History Main / WhyAreYouNotMySon

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/TheCloakSociety.'' In the first book, protagonist [[{{Telekinesis}} Alex]] defects from the titular supervillain society. Later, [[TheBrute Titan]] pretends to be their parents' son when the three of them [[spoiler:pose as superheroes]]. Alex can't help but feel like this shows what kind of son they ''wish'' they had.

* Reed Richard's father in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' blatantly prefers [[JockDadNerdSon the more athletic Ben Grimm to his own genius son]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, there are two girls who are only daughters. They are cousins; their respective fathers are brothers, estranged Grand Dukes of a noble family in [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Far Überwald]]. Olga Romanoff is estranged from her family as she caught the peasant affliction of Witchcraft at a young age and ran away to Lancre to learn how to use it safely. In later life, she joined the City Watch in Ankh-Morpork where she now holds officer rank. There is still distance between Olga and her father, but two of her uncles, Casimir and Dimitri, both admire her. Meanwhile, Dimitri's daughter Natasha Romanoff was sent to the Assassins' Guild School, as a socially acceptable and prestigious education for a young woman of quality and nobility. Her Uncle Nikolas (Olga's father) has openly said he wishes Natasha had been his daughter, as she would have spared him the trials and dissappointments he got with Olga. Meanwhile both Uncle Casimir and Uncle Dimitri (Natasha's father) have openly admired Olga for her abilities and skills, and what she has made of herself. Dimitri has compared her - favourably - to his own daughter Natasha. And both cousins are very aware of this. Over a [[VodkaDrunkenski bottle of something strong]] they have joked that maybe they should swap fathers.

* Hwang in the ''VideoGame/SoulSeries''. Seung Han Myong basically treats him like the son he never had, and whilst he loves his daughter Seung Mina, will not allow her to go out to fight because it wasn't considered proper for a woman to do so in Korea at the time.

* If the narrative of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13376018/2/My-Hero-Academia-Hero-Time My Hero Academia:Hero Time]]'' is anything to go by, [[{{Jerkass}} Katsuki Bakugo's]] parents constantly compare him to his [[NiceGuy much nicer]] [[WeUSedToBeFriends former childhood friend]], Izuku Midoriya.

* If the narrative of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13376018/2/My-Hero-Academia-Hero-Time My Hero Academia:Hero Time]]'' is anything to go by, [[{{Jerkass}} Katsuki Bakugo's]] parents (or at least his mother) constantly compare him to his [[NiceGuy much nicer]] [[WeUSedToBeFriends former childhood friend]], Izuku Midoriya.

* If the narrative of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13376018/2/My-Hero-Academia-Hero-Time My Hero Academia:Hero Time]]'' is anything to go by, [[{{Jerkass}} Katsuki Bakugo's]] parents constantly compare him to his [[NiceGuy much nicer]] [[WeUSedToBeFriends former childhood friend]], Izuku Midoriya.

* If the narrative of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13376018/2/My-Hero-Academia-Hero-Time My Hero Academia:Hero Time]]'' is anything to go by, [[{{Jerkass}} Katsuki Bakugo's]] parents constantly being compare him to his [[NiceGuy much nicer]] [[WeUSedToBeFriends former childhood friend]], Izuku Midoriya.

* If the narrative of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13376018/2/My-Hero-Academia-Hero-Time My Hero Academia:Hero Time]]'' is anything to go by, [[{{Jerkass}} Katsuki Bakugo]] is constantly being compared by his parents to his [[NiceGuy much nicer]] [[WeUSedToBeFriends former childhood friend]], Izuku Midoriya.

* In ''the Boy Who Drew Monsters'', both Jack's parents see Nick more as the normal son, which they could have had and favor him in many circumstances, not that this even bothers Jack in any way (too involved with his drawings), Tim (the father) especially envisions Nell (Nick's mother) as the wife he could have had and Nick as the son he could have had, in the life he could have had (at the hospital Tim even blurts to Nell, in front of his own son, that [[LikeaSontoMe Nick is like a son to him]], Nell then points towards Jack (his actual son) telling him that he is his son not Nick, but Jack is not even aware of the entire dialogue); Holly, in contrast, envisions her life at one point without any son, or any husband for that matter. Downplayed to an extent though, because even though both parents essentially blame Jack for ruining their lives with the troubles he has caused them and their marriage, due to his suddenly new abnormal behavior, it is quite clear that they both still care for and love their son, and acknowledge him as such. They even refer to him numerous times as their son, their 'baby boy', the boy that they want back.

