • Mermaids of Eriana Kwai: In Ice Crypt, Meela's mom, who married at eighteen, starts pressuring her to marry Tanuu and have kids. She doesn't know Meela's gay and in love with the mermaid Lysi.
  • Myth-O-Mania: Book 6, Keep a Lid on It, Pandora!, uses this when, at Pandora's and Epi's wedding reception, Rhea nags Hades to settle down and give her some grandchildren. (Hades eventually finds a wife, but he still ends up not having any children.)
  • October Daye (by Seanan McGuire): In Rosemary and Rue, Toby suggests that the message Luna is trying to send Connor is that she wants him, and her daughter, to give her grandchildren. Connor points out what would Luna do with a grandchild?
  • Requiem for a Dream: Sara wants nothing more than for her son to be happy, and becomes delirious believing that he's going to get a good job and have children with Marion.
  • Stephanie Plum: Despite already having some via her other daughter Valerie, Stephanie's mother still wants Stephanie to settle down. And find a less potentially lethal job. She does gain a better understanding of why Stephanie sticks with bounty hunting after helping her capture that book's villain.
  • Sorry, Bro: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children and she'll give her some one day.
  • Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy: Maryse and Robert Lightwood in the story "Born To Endless Night", despite agreeing on very little else. To the extent that even with their history of Fantastic Racism, they are positively ecstatic when Alec and Magnus adopt an abandoned warlock baby. The head of the New York Institute and the Inquisitor of the Clave — both former members of Valentine's Circle! That they approve of the adoption the instant they find out about it, and proceed to drown Alec and Magnus in parenting advice, while imposing time limits on which of them gets to hold the baby for how long, makes it clear that they consider a warlock grandchild better than no grandchild.
  • Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note: The fact that Aya's mother indicates Darwinist Desire as one of the main considerations for Aya's marriage choices implied this trope.
  • Three Weeks: Paul Verdayne's family, his mother especially.
  • Thursday Next (by Jasper Fforde): In The Eyre Affair, Thursday's father asks about the possibility of grandchildren.
  • To Say Nothing of the Dog: At the end of the book, Lady Schrapnell decides that what her new cathedral needs is a christening, which of course means that Ned and Verity need to get married and have babies. They don't particularly mind doing so.
  • Warrior Cats: Bramblestar tells Lionblaze and Cinderheart this — though, in a somewhat darker twist, the reason he wants them to hurry up and have some is because the Clan doesn't have any. On a more lighthearted note, when they actually do, he realizes that this makes him feel old.
  • The Watchmaker of Filigree Street: Grace's mother, which is part of why she tries to set Grace up with Fanshaw.
  • Whateley Universe: From The Final Trump (Part 5): Presumably, it's Melissa speaking, not her brother Virgil, talking about their father and what happened when their sister Mara had a child, and then more children, especially children with psychic powers:
    Well, I was never the favorite anyway, so all that happened for me was that I got him off my back, nagging at me to give him grandchildren!
  • Xanth: The witch Xanthippe claims this in Dragon on a Pedestal, stating that her son Xavier spends all his time flying around on his hippogryph Xap, and feels that a wife and child will help him settle down. She ultimately gets her wish, but not as she expected when she said it (he marries Zora Zombie instead of Queen Irene, and their human-zombie crossbreed son Xeth plays a major role in Zombie Lover).
  • Zombie: Quentin's grandma annoys him by telling him she would die happy if she had great grandchildren. Unfortunately for her, her grandkids are an unmarried career woman and an introverted gay serial killer.

