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As kids grow up, they need to learn the ways of the world, and many works are designed to teach them basic things they'll need to know in life, such as how to use the bathroom or how to cross the street. Only trouble is, these things tend to be rather banal, especially compared to things the kids actually find interesting. So how does one make the kids want to do the thing being taught (without scaring them, that is)? Simple — assign a label to the people who do what you want the kids to do (for example, declaring that everyone who uses the toilet correctly is a "Bathroom Prince or Princess" or everyone who crosses the road safely is a "Street-Crossing Champion.")
The reasoning behind using this tactic boils down to a few things. Firstly, a lot of little kids are followers so if all or most of their friends have a label, they might want one too. On the other hand, some kids might feel like they're one-upping their friends by having a snappy title that their friends don't have yet. Even kids who are not followers and do not want to one-up anybody might like the sound of earning a nickname if it contains a word that implies they're special (e.g. "Prince," "Princess," "Champ"), or sounds cool/exciting (e.g. "Fighter," "Superhero," "Ninja").
A common way of enforcing this trope is to introduce a group of characters who go by the nickname and are usually made up to look cool (they might have powers, be aliens/robots/fantasy creatures, have clothes and mannerisms that suggest they're something cool like pirates or superheroes, or a combination), then have one member of the team Break the Fourth Wall and say something along the lines of "And you can be a(n) [title] too! All you have to do is [list of instructions for something mundane but important here]!" They might also have one or more jazzed-up characters who go by this moniker teaching a child character meant to be like the viewer basic skills, earning them the moniker, and ending with a fourth-wall break saying, "And you can be an X too!"
Stories with the above plots often don't answer the question: If all it takes to be a(n) [insert nickname here] is to follow these basic steps, and all the [insert nickname here]s in this work have flashy clothes/powers/etc, why don't normal people have the clothes/powers/etc?note This is probably because the writers figure the kids are too young and easily-distracted to care.
The labels are usually random but vaguely cool-sounding, although there is one theme among them in that labels associated with stopping or preventing something often have "Fighter" or "Buster" in them.
Sub-trope of Mundane Made Awesome. If a girl is excited to get the label princess, she might be going through a Princess Phase. If the thing being taught is described as a superpower in this process, it's related to What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?, and if pirates are involved, expect them to Talk Like a Pirate and be Dressed to Plunder. Whether or not it involves actual pirates, it might also cross over with The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything because characters like this whose titles imply a job (e.g. pirate, ninja...) aren't usually seen doing their alleged job. For other kiddie bribes, see The Compliance Game and Greens Precede Sweets.
Examples
- Huggies is a brand of baby supplies, chiefly diapers, whose site features several different games for babies and toddlers. This game is designed to encourage them to use the toilet and involves giving them a necklace (for a girl) or a tie (for a boy) and calling them a "potty prince or princess" if they can use the toilet.
- Downplayed for the Pull-Ups commercials, which just use the generic label "big kid" to describe potty-trained kids, but the phrase is always capitalised to make it seem special.
- Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō uses the term "Pantsman" to refer to anyone who uses the toilet in their toilet-training episodes.
- The animated children's film The Magic Bowl describes those who are potty trained as "bathroom champs".
- The kids' movie It's Potty Time describes one of the kids as a "super-duper pooper" for being able to poop on the toilet independently.
- A rare adult example in The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, which says that if you don't obsess over anxiety while at the same time accepting it, you're a "life manager".
- The children's book Superhero Potty Time says that if you use the bathroom, you're a "potty time superhero".
- The kids' book Super Pooper and Whizz Kid: Potty Power says that you can be a "pooperhero" when you're potty trained.
- Another adult example in The Dilbert Principle:
Employees are told that if they embrace change they will be hailed as "Change Masters" instead of hapless victims. This is the adult equivalent of being a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger except without the cool outfits and action figures. Given the choice of being a Change Master or not, I'd certainly want to be one, just on the off chance it would give me X-ray vision.
- The Bear in the Big Blue House episode "When You've Got to Go" describes everyone who "uses, or is going to use, the potty" as "Toileteers". This is actually described as an organization created by Pip and Pop called the "Mystic Order of the Toileteers," which is clearly intended to riff on the idea of a Secret Circle of Secrets, except that for the fact that as the song states, basically anyone can join the club.
- One of the shorts featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 was called "Posture Pals." It was a black and white educational film in which four children were designated as the posture king, queen, prince, and princess because they worked hard to have correct posture. You too can be the posture king or queen.
- The Sesame Street episode "Elmo's Potty Time" features an in-universe example: Baby Bear claims that he's a "potty animal" because he's potty trained and says that soon, his sister Curly Bear will be a "potty animal" too, however, there is no mention of this label applying to the audience.
- This is parodied in Don't Shit Your Pants, where your character will become the "shit king" upon completing all possible outcomes, and even gain a crown (acquired from the local fast food joint) to prove it.
- The parody returns in Don't Wet Your Pants, where the title awarded for completing all possible outcomes is "master of urination".
- In the kids' PDF article Are You a Flu Fighter?, a "flu fighter" is someone who stays at home when they have the flu, gets a flu shot, sees a doctor when they have the flu, and covers their mouth when they cough.
- Nine One One For Kids describes kids in the States who know how to dial 911 in an emergency as "911 heroes".
- The website Protect Dont Infect describes people who wash their hands, cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze, and stay at home when sick as "PDI (Protect, Don't Infect) Agents".
- The online video "Potty Princess" describes girls who are potty trained as "potty princesses".
- The similar music video, I'm a Potty Pirate, describes potty-trained boys as "potty pirates" or "potty pirate guys".
- The similar music video, I'm a Potty Pirate
- A rare example aimed towards teens and young adults can be seen at the New Zealand online school Te Kura. On their lesson on tsunamis, whoever knows their info on tsunami safety is a "survival agent".
- The online video "Wash Your Hands" describes people who wash their hands as "germ busters".
- The Scrub Club website of the NSF (National Science Foundation) invites anyone who washes their hands to become a member of the "Scrub Club," though it does also feature an actual Scrub Club with six members.
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers tells viewers in its theme song that they too can become a Planeteer if they help the environment.
- Crawford's Corner:
- In the episode "Crawford is a Sneezer Pleaser", sneezer pleasers are anyone who washes their hands often when they have a cold, covers their mouths and nose when they cough or sneeze, and disposes of tissues when they have colds.
- In "Crawford is a Good Nighter", the term "good nighter" refers to one who has a proper bedtime routine.
- An in-universe example occurs in Peg + Cat in the episode "The Potty Problem". To try and potty-train an alien called Big Mouth who grew up on a planet without toilets, Peg talks about how once he's potty trained, he'll be "the King of the Potty", a "potty-making machine", "a potty superstar", and "the Bathroom Champ".
- Work It Out Wombats!: In-Universe example in "Game Changer." Malik convinces Zeke to collect umbrellas with him by telling him that he'll be an Official Helper.