* In ''the Boy Who Drew Monsters'', both Jack's parents see Nick more as the normal son, which they could have had and favor him in many circumstances, not that this even bothers Jack in any way (too involved with his drawings), Tim (the father) especially envisions Nell (Nick's mother) as the wife he could have had and Nick as the son he could have had, in the life he could have had (at the hospital Tim even blurts to Nell, in front of his own son, that [[LikeaSontoMe Nick is like a son to him]], Nell then points towards Jack (his actual son) telling him that he is his son not Nick, but Jack is not even aware of the entire dialogue; Holly, in contrast, envisions her life at one point without any son, or any husband for that matter. True, both parents essentially blame Jack for ruining their lives with the troubles he has caused them and their marriage, it is quite clear that they both still care for and love their son, and acknowledge him as such. They even refer to him numerous times as their son, their 'baby boy', the boy that they want back.

* Reed Richard's father in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' blatantly prefers [[JockDadNerdSon the more athletic Ben Grimm to his own genius son]].

* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: Heart of Hush'', Tommy Elliot's mother constantly praises Bruce Wayne as an intelligent, successful man of the world while keeping her own son under her thumb and getting in the way of his own dreams of success. Tommy grows increasingly frustrated by this, especially since he thinks of Bruce as a spoiled playboy.

* Norman Osborn in the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' film is a more unintentional example, clearly impressed by Peter's brilliance and implicitly comparing his own son, Harry, negatively to Peter. [[ItWasHisSled As everyone knows]], Norman becomes the villain the Green Goblin, and Harry ends up going crazy and following in his father's footsteps. In their battles at ''Film/SpiderMan3'', Peter -- corrupted by the Venom symbiote -- uses this trope at Harry to mock him, [[KickTheDog telling him that his father was ashamed of him as his son]].
* The movie ''O'' is ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' [[HighSchoolAU set at a high school]], and has the Iago character as the son of a coach and the Othello equivalent being his favorite player. Unlike the original play, this makes "Iago", if not sympathetic, at least relatable rather than acting ForTheEvulz.

* Combined with LikeASonToMe in ''Film/TheThinRedLine'', when career military officer Lt Colonel Tall is speaking to his SergeantRock.
-->'''Tall:''' You feel like a son to me, John. [beat] You know what my son does? He's a bait salesman.

* In ''the Boy Who Drew Monsters'', both Jack's parents see Nick more as the normal son, which they could have had and favor him in many circumstances, not that this even bothers Jack in any way (too involved with his drawings), Tim (the father) especially envisions Nell (Nick's mother) as the wife he could have had and Nick as the son he could have had, in the life he could have had (at the hospital Tim even blurts to Nell, in front of his own son, that [[LikeaSontoMe Nick is like a son to him]], Nell then points towards Jack (his actual son) telling him that he is his son not Nick, but Jack is not even aware of the entire dialogue; Holly, in contrast, envisions her life at one point without any son, or any husband for that matter. True, both parents essentially blame Jack for ruining their lives with the troubles he has caused them and their marriage, it is quite clear that they both still care for and love their son, and acknowledge him as such. They even refer to him numerous times as their son, their 'baby boy', the boy that they want back.

* To an extent, Ron encounters this in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. He already feels like TheUnfavorite compared to his [[MassiveNumberedSiblings six]] siblings, but there are also some moments where his parents dote on Harry and he feels slighted. From a more objective perspective, however, one could easily see that his parents care about him too--they just feel more sorry for Harry because [[OrphansOrdeal he has no loving family of his own]].
** This even comes up in [[ArtifactOfDoom Riddle Locket]]'s BreakingSpeech: the locket conjures up an illusion of Harry who claims ([[ImaginaryLoveTriangle among other things]]) that Mrs. Weasley confessed to loving him more, while mockingly asking Ron why she wouldn't.
** Ron gets off easy compared to Neville. In addition to the pressure of living up to his Auror parents, his grandmother likes to ask him why he couldn't be more like Harry (and she only speaks to him once in the series). At the start of book six, Professor [=McGonagall=] tells Neville that it's time his grandmother started appreciating the grandson she had instead of the one she thought she ought to have. [[spoiler:His grandmother eventually does [[SoProudofYou say how proud of him she is]]]].
* In ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'', Brun shames his son Broud by referring to Ayla, a girl, as the son he should have had.
* ''Literature/SwordAtSunset'': KingArthur's estimation of the relative merits of his WorthyOpponent Cerdic of Wessex and his BastardBastard Medraut is all too apparent.

* ''Literature/TheSicilian'': [[TheMafia Mafia Don]] Croce Malo feels this towards the protagonist and wishes for him to be his successor, as his real son went off to South America to become a missionary, much to his disappointment.