    Live-Action TV 

  • 30 Rock: This is a major source of tension in Liz Lemon's otherwise ideal relationship with her parents.
  • Arrow has a particularly twisted example with Ra's Al Ghul. After convincing Oliver Queen to take his place as the leader of the League of Assassins, he forces his daughter Nyssa to marry Oliver in order to create his own dynasty. Nyssa is quite open about her homosexuality, so the implications are obvious.
  • Avocado Toast: Molly's reluctant to get a hysterectomy for treating her endometriosis because she wanted to give her parents grandchildren somehow. However, she does anyway as it's necessary. They immediately assure her health comes first (her ovaries were preserved, leaving some options anyway).
  • The Big Bang Theory: Happens with Penny's father Wyatt after Leonard informs him (behind her back) that she doesn't want kids.
    • When Penny's dad was first introduced he was exited that she and Leonard were dating, though at the end she had to reveal that she was lying and she and Leonard had broken up. After he was done yelling at Penny, she goes to pack her dad's stuff, and he begs Leonard to get back together with her saying that he wants grandkids before he dies, but doesn't want them to be fathered by the type of white trash she used to date back home.
  • Black Books: When Manny's parents believe he's dating Fran:
    Manny's mother: People are leaving it too late these days, and I don't think that's wise.
    Fran: Leaving what late?
    Manny's mother: Babies.
  • BOB ❤️ ABISHOLA: Chukwuemeka's mother Ogeche and girlfriend Kemi are constantly at each other's throats. It is eventually revealed that the reason why is because Ogeche wants grandchildren and Kemi — who has three grown children, grandchildren and a deceased husband — is too old to sire any more children. The two eventually reach a compromise: Kemi and Chukwuemeka can still see each other, while Chukwuemeka can find a surrogate to have children with. Chukwuemeka, unfortunately, has no say in this.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something of an after-the-fact variant in the episode "Amends" where the First Evil appears to Angel in the form of Jenny Calendar, whom he'd killed earlier that year:
    Angel: What do you want?
    First/Jenny: To die in bed surrounded by fat grandkids, but I guess that's off the menu.
  • The Cosby Show: In an early episode, Claire's mother explains the trope:
    Claire's Mother: You know, when you and Cliff got married, what did I say?
    Claire: You wanted me to have a child.
    Claire's Mother: You know why?
    Claire: Revenge.
    Claire's Mother: If you want the joy of a child without the bother, there's a perfectly simple answer.
    Claire: Grandchildren.
    Claire's Mother: They're perfect. If you don't like them, you go home.
  • CSI: NY: Played with — it's not her college-age son or her teenage daughter Jo's after to have kids, it's Mac. She wants him to hurry up and marry Christine and "start ploppin' out little blonde babies into the world" so she doesn't have to go thru parenting drama alone. It's once implied she does the same to Sheldon about Camile as well.
  • Designing Women: Discussed in an episode, where Mary Jo tells the story of the first time she visited her parents after being married. They told her they weren't comfortable with her and her husband having sex under their roof, then spent the entire trip pestering them for grandchildren.
  • Doctor Who: In "The Unicorn and the Wasp", the Colonel makes an arch remark that he and his wife are unlikely to have grandchildren, as his son Roger's sexuality is an Open Secret in the household (it's 1926).
  • Everybody Loves Raymond: Marie, to the point of making a "love nest" for her son Robert and his wife in their house complete with Barry White CDs. Robert moans "I can't breed in captivity!". What makes this an interesting case is that she already has three grandchildren but because they are no longer excited to see her when she comes over (due to both growing out of it and, as Debora pointed out, simply by virtue of her spending more time at their house than her own) and simply wants new ones so she can "be grandma" again. Marie is generally considered one of, if not THE, most selfish, self centered characters on the show because of actions like these.
  • Farscape: Variation in the "Look at the Princess" trilogy — a Sebacean princess can only become Empress if she marries a man who can provide her with viable offspring and thanks to DNA poisoning by her brother, only John can "put the sword IN the stone" as he puts it. For good measure, on their first meeting, the current Empress tells John, "I expect sturdy grandchildren from you."
  • Frasier: At one point, Daphne has a dream in which her mother shows up to do just this. And when Gertrude moves to Seattle, that dream becomes a constant reality.
  • Friends: Both Ross and Emily's parents seem to be keen on the idea, since Ross threatens them with "No grandkids!" when they are squabbling at his wedding. Ross' parents already have a grandson prior to that event, but they frequently forget about Ben; of course, they also frequently forget about their own daughter Monica.
    • Monica is driven to frustration by the fact that her mother is constantly sniping at her because she isn't married with children yet. Even after she and Chandler get married, Judy still holds it over her that she hasn't provided a grandchild as well.
  • Full House: Despite having three granddaughters, throughout the second season Jesse's parents pestered him to marry Becky so they could have more grandkids.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Lord Walder Frey constantly expresses this. Although for him, it's less about the grandkids and more he wants his many, many children to finally get married and move out of his house.
    • Tywin Lannister... as long as they're male grandkids from his eldest son. Ironically, he already has two of these but they're less than ideal, being officially Baratheons rather than Lannisters, and rather more importantly bastards born of incest between his son and daughter.
  • House of the Dragon: For a time, the young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen keeps refusing a lot of suitors, which annoys her father King Viserys, since he wants heirs. She eventually married Laenor Velaryon, and although she has children eventually, they're sired by someone else.
  • Janda Kembang: It's mentioned that Malik's mother wants one, partly because her friends kept asking about it. Malik uses it as an argument to his mother for why Salmah (a widow, which Ella doesn't like) is a good fit for him: Ella would immediately get a granddaughter in Laila.
  • jPod (a CBC series based on the 2006 Douglas Coupland novel of the same name): Carol is continually pressuring Ethan for grandchildren.
  • Living Single: Laverne Hunter, who finds a way to work in the need for her daughter Regine to 'settle down and put some beans in that oven'.
  • The Nanny: Fran Fine's mother Sylvia was very obsessed with having grandchildren from Fran, despite the fact that her other daughter Nadine has several children. It's stated several times that Yetta (Fran's grandmother) nagged Sylvia about giving her grandchildren years ago. Specifically, when Fran was giving Sylvia grief, Sylvia turned and blamed Yetta for pressuring her for grandchildren. Yetta simply responded, "That's right, Cookie, it's payback time."
  • New Girl: After Jess and Nick break up, her mother is more concerned about how her chances of becoming a grandmother are diminishing than Jess's feelings.
  • NUMB3RS: Don and Charlie's father isn't too pushy about it, but he does give his sons the occasional nudge.
  • Queen Sugar: Ernest repeatedly asked his daughter Nova to get settle down, get married, and have children, but eventually accepted her desire not to. Or maybe not. Nova suspects he didn't leave the farm to her as punishment for her refusal to have a family.
  • Reggie Perrin (a BBC 2009 sitcom and remake of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin): The series features a particularly obnoxious (and, thanks to the Imagine Spot inserts that were a motif of the programme, hilarious) incarnation of this kind of parent. Subverted in the original, where Reg hated his mother-in-law and had two independent adult(ish) children. Possibly it was felt that, as the actors were very slightly younger and middle-class people like the Perrins now have children rather later, they would be unlikely to have children that old, and the dynamic would be different if their children were still young.
  • Saturday Night Live:
    • Exaggerated for laugh's in Season 47 Episode 9. Paul Rudd's character is directing a commercial asking moms what they want (as in things that can be bought and sold). The moms keep finding ways to shoehorn grandchildren into what they say.
    • In Season 48, Episode 12, the last line of the "Protective Mom" sketch is Ms. Flores asking her son's girlfriend, "Now, where are my grandchildren?" assuring the couple in her own fussy way that she approves of their romance. In the sequel from Season 49, Episode 2 (in which the son has a new girlfriend), Ms. Flores goes so far as to suggest names.
  • The Sopranos: After almost dying from his gunshot wound, Tony is particularly fond towards the prospect of Meadow and Finn having kids.
    Tony: It's just... what I been through, it changes the way you think. Holding my grandkids... your kids... on my lap... all of a sudden, it's very important to me.
  • Will & Grace: In a flashback to when Will proposed to Grace (before he came out), Grace's mother responded to the news by pulling Will into a hug and saying "I want her knocked up by spring."

