History Main / RemarryingForYourKids

* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'': John Shelby sights his kids as the main reason he needs to remarry.

* When explaining to Ross why she has decided to marry his ArchEnemy George, Elizabeth uses this as one of the reasons. George is rich and can financially provide for her son, Geoffrey Charles.

* ''Film/TheAristocats''. Played straight with Duchess and O'Malley, but the kittens' lack of biological father is never mentioned or explained.

* TruthInTelevision. This wasn't uncommon through much of human history, especially due to DeathByChildBirth being much more common. (Which often left behind children, and sometimes MassiveNumberedSiblings) The widower left behind would be expected to remarry to provide his children with a mother. A dead father would often produce a similar result. This was often motivated by the idea that children needed to be raised by a 'mother' and 'father' to flourish

* In RocketPower, the [[MissingMom Missing Mom's]] disappearance was eventually explained, saying she died. Ray married shortly after this was mentioned.

* This was common enough in the Victorian-era that etiquette books even had guidelines for how long Wife #2 should mourn her dead predecessor (assuming the male remarried during his mourning period).

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Enchanted}}'', Robert has an extended relationship with Nancy, but end up with Giselle in the end. Morgan's mother is explicitly mentioned to have 'left,' which is actually pretty dark for a kid's movie.

-->''"All right? Because, '''I''' need someone. All right, '''the kids''' need someone."'''

->''"Aunt Polly, you know what it's been like since Martha died… Truth is, my kids have been running bloody rings around me. Running barefoot with the dogs until all hours… What the kids need is a mother. So that's why I'm getting married."''

-->''"Aunt Polly, you know what it's been like since Martha died… Truth is, my kids have been running bloody rings around me. Running barefoot with the dogs until all hours… What the kids need is a mother. So that's why I'm getting married."''
->--'''John Shelby''', ''Series/PeakyBlinders''

'''Jeff:''' Okay...but ''just'' for that sake of the children....[[AllMenArePerverts Hey, you don't think the kids would mind having a young stepmom with some big ol' hooters, do you?]]

-->''"All right? Because, I need someone. All right, the kids need someone."'''

-->''"Aunt Polly, you know what it's been like since Martha died… Truth is, my kids have been running bloody rings around me. Running barefoot with the dogs until all hours… What the kids need is a mother. So that's why I'm getting married."''

* Deconstructed a bit in ''Literature/WivesAndDaughters'', Molly's mother dies when she's a little girl. When she's teenaged, her father thinks she really needs a mother-figure and marries because of it. However, while not being exactly EvilStepmother, she's a difficult woman and not helpful at all.

May involve a plot that features ParentWithNewParamour, though those cases are not always for the children's sake. Contrast GlamorousSingleMother, who makes being a single parent look easy.

Having a single parent in a work isn't uncommon in the slightest. But if a character's MissingMom or DisappearedDad is explained as being a product of death or ParentalAbandonment, it's likely for the single parent to be [[LastMinuteHookup paired up with another character by the end.]] This can be used to resolve the lack of [[RomancingTheWidow spouse]] and [[ParentalSubstitute parent]] in one swoop. The character may intentionally be looking for a spouse/partner throughout the story, but this often isn't the case.

The popularity of this trope may lead one to assume that anytime a widowed parent appears, [[LastMinuteHookUp they will be paired off in the end.]]

Playing this straight involves the parent being [[OfficialCouple paired off with another character]] over the course of the story (backstory doesn't count) May involve a plot that features ParentWithNewParamour.

[[AC:{{Television}}]]
* Used in {{Glee}}. Kurt originally [[ShipperOnDeck tried to pair up his dad and Finn's mom]] so he would have an excuse to spend more time with Finn. They eventually married, quite appropriate, considering they had both been widowed.

* AbrahamLincoln's mother died of milk sickness when he was nine. A short time later his father went off for a week and brought home a WidowWoman specifically to be the new mother to his children. The new Mrs. Lincoln already had three children of her own, so the replacement went both directions.

* This was common enough in the Victorian-era that etiquette books even had guidelines for how long Wife #2 should mourn her dead predecessor (assuming the male remarried during his mourning period).

* Averted in ''Film/TreasurePlanet''. Jim's lack of father is given an explicit explantation, but Mrs. Dawkins never enters another relationship.

* Averted in {{WesternAnimation/Epic}}. MK's mother is explicitly mentioned to have died, but her father, Bomba, is not paired up with another character

* ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'' has Chuckie's father decide to remarry because he wants to provide a mom for his son. Unfortunately, he's not very good at telling that Chuckie is ''terrified'' of his new girlfriend Coco. Played Straight as Chaz ends up marrying Kira by the end of the movie.

* ''Film/TheAristocats''. Played straight with Duchess and O'Malley, but the kitten's lack of biological father is never mentioned or explained.