* There's a comic twist on this in ''Series/HarryEnfieldAndChums''. In one of the Kevin and Perry sketches Kevin's parents ask him why he has to be so rude and nasty to them all the time, unlike the shy and polite Perry. Of course this is immediately subverted when Kevin takes a phone call from Perry's parents and becomes shy and polite while talking to them, then puts Perry on who is immediately rude and nasty to them.
* Subverted in the episode dealing with Daedalus and Icarus in ''Series/TheStoryteller''. Daedalus is frustrated by his son Icarus' clumsiness and lack of inventive genius. A cousin comes to stay with them who does have this brilliance and attracts Daedalus' favor. The twist, is that although he acts like a WellDoneSonGuy towards Icarus, Daedalus "accidentally-on-purpose" kills his nephew, both because he reminds him of disappointment in his own son, and because he sees him as a rival. This also happened in the actual myths and was much less "accidental."

* In ''Series/{{Kings}}'', the ruling King Silas prefers David to his son [[DepravedHomosexual Jack]] because Jack's homosexuality and generally hedonistic lifestyle prevents him from being capable of taking over the kingdom. The plot being lifted from the story of Saul, Jonathan, and David from ''The Bible'' makes this Older Than Feudalism.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': In series one, Sylar seemed to be under the impression that Chandra initially preferred him to Mohinder. At least, that's what Sylar tells Mohinder.

* In the first series of ''Series/{{Skins}}'', Sid's episode shows that his father clearly prefers Tony over him, not getting that Sid is trying to be a hero helping people while Tony is a boderline sociopath.
* In Season 1 of ''Series/GossipGirl'', Eleanor is more friendly to and seems to favor Serena over her daughter, Blair.
* A subversion on ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Burt Hummel is quite accepting of his CampGay son Kurt, even though he's a fairly masculine man himself. But when Finn becomes his stepson, Burt and Finn start bonding over their similar interests, and Kurt fears that this trope is occurring, until his father assures him that though he may not always understand Kurt, he always loves him. Burt even chews out Finn for using a homophobic slur against Kurt, though he later chews out Kurt as well when he learns why Finn was so upset with Kurt.
* Completely averted in ''{{Series/Kaamelott}}''; where Leodagan already finds his own son Yvain a complete disappointment (imagine the kind of lazy and selfish teenager incapable of grasping his lack of talent and has no plans for the future), and sees Yvain's best friend Gauvain as equally annoying (now imagine two of them).

''[[Funny/DoctorWho [Rory mimicks her petulantly]]]''

* In the third season of ''Series/{{Damages}}'' Joe, the son of Louis Tobin, the late runner of a Ponzi scheme, confronts the family attorney, Leonard on how [[spoiler: Leonard isn't even a real lawyer but stole his identity]]. Leonard scoffs that Louis knew the truth about him for years, that he trusted Leonard totally and openly says "I was more his son than you ever were." Joe laughs that Louis openly called Leonard "my little monkey" and never saw him as more than just another employee to use.
* Done lightly on ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'': When Emily stays with Hanna while her parents move to Texas, she cooks breakfast the first morning as a "thank you," and Hanna's mom jokes about considering keeping the "daughter upgrade."

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Dale starts teaching Bobby acting and Hank starts teaching Dale's son lacrosse in a variant of this trope.
* One ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode has [=SpongeBob=] trying to act very mature, and his grandmother pampering Patrick instead. [=SpongeBob=] ends up breaking into tears and admitting he likes being babied.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' also uses the Norman Osborn/Green Goblin preferring Peter Parker to his son Harry plot. This version of Norman is by far the most blatant, contrasting the two of them right to Harry's face.
* Yet another ''Spider-Man'' example: Norman thinks this of Peter in ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'', though it's somewhat mitigated by the fact that this version Norman does care about his own son, Harry. Becomes blatant in the episode "Carnage" though:
-->'''Goblin/Norman:''' Ah, Welcome home, son.\\
'''Peter:''' What do you want? Let me go. Did you just say "son"?\\
'''Goblin:''' The son I've always wanted. Harry and I share a few recessive genes, but nothing more. You're smarter, more driven. And as a wimpy, defenseless kid, you appreciate power. You can be a greater creation than the late, great Spider-Man.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', "More Like Gretchen": Gretchen and Spinelli spend the day with Spinelli's parents, who can't stop gushing about Gretchen, who plays the piano and sings very well, can fix a TV, and even improves upon Spinelli's spaghetti recipe. As a result, Spinelli starts to become jealous and very antagonistic towads Gretchen, claiming she doesn't want to be her friend anymore.
* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements,'' Riley goes to Canada on an exchange program and the boy from Canada who arrives to live with the Darlings ends up being so well liked that the family neglects Todd.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':
** [[AnIcePerson Icicle Sr.]] praises Tommy Terror (actually ComicBook/{{Superboy}} in disguise) and compares him favorably to his son, Tommy/Superboy's cellmate [[WellDoneSonGuy Icicle Jr.]]
** Robin seems to feel this way in "Downtime" when Franchise/{{Batman}} takes Aqualad aside for a private talk, even though it's not really the case (Bat's actually chewing out Aqualad). Bruce later mends things with a pick-up basketball game.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', Pete and his son PJ's best friend Max end up paired up on an RV project. Pete compliments Max for his insight and wonders aloud why PJ can't be more like Max. Pete probably didn't know PJ was listening in on that conversation, but later in the episode he blatantly rejects PJ in favor of Max multiple times. Generally speaking, however, Pete doesn't favor Max over PJ--he usually treats both of them with hostility.