    Music 

  • "All the Good Ones Are Gone" by Pam Tillis is mainly about a woman who feels frustrated about her inability to find a man, but the chorus shows that one factor is her mom invoking this trope:
    And her mama called this morning
    Said, "I'm worried 'bout my baby
    I wish you had a family of your own"
    She said, "Mom, it's not that easy
    You make it sound so simple
    But you can't take the first man that comes along"

    Myths & Religion 

  • The Bible has this in "Book of Genesis", as the first thing God tells his living creations is to "Go forth and multiply". By extension, He also expects this from the animals. To drive the point home, after Adam and Eve sin and become mortal, God promises to multiply Eve's "conceptions," though this is possibly so there would be saints to replace the souls who would be damned.
  • Classical Mythology:
    • In the story of Apollo and Daphne in Ovid's Metamorphoses (making this trope Older Than Feudalism): "Saepe pater dixit 'Generum mihi, filia, debes.' Saepe pater dixit 'Debes mihi, nata, nepotes'". "Often [Daphne's] father said, 'You owe me a son-in law, daughter.' Often her father said, 'You owe me grandchildren, daughter'".
    • In another myth, King Thespius promised his daughter to Heracles if the hero would hunt a lion that was plaguing Thespiae. Thing is, he has fifty daughters, but still kept his promise, giving Heracles one of them a night. Some versions of the story say the reason for this was because he wanted strong grandchildren, and thought Heracles was an ideal sire. He certainly got grandkids; all fifty of his daughters became pregnant as a result.

    Theatre 

  • Abie's Irish Rose: In the very first scene, Solomon Levy explains why he's anxious to have his son Abie get married: "I want grandchildren — dozens of them."
  • Westeros: An American Musical: While Tywin already has grandchildren, he gets particularly pushy about getting some from a recently-married Tyrion in "Your Obedient Warden":
    Tywin: Give me a grandson.

    Video Games 
  • Animal Crossing: Your parents will send you a letter asking if you've met anyone special. They claim they want grandchildren... even though you live in a village full of animals.
  • Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia, Lyner's father encourages him to get married soon because he wants grandchildren. Lyner responds that he doesn't have anyone in mind, eliciting the groans of the three potential love interests.
  • Dragon Age: Origins:
    • If you spared Teryn Loghain and married Anora (only possible as a male Human Noble), Loghain will reappear in Awakening and remind you that you have a duty to produce an heir. Ostensibly it's because the Ferelden throne needs a clear line of succession, but this trope is probably in play as well. However, the game implies that having children can be difficult for Grey Wardens.
    • Whether male or female, the Human Noble origin includes the Warden's mother, Eleanor, lamenting that she's had difficulty setting up an Arranged Marriage for them. She has one grandson, but wants more.
  • Dragon Quest V: If you marry Nera, Nera's mother will pressure Nera to have grandchildren right after you're married. She eventually does, giving you twin children, a son and a daughter. Strangely, she doesn't say this to Debora, her other daughter. Though she gets the two grandkids either way.
  • Half-Life: Eli Vance doesn't take it to extremes, but he does tease his daughter Alyx about her affection for the hero because, "can you blame an old man for wanting grandkids?". This comment was particularly significant because it was made shortly after the destruction of a device that the occupying alien force had set up the to make human reproduction impossible.
  • Harvest Moon: Light of Hope: After it's revealed that Dean's getting married, his mother Carol mentions she wants a grandchild soon.
  • King of Fighters 2000: During the Kyoukugen Team's ending, Takuma saves King from being annihilated by a direct blast from the Zero Canon. Just as she starts to thank him, he invokes the trope as his reason for doing it.
  • King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride: The opening starts with Valanice attempting to marry Rosella off and listing who she thinks are suitable candidates. Rosella is less than thrilled with the idea. Yes, it's justified by the fact that Alex took up ruling the Green Isles, leaving her as Daventry's only heir. Still, she's no more eager to be "up for auction" than her dad was in King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne.
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda: If Jaal is romanced then after meeting his family, his mother sends Ryder an email asking, among other things, about the human birthing process "for the obvious reason". Oddly, she does this even if Ryder is male; it's implied that Ryder is literally the first human she has ever met.
  • Night in the Woods: Mae's mother mistakenly begins to suspect that Mae's worsening health in the third act is actually morning sickness, and the possibility that her daughter is pregnant is the only thing that breaks the concern that she was otherwise displaying for Mae's condition.
  • Potionomics has Luna, a magical moth girl who the human protagonist, Sylvia, can romance. At their penultimate romantic scene, Luna mentions that her parents are coming to visit Sylvia and Luna warns her that they expect grandchildren in the double digits.
  • In Potion Permit, Lucke hates it when his mother pesters him to get married. She even asks you to make a weight gain potion because she believes he's too thin to get a date.
  • Plumbers Don't Wear Ties: Both John's mother and Jane's father are pressuring them to have children.
  • Sable's Grimoire: Nidhogg is very insistent that her Half-Human Hybrid daughter Drakan produce grandchildren and greatly accelerates her relationship with the protagonist (the titular Sable) in order to guarantee this. In the bad ending she magically imprisons Sable and forces Drakan to rape him in order to achieve this.
  • The Sims:
    • Older Family-oriented parents in The Sims 2 will often have a want to get grandchildren as soon as their oldest child progresses to adulthood.
    • "Have 6 Grandchildren" is a lifetime want your Sim can roll upon choosing the Family aspiration as a teenager.
    • This returns in The Sims 3, where Sims will often roll the "Become a Grandparent" wish as soon as their grown child gets married. (If said wish is fulfilled, the new grandparents may then wish for five grandkids altogether.)
  • Star Ocean: Till the End of Time: If you get Fayt's ending with Adray, Adray makes it clear that he intends for Fayt and his daughter Clair to get together for this purpose. Clair is not quite as supportive of this (she calls her father into the other room, then beats the crap out of him). It's a bit more subtle in his solo ending where he has Clair's subordinates in a push-up competition for the right to marry her.
  • Tales of... Graces: Lady Kerri Lhant makes it abundantly clear that she wants Asbel to settle down and have a child. Much to Asbel's chagrin, she already has marriage proposals ready.
  • True Love Junai Monogatari: The plot is tied to this, in a way. The PC's father is desperate to see his son married with kids, so he forces the PC to live on his own in a family-owned apartment so he will look more independent anf attractive to any prospect girlfriend...
  • World of Warcraft: In Warlords of Draenor, a strange variant happens between Draka and Thrall, where Draka asks if Thrall has a Mate and if they have any children (largely unaware that Thrall is actually her son from an alternate timeline).

