History Main / CaretakerReversal

This can be TruthInTelevision in many families with small children and a stay-at-home parent. It's not rare for the stay-at-home parent to get an infection from the kids before the parent who works outside the house. Also, if a person gets an illness and accidentally spreads it to another member of their household, they might recover before the other person does, leading to this trope.

** When they receive the news that Mr. March is dangerously ill in Washington, Marmee [[{{Fainting}} faints]], and then stretches out her arms to her daughters and begs them to help her, and they all gather around to comfort her.

** When the family realizes [[spoiler: that Beth is dying]], Marmee again stretches out her arms to Jo "as if for help," and Jo goes to comfort her mother. The film versions from [[Film/LittleWomen1933 1933]], [[Film/LittleWomen1994 1994]] and [[Film/LittleWomen2019 2019]] likewise all have Marmee [[CryIntoChest sobbing in Jo's arms]], the 1994 and 2017 versions before [[spoiler: Beth dies]] and the 1933 and 2019 versions afterwards.

* In ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'', after Ion is shot by Tres, Sister Esther ends up caring for him (including replacing his bandages). A few episodes later, Esther is knocked unconscious and wakes up to find Ion at her bedside.

This can be TruthInTelevision In many families with small children and a stay-at-home parent. It's not rare for the stay-at-home parent to get an infection from the kids before the parent who works outside the house. Also, if a person gets an illness and accidentally spreads it to another member of their household, they might recover before the other person does, leading to this trope.

* A variant occurs in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''. A flashback shows that Ash and Serena first met in a summer camp when Ash came upon an injured and lost Serena in the woods, bandaging her injured leg and leading her back to their camp. In the present time, during, coincidentally enough, another summer camp, Ash and Serena fall off a cliff, but this time around, Ash is the one who got an injured leg in the process, so Serena had to take care of him until help arrived.

** When the family realizes [[spoiler: that Beth is dying]], Marmee again stretches out her arms to Jo "as if for help," and Jo goes to comfort her mother. The 1994 film, the 2017 miniseries and [[Film/LittleWomen2019 the 2019 film]] have Marmee [[CryIntoChest sobbing in Jo's arms]], although the 2019 version moves the scene to [[spoiler: the morning after Beth dies.]]

** When the family realizes [[spoiler: that [[IllGirl Beth]] is dying]], Marmee again stretches out her arms to Jo "as if for help," and Jo goes to comfort her mother. The 1994 film, the 2017 miniseries and [[Film/LittleWomen2019 the 2019 film]] have Marmee [[CryIntoChest sobbing in Jo's arms]], although the 2019 version moves the scene to [[spoiler: the morning after Beth dies.]]

* In ''Manga/KamisamaKiss'' Nanami is an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who winds up with a LittleBitBeastly {{Kitsune}}, Tomoe, as familiar. However, [[spoiler: when Nurakami uses a magical artefact that turns Tomoe into a child]] Nanami ends up caring for him. Also, when Nanami winds up playing around with time travel [[spoiler: she winds up rescuing a wounded Tomoe from a riverbank in the past and nursing him back to health.]]

-->'''Penny:''' Sing "Soft Kitty" to me.
-->'''Sheldon:''' "Soft Kitty" is for when you're sick. You're not sick.
-->'''Penny:''' Injured and drugged is a kind of sick.

* ''Series/KungFu'': in "Besieged: Cannon at the Gates", Caine is lying on the ground mortally wounded after he sabotages a cannon firing at the Shaolin Temple, and his GirlOfTheWeek is leaning over his body comforting him. Then the DragonWithAnAgenda stabs her; she becomes limp, and Caine reverses positions with her as she dies. Suddenly he's fine. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHAQBqzPzCA#t=3m55s See it here, starting at 3:55.]]

A typical ending of the SickEpisode. Compare to NowLetMeCarryYou. A subtrope of HourglassPlot.

* The {{Theatre/Mrs Hawking}} play series: Before coming to work for Mrs. Hawking, Mary's sole occupation in life was to keep house for her father and take care of her unwell mother, causing her to see her only worth and purpose was her usefulness to others.

* In ''Literature/OrangeCloudsBlueSky'', Skye's mom spends years taking care of Skye's autistic sister Starr, giving her whatever she wants and trying to "protect" her from any negative experiences or any kind of work. [[spoiler:When Mom becomes a drug-addicted SleepyDepressive, Starr is the only family member who sticks around. Starr feeds her, washes the dishes, and does chores to keep the house somewhat sanitary. She refers to her as "Baby Mommy."

* In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Ash gets badly injured saving his Pikachu from a flock of Spearow, and Misty takes him to the Viridian City Pokémon Center. Later, Misty gets poisoned by Vileplume pollen, so Ash has to take her to a hospital in Cerulean City.