History Main / PlayingHouse

* In addition to the page quote above, Calvin and Susie of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' play house a few times, once with Calvin refusing to accept Mr. Bun as their child, and another ending with him deciding to be a [[NatureHero jungle man]] and running off in his underwear. For these sequences, the strip has an ArtShift to a ''ComicStrip/MaryWorth''-style soap opera comic.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'', some missions require the player character to play "house" with Cindy. It usually goes into dark themes like domestic abuse, alcoholism, cheating, and abortion, which makes sense for a CrapsackWorld where the kids act [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior way too mature]].

* ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'': Pee-Wee sometimes ropes his friends into this. [[JustForPun Playing house... in the Playhouse! What a concept!]]

* In the AnimatedAdaptation of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', Touka (in her mid to late 20s) and Yumeha (4 or 5) are seen playing house with a ''divorce'' theme several times throughout the season.

'''Stewie:''' ''[{{beat}}]'' Creator/RomanPolanski[[BlackComedy 's house.]]

* "Kid Stuff," a No. 2 country hit in 1973 by Barbara Fairchild. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Fairchild often put childhood themes into songs of heartbreak, and this follow up to her SignatureSong "The Teddy Bear Song" carries on the trend, where a young woman -- not-so-fondly recalling memories of playing house with a young neighbor boy, who insisted on dominating the proceedings, regardless of the girl's feelings -- is now in a relationship where the man is the dominant figure and is either ignorant or uncaring when she objects. Unlike childhood, the woman bemoans that their relationship is real life, and not just the "kid stuff" of playing house.

* [[TokenMiniMoe Nowi]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' likes to play house with her comrades, among other games. [[ImmortalImmaturity She's actually a dragon that's centuries old.]]

Sometimes InnocentCohabitation will jokingly be called "playing house" as the cohabitors fall into the roles of a married couple without the full benefits of same. It can also be used as a mocking euphemism for non-innocent cohabitation -- the implication being that the relationship needs a legal marriage before it counts as real (it's a more upscale version of the term: "shacking up").

In fiction, kids playing "house" can be evidence of a ToyShip (though often one-sided), demonstrate a childish misunderstanding of family life (either innocently or because their home is actually that twisted), or be a commentary on the goings-on of the adults who are the main focus of the story. A common "bit" is a young boy forced into a humiliating "baby" or "mommy" role by an innocently sadistic female playmate.

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Playing "house" is a common game among young children, trying on adult roles seen around their homes. As opposed to the more boisterous CowboysAndIndians games, "house" revolves around day-to-day matters such as husband-and-wife negotiations, childcare (usually with dolls or pets in the "child" role), cooking (mud pies are the traditional fare) and tea parties. Stereotypically, this is a girls' game that boys are roped into with some degree of unwillingness. In Britain, this game is traditionally called "playing Mummies and Daddies."

Sometimes InnocentCohabitation will jokingly be called "playing house" as the cohabitors fall into the roles of a married couple without the full benefits of same. It can also be used as a mocking euphemism for non-innocent cohabitation--the implication being that the relationship needs a legal marriage before it counts as real. (It's a more upscale version of the term: "shacking up")

* Shizuru and Tomoe did this a few times near the end of ''Anime/MyOtome''. When two grown women play house, it's not quite as innocent as usual. [[DieForOurShip Shizuru X Natsuki shippers were not amused.]]
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' played house with [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Tomoko]] and discovered that she had a real talent for acting.
* In ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', Nobita tried to use one of Doraemon's gadgets to get out of playing house with his younger cousin (as his friends were teasing him about how girly that was), but of course HilarityEnsues.

* Yotsuba and Ena play house briefly in the second volume of ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'', before being distracted by the prospect of cake. Yotsuba later sets up house, complete with kitchen, under her father's desk. And then there's the zoo of wooden blocks ...
* In an episode of ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'', Lum goes ten years into the past and finds Shinobu playing house with Ataru. Young Ataru has a little difficulty with the concept of "pretend."
* In the AnimatedAdaptation of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', Touka (in her mid to late 20s) and Yumeha (4 or 5) have been seen playing house with a ''divorce'' theme several times throughout the season.
** In episode 5, they were finalizing a divorce when Yuuta walks in. He's not very pleased with what Touka is teaching his little sister.

* In an OVA of ''Manga/EngagedToTheUnidentified'', Kobeni remembers how she, Benio, and Nadeshiko played house as young children. Benio quickly put a stop to the game when Nadeshiko's setup outright states that Benio in the father role is unemployed after having been fired for sexual harassment.

* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': In Chapter 38, Ichika takes her manager's daughter to her house to babysit her, and the kid forces her along with Miku and Fuutarou to play house. Funnily enough, rather than making Ichika or Miku act the mom part, she has them be her dad's (whose part is acted by Fuutarou) secretaries. [[spoiler:It's later revealed this is because her real-life dad divorced from her mother after she cheated on him]].

* In addition to the page quote above, Calvin and Susie of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' play house a few times, once with Calvin refusing to accept Mr. Bun as their child, and another ending with him deciding to be a [[NatureHero jungle man]] and running off in his underwear. For these sequences, the strip has an ArtShift to a ''ComicStrip/MaryWorth'' style soap opera comic.

* One early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip saw Charlie Brown play house with Patty and Lucy; he was the dad, Patty was the mom, and Lucy was the child. Lucy bailed the second the other two told her not to bother them while they were busy, the reason being that she didn't want to play something she already experienced at home.

* In Judy Blume's ''Literature/IggiesHouse'', Winnie Barringer and the three Garber children play house in a house that's being constructed in the neighborhood while they're on their way to a picnic near the end of the story.