* Hwang in the ''VideoGame/SoulSeries''. Seung Han Myong basically treats him like the son he never had, and whilst he loves his daughter Seung Mina, will not allow her to go out to fight because it wasn't considered proper for a woman to do so in Korea at the time.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TwelveForever'' episode "The Mall Forever", Esther goes to the mall with Reggie and her mother Judy. Judy and Esther quickly establish a rapport sorely lacking between Reggie and her mother, [[WantedAGenderConformingChild mostly because they're both much more feminine than Reggie]] and [[WhenYouCominHomeDad Esther is wanting for a maternal figure with her mom being so busy]].

* This dynamic often underlines ''ComicBook/SpiderMan's'' dynamic with Comicbook/NormanOsborn, AKA the Green Goblin, and his son Harry Osborn who is Peter's best friend:

** Originally this wasn't there so much. Norman was an avuncular figure to Peter in his amnesiac lame dad phase. After his resurrection, in ''Revenge of the Green Goblin'', Norman decides that Peter is his true heir and resolves to torture him until he becomes a Goblin.

* On ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George's SitcomArchNemesis is Lloyd Braun, who grew up in the same neighbourhood as George. George's mother always liked Lloyd better than him, even more so now that the two are adults and Lloyd is much more successful than George. Lloyd however seems [[UnknownRival completely unaware that George dislikes him]].

* Reed Richard's father in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' blatantly prefers the more athletic Ben Grimm to his own genius son.

Contrast LikeASonToMe.

A type of being TheUnFavorite in which a character's parent compares them negatively to one of their friends. It is very common for the character in question to make a FaceHeelTurn because of this, and become antagonistic towards the friend. The extent to which the parent shows this attitude tends to vary, ranging from an unconscious preference for the friend to an openly antagonistic attitude towards their own child.

* Kali Belladonna takes this trope up to {{Yandere}} [[UpToEleven levels]] in regards to [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Ruby Rose]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12737614/1/Kali-Wants-A-Kitty Kali Wants A Kitty]]''. Kali feels that she had failed in raising Blake simply because the latter did not grow up the way the former intended her to, and thus she sees Ruby as an alternate, more ideal daughter, and is willing to kill anyone who stands in her way of attaining her. The story has 2 [[MultipleEndings Alternate Endings]]: Ending 1 has [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuyWins Kali effectively lobotomizing Ruby into becoming her daughter after framing Yang for the murders she committed]]]], while Ending 2 has [[spoiler:Yang kill Kali, [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim but in doing so, becomes exactly like her]]]].

* Used as a joke in an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures''. The team is exploring in the polar regions. Jonny is eager to go out and test the new equipment, including upgraded (and fast) snowmobiles. Jessie segues into reminding him about the scientific purpose and importance of their mission. Race raises an eyebrow, turns to Dr. Quest and asks if they somehow managed to swap kids.

* Norman Osborn in the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' film is a more unintentional example, clearly impressed by Peter's brilliance and implicitly comparing his own son, Harry, negatively to Peter. [[ItWasHisSled As everyone knows]], Norman becomes the villain the Green Goblin, and Harry ends up going crazy and following in his father's footsteps. In their battles at ''Film/SpiderMan3'', Peter - corrupted by the Venom symbiote - uses this trope at Harry to mock him, [[KickTheDog telling him that his father was ashamed of him as his son]].

* This dynamic often underlines ''ComicBook/SpiderMan's'' dynamic with Comicbook/NormanOsborn'' aka the Green Goblin, and his son Harry Osborn who is Peter's best friend:

* Norman Osborn in the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' film is a more unintentional example, clearly impressed by Peter's brilliance and implicitly comparing his own son, Harry, negatively to Peter. [[ItWasHisSled As everyone knows]], Norman becomes the villain the Green Goblin, and Harry ends up going crazy and following in his father's footsteps.