    Web Animation 

  • Queer Duck: The first episode has the titular character's father make it clear that he wants his son to give him grandchildren, disregarding that Queer Duck is not interested in women. It is never explained what Dr. Duckstein thinks of his grandson Little Lucky from his other son Lucky.
  • Revenge Films:
    • A woman wanted her daughter-in-law to birth her grandkids despite her son's inability to conceive. However, he frames his wife for his infertility in a cowardly move to save his own skin from his mother's abuse.
    • A man ends up sleeping with his daughter-in-law to get her pregnant (with her fully going along with it due to her own desire for a baby) while his wife happily supports them. When Jill turns out to be infertile, the couple immediately dumps her and tries to have the father rape the brother’s wife to get her pregnant. Luckily, the wife sends out a message to the brother and both he and the main character stop the father just in time.
    • The parents-in-law are ecstatic when their son cheats on his wife and brings home a new woman as they believe they are finally going to finally be able to have grandchildren. However, their son was infertile and the new girl was as well due to having too many abortions and STDs.
    • "My father broke into my brother's house… Then…": The OP's father broke into her brother's house to rape the latter's wife and impregnate her himself because she didn't bear him grandkids. This drove the brother to risk an arrest to give his father a beating and then do the same at his parents' house as their mother also supported her bastard of a husband's decision.