-->'''Aster''': Wife, I require supper. I am hungry, as the mental effort required to digest politics is quite taxing. You would not understand.\\
'''Giselle''': Cook your own goddamn supper, fool, if you're so hungry. Why don't you ask that slut secretary of yours to make you supper? Huh? Huh? You saw her again, didn't you?

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': When Jeff hosts a party at his apartment, Annie comes over early to "help decorate," and immediately turns his LonelyBachelorPad into something that looks like the colorful and well-loved home of a married couple. Jeff rolls his eyes and asks if they have to have another talk about her trying to play house with him--[[ShipTease but he still helps her with the set everything up]]. When their friends come over, they immediately compliment Annie's decorating skills.

* ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'': Pee-Wee sometimes roped his friends into this. [[JustForPun Playing house...in the Playhouse! What a concept!]]

* In country music, this subject is often played negatively, and is used to frame heartbreak, despair over male-dominated hierarchies in relationships and so forth. Examples:
** "I Don't Wanna Play House," a 1967 No. 1 country hit for Tammy Wynette. Here, Wynette takes the role of a young girl who tries to rebuff a little boy who wants to merely play a friendly game of "house." Her reasoning: "It makes my Mommy cry ... 'cause when she played house, my Daddy said, 'Goodbye'!" (That is, she saw her parents fighting and not getting along, and eventually he leaves his family behind.)
** "Kid Stuff," a No. 2 country hit in 1973 by Barbara Fairchild. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Fairchild often put childhood themes into songs of heartbreak, and this follow up to her SignatureSong "The Teddy Bear Song" carries on the trend, where a young woman -- not-so-fondly recalling memories of playing house with a young neighbor boy, who insisted on dominating the proceedings, regardless of the girl's feelings -- is now in a relationship where the man is the dominant figure and is either ignorant or uncaring when she objects. Unlike childhood, the woman bemoans that their relationship is real life, and not just the "kid stuff" of playing house.

* In the original text of ''[[Theatre/PeterPan1904 Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up]]'', Wendy, John and Michael play house in the nursery at the beginning of the play. Of course, the entire play ends up being a prolonged game of house with Wendy being the mother and all the Lost Boys and Peter being her children.

* Emma and Otacon from ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' used to play house. They are step-siblings.
* [[TokenMiniMoe Nowi]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' likes to play house with her comrades, among other games. [[ImmortalImmaturity She's actually a dragon that's centuries old]].
* In ''Delicious 9: Emily's Honeymoon Cruise'' two of the kids in the ship's daycare facility pretend to be the title character and her new husband.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'', some missions require the player character to play "house" with Cindy. It usually goes into dark themes like domestic abuse, alcoholism, cheating, and abortion which makes sense for a CrapsackWorld where the kids act [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior way too mature.]]

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' did it a lot.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' did a version of this with Stewie and Oliva but Stewie ends up getting angry over the lack of sex... whatever that is. [[PingPongNaivete Some sort of cake]]?
** Alluded to in an earlier episode had Stewie capture and attempt to brutally interrogate a bully [[DisproportionateRetribution who stole his tricycle]]:
--->'''Lois''': What's going on in here?\\
'''Stewie''': Um... [[BadLiar we're playing house]].\\
'''Lois''': But that boy's all tied up!\\
'''Stewie''': ''({{beat}})'' [[BlackComedy Roman Polanski's house.]]
* Creator/RalphBakshi's 1967 short ''The Mini-Squirts'' took this to its logical conclusion by turning the situation into a soap opera.
* WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}: The episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Let's Play House"]] has the characters play with Kaeloo as the mother, Mr. Cat as the father, Quack Quack as [[DraggedIntoDrag the daughter]] and Stumpy as the son. Unfortunately, it all goes [[DysfunctionalFamily horribly wrong]], as usual.
* At one point in the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "Thirteensomething", Plucky to cheer Buster up to snap him out of his depression over Babs' absence, and Shirley praises him for it. This exchange ensues:
-->'''Plucky''': My parents are outta town for the weekend. Whadda'ya say we play house?
-->'''Shirley''': ''(kicks him into a wall)'' Nevermind.

* ''Film/MadMen'' uses this subtly to portray StepfordSuburbia; at Sally's birthday party, when the kids are playing in her new playhouse, they can be heard saying things to each other like, "I ''like'' [[ExiledToTheCouch sleeping on the couch]]." Helen Bishop, [[EldritchAbomination the one divorced mother in the neighborhood]], comes outside fresh from being hit on by a male adult guest and sniped at by several female ones, and says to Don, "Interesting crowd in there." Don replies, "Same crowd out here."

* In Judy Blume's ''Iggie's House'', Winnie Barringer and the three Garber children play house in a house that's being constructed in the neighborhood while they're on their way to a picnic near the end of the story.

* Shizuru and Tomoe did this a few times near the end of ''Anime/MaiOtome''. When two grown women play house, it's not quite as innocent as usual. [[DieForOurShip Shizuru X Natsuki shippers were not amused.]]

* One early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip saw Charlie Brown play house with Patty and Lucy; he was the dad, Patty was the mom, and Lucy was the child. Lucy bailed the second the other two told her not to bother her while they were busy, the reason being that she didn't want to play something she already experienced at home.

* Mentioned and mixed with GettingCrapPastTheRadar in ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''. At one point in the episode "Thirteensomething", Plucky to cheer Buster up to snap him out of his depression over Babs' absence, and Shirley praises him for it. This exchange ensues: