History Main / WhatIfTheBabyIsLikeMe

Related to and may result in GiveHimANormalLife. Compare with EvilParentsWantGoodKids, contrast with FetusTerrible.

* In the sequel to ''The Fly'', Beth has a nightmare after discovering what Martin's experimenting on, [[spoiler: in which she gives birth to a human-scale maggot baby]].

* In one episode of the ''Series/{{X-Men}}'' animated series, Jean Grey worries about this when Scott proposes to her. Scott's response? "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* A variation in ''{{Bones}}''. Angela and Hodgins are both carriers for a certain gene which, if passed on, will result in their baby being born blind. (Both of them have full vision.) [[spoiler: Their worries are for nothing, and their baby is born healthy.]]

* In ''LuckyStar'', Kanata wishes that her daughter Konata won't have her mother's height or her father's eccentricies and love for eroge. She gets all of the above.

* Related: One ''LawAndOrder'' episode had a primordial dwarf kill his (normal-sized) daughter's dwarf boyfriend for fear that they would have children - his daughter would have a very good chance of giving birth to another dwarf as a result. [[spoiler:He was too late; she was already pregnant, so he'd killed the guy for nothing.]]

* Averted in the ''TeenWolf'' franchise: the trait is a family trait and they all treat it like it's a pretty cool thing to have happen. It enhances your physique to near-peak levels and makes you rockstar-popular, and the only drawback is that you're in desperate need of a razor on the full moon - not much to complain about, really.

* Brought up in the ''HonorHarrington'' book ''At All Costs'' when Emily Alexander is confronted with a reason she never tried having a baby. A horrific accident left her wheelchair bound because she was one of the rare minority who couldn't use regeneration technology to heal. She feared her child having the same problem and ending up in the same situation.
** Emily simply wasn't rational there. Note that Honor ''also'' have this condition (in turns up often in her gene mod) and had to content with [[HollywoodCyborg prosteses]] of her battle-lost eye and arm, but had no objections to having a child. [[spoiler: Mostly because of ButICantBePregnant situation, but sill...]]

Anxiety by parents-to-be that due to particular or unusual traits that may be passed on from their partner or themselves, their children will lead a difficult life. This is often felt by the InspirationallyDisadvantaged who have one on the way, though this can be a particularly complicated issue if one of the parents happens to be the FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire/[[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Werewolf]]/[[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demon]]/[[OurMonstersAreDifferent what have you]]. [[BigScrewedUpFamily Extreme family issues]], [[FantasticRacism Fantastic]] [[{{HalfHumanHybrid}} Racism]] (or standard racism, of course) or [[CursedWithAwesome curses]] might be a cause for concern also. When it's played for drama, it's often used as a method of [[YankTheDogsChain yanking the dog's chain]], as this now means the {{Woobie}} might have [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone ignorantly]] forced his burden onto an innocent child.

In most cases, however, these worries end up being completely needless. The offspring in these situations usually turn out completely normal, or if anything, only inherit the parent-in-question's "good" attributes. If the parent is a vampire, the [[{{Dhampyr}} child]] might inherit his super strength, but have a normal human diet and be immune to sunlight. If the parent is TheGrotesque, the [[{{ptitle79i5ttca}} child]] will probably only inherit his BlueEyes.

* In "LuckyStar", Kanata wishes that her daughter Konata won't have her mother's height or her father's eccentricies and love for eroge. She gets all of the above.

** In the ''Dexter'' novels, it's Dexter's stepchildren who end up being "like him"... and he ends up teaching them the same code he was taught by his own father.

* Related: One ''LawAndOrder'' episode had a primordial dwarf kill his daughter's dwarf boyfriend for fear that they would have children - his daughter would have a very good chance of giving birth to another dwarf as a result. [[spoiler:He was too late; she was already pregnant, so he'd killed the guy for nothing.]]

* Averted in the ''TeenWolf'' franchise: the trait is a family trait and they all treat it like it's a pretty cool thing to have happen.

** In the ''Dexter'' novels, it's Dexter's stepdaughter who ends up being "like him"... and he ends up teaching her the same code he was taught by his own father.

* In the song ''Betty and Me'', by JohnathonCoulton. Betty is [[YourCheatingHeart pregnant by Doctor Martin]], so she doesn't wind up with offspring like her childish, naïve and lovingly gullible partner.

* A man with an extreme case of hypotrichosis who worked in a circus as an acrobatic wolf man was terrified that his wife's child would be born with his condition.

* The titular character of TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton stresses over this through a significant portion of the film. His daughter is born normal.
* This crossed Forrest's mind in ForrestGump. Upon meeting his son for the first time, he asks the mother, "Is he smart? Or is he like..." while gesturing to himself. She assures him that he's "very smart".

* Played straight with Remus in HarryPotter. He expresses a lot of anxiety that his son will be born a werewolf like him. The kid is born normal of course, unless you count his mother's ability to change hair color.
* In TheTimeTravelersWife, this is a major concern for the CursedWithAwesome main character who suffers from spontaneous time travel. His daughter does indeed inherit the trait, but she sees it as a good thing.

* Richard Wilson's Nebula-winning short story ''Mother to the World'' has this at its conclusion--a male scientist and a not-too-bright cleaning woman are the sole survivors of a worldwide event. They set out to re-populate the world, and at the end the man quizzes his son, to test whether he's smart (and thus, whether the human race will be viable or not). He is.

* Before Connor was born in {{Angel}}, there was a bit of concern over what kind of being would be born to two vampires. He seems to be born a normal human, but he later develops into your average {{Dhampyr}}, more or less.
* {{Dexter}}. In the TV series his pondering over this continues even after his son is born since it's [[SerialKiller too early to tell]].
** In the ''{{Dexter}}'' novels, it's Dexter's stepdaughter who ends up being "like him"... and he ends up teaching her the same code he was taught by his own father.
* In the original '{{V}}' Robin is afraid the baby is like its father [[spoiler: once she's learned that the Visitors aren't as cuddly and human looking as they'd led everyone to believe]].
* When Daphne and Niles were having a baby on {{Frasier}}, Daphne was worried it would turn out to be a sissy like him, while Niles was worried it would turn out to be a drunken ruffian like Daphne's brothers.
-->'''Daphne''': Oh, a Moon boy I know how to handle, but what if he's a little genius, teasing me in French by the time he's six?
-->'''Niles''': That is so funny. I've been worried he's going to turn out like your brothers. I was sure when he kicked that speaker off your belly that you had a little Simon in there.

* In ''StarTrekVoyager'', B'Ellana, who had a difficult childhood due to being a HalfHumanHybrid, is so worried about her and Tom's child having the same problems that she reprograms the Doctor so he won't see altering the unborn baby's genetics as unethical. Eventually, Tom persuades her that her problems were down to her dad, not herself.

* Commented on briefly in the song "What Could be Better" from the {{musical}} ''Baby''. While Lizzie sings of their good qualities they could pass on to their unborn child, Danny teases her by singing "What could be better than if our little spawn/Got all his brains from his dad/And from his mom got his brawn?"

* In one episode of the ''[[Series/XMen X-Men]]'' animated series, Jean Grey worries about this when Scott proposes to her. Scott's response? "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* Bernard Shaw was pestered for a while by an actress who had an over-inflated idea of her own attractiveness, and insisted that she wanted to bear Shaw's child, who would of course be the perfect combination of his genius and her beauty. Eventually Shaw got exasperated enough to reply to her, "But, my good woman, what if it turns out to have ''my'' looks and ''your'' brains?"