    Webcomics 

  • Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures: Fa'lina — as shown in one strip where she yells "Hey, hey! Get back here! Do not run in fear from me when I'm plotting my grandbabies' futures!". Becomes kind of sad when you look into the backstory here. Fa'lina adopted Pyroduck after Pyro was taken as a hostage in the Dragon-Cubi war, during which Fa'lina's entire clan (which she founded) was killed. Cyra (Dan's grandmother) does this to Dan as well.
  • Drowtales contains one of the most horrific instances of his trope in fiction with the relationship between Quain'tana and her daughter Mel'arnach. Basically, she couldn't have children anymore but needed an heir, so she wanted to get one from her daughter — by force. And to rub salt in the wound, once the child, Ariel (who was actually born from a consensual relationship with another elf turned giant spider was born), she was taken away from her real mother and raised without knowing her true lineage or even seeing her real mother for 10 years, did not know their real relationship for over 30 chapters. Minus a single, non-canon and very spoilerific chibi page (which indulge in Black Comedy anyway) this is not played for laughs at all, and many fans consider it a Moral Event Horizon crossing for Quain'tana. After a 10 year timeskip it's also shown that in exchange for not killing Mel after she came back after running away (again) Quain has gotten her wish and Mel already had two more children with a third on the way, and though her circumstances are better Mel still lives in a Gilded Cage and the two young children are being raised elsewhere.
  • Evil, Inc.: Lightning Lady's mother starts off discussing her daughter's scandalous wardrobe (LL dresses like a typical comic book supervillainess), but when her daughter protests she mentions grandchildren. Lightning Lady goes back to the conversation about her costume [1].
  • Fans!: When Rikk and his wife Aly formed a polyamorous union with Rumy, Rikk's conservative mother did not take it well and nearly stopped speaking to her son. Later, at dinner with Rikk's parents, Rumy accidentally let it slip that she was preparing to act as a surrogate mother for Rikk and Aly (Aly wanted a baby but due to a disease that nearly killed her before, she did not have viable ovaries, and Rumy was too active as a member of AEGIS to carry a baby to term, so Rumy conceived the child with Rikk, and then doctors used alien-tech to transplant the fetus into Aly's still-functioning womb). Rikk's mom then approached Rumy, hugged her fiercely and declared, "You're my new favorite daughter-in-law!" Her desire to be an active part of her grandchild's life won out over any objections to her son's unconventional lifestyle.
  • Flipside: Crests's mother indicates this in this strip.
  • Freefall: As the creator of Bowman's wolves, and at his age, Dr. Bowman feels entitled to bug Florence about grandchildren.
  • Girl Genius:
    • Oggie, despite not being human anymore, is very concerned about the continuation of his family line. His great-great-grandson is currently in hiding to avoid being pestered about when he'll settle down and father some great-great-great grandchildren. Oggie's great-great-grandson also made the mistake of telling his ancestor he'd "get married when you find a Heterodyne!" As he shortly discovers, that's not as far-fetched as he'd thought. Oggie's response? "Iz going to be great-great-GREAT grandpapa!"
    • Castle Heterodyne has a bit of this in pressuring Agatha Heterodyne, though it's more about producing an heir to secure the line of succession than any nurturing instinct. Interestingly, the novelizations note that the Castle is programmed with the personality of Faustus Heterodyne, Agatha's ancestor — so in a roundabout way it's "I Want Great-Great-Great- [Several "Greats" later] -Great-Grandkids".
  • Johnny Wander (a slice-of-life webcomic): Yuko's mom.
  • Kevin & Kell: Desdemona Fuscus is seen asking Kell which of them should be the first to bring the topic of grandchildren up to the recently married Fenton and Lindesfarne. Desdemona isn't as bad as Lindesfarne and Fenton's house (a sentient tree named Tree), who keeps pestering them. Lindesfarne is very ambivalent about the idea though especially since, as a former human, her children are likely to become human themselves. On the one hand, society already doesn't handle her cousin, Token Human Francis Fennec, as well as they could. On the other hand, her having a human daughter might be the only way Francis can have a mate he can breed with. (And before anyone asks, they're cousins by adoption, so the Not Blood Siblings trope comes into play if that happens.) In August 2017, she gave birth to a daughter who's half hedgehog, half bat (shown as a bat with hedgehog quills). However, it should be noted that Francis was born animal too, and later spontaneously turned human, so time will tell.
