Basic Trope: More sinful characters yield in the presence of children.
- Straight: Alice lights up and starts smoking, only to stop in horror when she notices her little brother, Bob, watching.
- Exaggerated:
- Emperor Evulz, Big Bad and resident Eldritch Abomination, yields in his rampage when he comes across a child.
- There's always a child watching someone, preventing them from doing bad things.
- Downplayed: Alice stops in horror when she notices Bob watching her smoke, but either tries shutting the door, putting out the blunt or tries to tell him it's Not What It Looks Like.
- Justified:
- Alice doesn't want to Break the Cutie or Corrupt the Cutie.
- Alice is an Anti-Role Model, but the last person she would ever want to influence is her little brother, Bob.
- Everyone Has Standards.
- Inverted:
- Alice stops her smoke when she spots an older character doing the same.
- It's Bob who influences Alice into copying his habits.
- Subverted: Alice isn't afraid of influencing her brother, but she is afraid that he'll rat her out to their mom.
- Double Subverted: However, she is afraid, in some way, of influencing her brother, when she thinks hard about it.
- Parodied:
- Alice is cheating on a test, but then she notices her brother watching her, somehow, and screams "What Have I Become??!"
- Heroes employ babies as weapons to guilt-trip villains.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice will stop doing weed in front of her younger brother, but will actively teach her younger sister, Claire, how to shoplift and streak.
- Averted: Alice isn't a stoner or doesn't care if Bob watches.
- Enforced: The executives wanted to deliver An Aesop against drug use.
- Lampshaded: "Oh no! Not my younger brother!"
- Invoked: When Alice gets an unexpected Promotion to Parent, she realizes that means providing for Bob, which necessitates having a steady job and serving as a moral example for him.
- Exploited: Bob is a Guile Hero, who knows his sister loves him and knows that Drugs Are Bad. So, when he notices Alice lighting up, he makes his presence known so that Alice would stop.
- Defied: Alice scoffs and either slams the door on Bob or continues anyway.
- Discussed:Alice: Bob! I... I'm sorry, I shouldn't be doing this.
- Conversed: "As hard as the show tries to depict Alice as bad, she's an Anti-Villain at best. Most criminals in Real Life wouldn't stop committing crimes just because they realized a child was watching them."
- Played for Laughs:
- Bob catches Alice doing gymnastics badly. He clucks disapprovingly and tries to show her how to do gymnastics properly, but has an Epic Fail.
- Bob catches Alice smoking. He asks her what she has and she stutters out Blatant Lies. Somehow, he buys them.
Back to Little Brother Is Watching