  • Leftover Soup: When Gina invited Jamie to her place to cook together, she asked her mother whether she looked okay on the day. Her mother responded that she didn't look 'desperate enough', citing this trope as clarification.
    Gina: Mom, do I look okay? I don't look too trashy or desperate, do I?
    Gina's mother: Oh, you look fine, darling. If anything, you don't look desperate enough.
    Gina: Not desperate enough?
    Gina's mother: You're thirty-one, sweetheart. That uterus of yours isn't going to last forever.
    Gina: Good talk, mom.
    Gina's mother: Your sisters have all given me grandchildren. Get married and get out of my house.
    Gina: Workin' on it!
  • Marry My Husband: Ja Ok Kim is very aggressive about her daughter-in-law bearing a son. She insists on foul-tasting remedies, constant visits to the shrine, and numerous doctor examinations. It's all for naught because her son Minhwan is infertile.
  • Ménage à 3: Takeru Oyama demonstrates the trope within seconds of meeting his daughter Yuki's new boyfriend Gary. Faintly creepy, or at least Freudian, in that his relationship with Yuki has previously been difficult, and that's largely because childhood exposure to the tentacle-porn Hentai which he created damaged her psychologically.
  • The Non-Adventures of Wonderella: A guest comic suggests that Ginormous's mother is like this. Later, Titania literally hires Wonderella's villains to try to convince her to have a baby.
  • The Order of the Stick
  • Route 148: This trope is used to hint at one of the protagonists' homosexuality when Frank, on the same page he is introduced, jabs at Linton about probably never producing any great-grandkids.
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Taken to terrifying extremes in this strip. When Mom said she wanted grandkids, that was not a request.
  • Savestate: Kade and Nicole's mother mentions, upon hearing about Riley (Kade's eventual girlfriend), that she always expected Nicole to give her grandpuppies first. This results in a Spit Take from Kade.
  • Schlock Mercenary: On Captain Kaff Tagon's 50th birthday his father, General Karl Tagon, berates him about his life in general, and not producing grandchildren. After talk about their lack of "a legacy" doesn't work he tries talking to some of the single women around Kaff, the result is seen on the quotes page.note  The General once pointed out that since they have Kaff's DNA on file after Kaff's death, technically he doesn't need him around to get grandchildren. He hasn't gotten quite that desperate yet, since they opted to clone him and download his backup. In the last book a clone of Kaff's clone and Captain Alexia Murtagh's clone created for an assumed one-way extragalactic trip get together, much to both their progenitors' surprises, and are seen with a couple kids in the epilogue. The former general's reaction is not seen.
  • Something*Positive:
    • Faye once became depressed that Davan didn't seem like he would ever settle down and Dahlia was on the record that she didn't want kids. She briefly considered finding a way to trick Davan and his girlfriend Branwen into getting pregnant (to Fred's surprise, since she's usually the sane one in the family).
    • Chirag is gay. His parents know he's gay, but they don't know that he knows that. His brother and sister are also gay, and once they came out of the closet, their parents immediately started bugging them about settling down and having kids. To avoid this, he still pretends to be in the closet when they visit him, begging his female friends to play The Beard.
  • Vinci and Arty: Vinci's mother wants grandkids, even after finding out her grandson is gay. She's blunt about it, too.
  • Walkyverse:
    • College Roomies from Hell!!!: Blue's grandmother (father's side).
    • It's Walky!: Joyce's mother, big time. She even asked the bridal store if they had dresses with elastic waistbands so Joyce wouldn't let a silly thing like conceiving out of wedlock stop her (which shows just how much she wants grandbabies, as she's pretty strictly Christian otherwise) and was busted poking holes in their condoms (which, is implied to have worked in at least one alternate timeline, as the moment Walky busts her, fifteen of the future children Head Alien kidnapped disappeared). When she's shot during Joyce and Walky's wedding she flat out blackmails Joyce into agreeing to give her grandchildren by making Joyce think it was her dying wish (she actually got shot in the butt). She's also disappointed to meet Joyce and Walky's Kid from the Future Bobby, as she wants a grandbaby.
    Head Alien: Man, and I thought I was manipulative!

    Web Original 

  • Cinnamon Bunzuh!, an Animorphs'' Review Blog:
    Ifi: Hi Mrs. Cassie's Mom
    Ifi: I'm gonna look up your name
    Adam: Her name is "Cassie's Mom"
    Adam: Her parents were very presumptuous about grandkids.
  • Not Always Right:
    • The site has this story, where an older woman freaks out about her age and mentions trying to pressure her 30-year-old daughter into dating for this purpose.
    • Played with in this story. A man on his way to a job interview with the employee's father is rude enough that the employee calls Dad in front of the customer.
      He has been a real pain in the butt, and if you hire him, I’m not giving you grandchildren.
    • A more lighthearted example here. The submitter is worried that their mother is having trouble with them coming out as gay, but when they develop an interest in getting a dog, the mother jokes that the dog will be her grandchild, proving she's over it.
    • This example from the sub-site Not Always Related. One nosy mother bluntly asks her child about "sex with ex".
  • Reductress: Parodied in the 'article' "I Finally Gave My Mom Grandkids and Now I’m Wanted for Kidnapping", where a woman responds to repeated grandchild requests by felony kidnapping.
    "Ultimately, I’ve learned so much from this experience. First and foremost, you can never make everyone happy. Kidnapping children so that my mom could have grandkids may have made my mom happy, but it made the state authorities of Virginia very angry, and also it didn’t make my mom happy. But was this troublous journey rewarding in the end? Of course not."
  • Thalia's Musings: Mnemosyne to Thalia and the rest of the Muses

    Web Videos 

  • Abuela: In one video, Abuela buys her grandson boxers (instead of briefs) because she wants great-grandchildren.
  • The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: Mrs. Bennet's only goal in life is to have her three daughters married. According to Lizzie, she once cried hysterically: "It's your fault if I die without graaandbabiiieees!"
  • Tobuscus does a spoof of a deodorant commercial in which his mom tells him "Now go make me some grandchildren!" He later jokes that she wasn't acting when she said that.

    Western Animation 

  • Adventure Time: At the end of the episode "Marcy & Hunson", Marceline's father Hunson Abadeer bugs her by asking her when she'll start having kids.
  • Archer: Zig Zagged by Malory Archer. For the first few seasons she's vehemently against the idea of becoming a grandmother and repeatedly pressures Sterling to get a vasectomy to avoid any further "accidents". Apparently she started to change her mind when Sterling was diagnosed with cancer and had him freeze some sperm as insurance. In season six Lana Kane reveals it was Malory's idea for her to use the frozen sperm when she got IVF in the previous season, making her daughter Malory's grandchild.
  • Dan Vs.: Elise is horrified when her parents are planning to move into town to be closer to her. Her husband Chris doesn't think it's so bad... until Elise reminds him about this trope. Now he's scared.
  • Daria: The title character writes about a story about her family's ideal future. Quinn already has five kids, but Helen still prods Daria and her unseen husband to start a family of their own.
  • The Fairly OddParents!: Used when the writer of the Crimson Chin comic book gets kidnapped by one of his fictional villains, his mother (who he lives with) doesn't notice, and simply shouts "Don't come back unless you bring me grandchildren!" at him as he's being dragged out.
  • Futurama: Amy Wong's parents are an extreme example. They are so obsessed with getting Amy to have grandchildren, it almost seems like they care more about that than they care about Amy herself. To the point that when the latter got de-aged to her preteen years, they were too busy complaining about how they were never going to have grandchildren at this rate (and in Leo's case, cruelly tease Amy) to actually worry about their daughter's condition. They eventually do get grandkids, but they take one look at them, decide they didn't want grandkids that bad, and agree to Let Us Never Speak of This Again, much to Amy's confusion.
  • King of the Hill: When Bobby has joined a cult of geeks — after he got sent to the Principal's office for what they think is witchcraft — when Hank and Peggy are called over; Bobby does this dance to provide a positive vibe. Peggy says:
    "I may be a mother, but I am also a woman, and I know a girl repellent when I see it. I. Want. Grandchildren, will you fix this!?"
  • Pinky and the Brain: In the episode "The Visit", a lack of grandchildren is one of the things Brain's mother complains about after he makes his parents capable of human speech.
  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Mayor Jones and the Sheriff are having lunch when they spot Fred completely fumbling his date with Daphne. The Mayor groans and says that at the rate Fred is going, he's never going to have grandchildren. It becomes harsher in hindsight when it turns out Fred isn't even his son — Jones had kidnapped him from his biological parents.
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "The Burns and the Bees", when Marge is asked what her greatest fear is, she instantly replies, "Never being a grandmother."
    • Another episode has Marge, who believes she is about to be executed, despairing that she wouldn't see her children grow up and start their own families, etc.
  • The Super Hero Squad Show: The episode "Mother of Doom" at one point has Doctor Doom's mother remark that her son has neglected to give her grandchildren.
  • Tak and the Power of Juju (2007): The episode "To Zaria with Love" has the Pupununu people believing that Tak is destined to marry the Chief's eldest daughter Zaria. The Chief enjoys this news and at one point states that he's looking forward to having grandchildren.
  • Toxic Crusaders: In the episode "Toxie Ties the Knot", Toxie helps his mother up and asks if she is alright. Toxie's mother replies that she'd feel better if she had grandchildren.


 
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Bobby's Mum

Bobby's mother shows up while he's working to nag him about finding a girlfriend and giving her some grandkids.

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