Line #219 Main/WhenYouComingHomeDad


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/LittleLapses https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whenyoucominghomemom.png]]]]
6
7	->''"If you miss little Timmy's softball game even once, he'll end up a serial killer all because of your terrible parenting."''
8	-->-- '''Creator/NathanRabin''' explains the moral of ''Film/{{North}}'' and the entire subgenre of what he calls "parenthood redemption comedies," ''The Website/AVClub''
9
10	Parenting is challenging and complicated, and most parents are doing the best they can in the world's hardest job. Hollywood knows that you're doing it wrong, though, if you spend even one second at work that you could be fishing or teaching your kid to catch a baseball. This trope can fail at even trying to find a balance between work and spending time with the kids.
11
12	Basically, this is a story about parents who do honestly love their kids but are {{Workaholic}}s who yammer away on a cellphone constantly and [[DaddyDidntShow don't show up to their kid's science fair or soccer game or spelling bee]]. The child will feel the pain and misery of your (often ridiculously benign) neglect as he looks in the audience and sees you aren't there. It can even unintentionally infer that they don't care about their own children. It usually develops into AnAesop about not busting your hump for the boss man and instead spending time with your family, frequently by CuttingTheElectronicLeash.
13
14	Subtrope of ParentalNeglect and MarriedToTheJob. While not quite AlwaysMale, has a strong tendency to be about Dad rather than Mom. Not really ParentalAbandonment because the parents are there, and not HandsOffParenting either because they usually aren't hippies. This trope is the most usual portrait of ParentsAsPeople, and usually part of the backstory of a LonelyRichKid. Overlaps with PulledFromYourDayOff if they try to make time but work interferes anyway and DisneylandDad if they try to make up for being absent by buying expensive gifts and paying for expensive outings.
15
16	----
17	!!Example subpages:
18	[[index]]
19	* [[WhenYouComingHomeDad/AnimeAndManga Anime & Manga]]
20	[[/index]]
21
22	!!Other examples:
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Advertising]]
26	* In the late 1980s, Telecom New Zealand [[http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/index.php?option=com_nfa_education&task=online_unit&online_unit_id=8&chapter=3 ran an advert]] depicting a young boy speaking on the phone to his truck driver dad, with [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]]' ''Are You Lonesome Tonight'' playing in the background.
27	* For the 2015 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl, Nissan had a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd1qCi5nSKw one and a half minute ad]] about a racing driver and his son being separated from day one by his career, with Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle" scoring it and the dad nearly getting killed in a racing accident.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Animation]]
31	* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Not once throughout the original series' 3-season run are [=BoBoiBoy's=] parents seen; he visits Rintis Island during the holidays in the 1st season before his parents allow him to move there permanently from the 2nd season and onwards to live with his grandfather. Only in Season 3 does he mention that his parents are ambassadors who are often busy going places, as he's saddened that his parents couldn't visit him for Earth Day. [[spoiler:More specifically, his father is a space ambassador (and the titular hero of ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}''), his debut being in TheStinger of ''[=BoBoiBoy=] Movie 2''. Additionally, the extended [[MilestoneCelebration 10-year anniversary]] version of [[Recap/BoBoiBoyS1E1TheBeginning episode 1]] features him seeing off his son in a prologue, promising that he'll be back soon.]]
32	--> '''[=BoBoiBoy=]:''' Dad, when are you coming back?\
33	'''[[spoiler:Amato]]:''' I'm not sure, my son. I'll come home as soon as I can, okay?\
34	'''[=BoBoiBoy=]''': Come home soon, alright?
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comedy]]
38	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in Tim Hawkins' piece "Short Songs", where one of the songs he abbreviates seems to be "Cat in a Cradle": "My son got mad 'cause I worked all the time; he grew up to be a jerk, just like me!"
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Comic Books]]
42	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
43	** Thomas Wayne is sometimes portrayed as having been this kind of father to Bruce -- in some versions, the fateful trip to the movies was intended to make up for this...
44	** In some versions, Dick Grayson first moving into the Wayne Mansion is depicted as the little orphan desperate for some attention from his new guardian, but Bruce being caught up with "business". Once Dick finds out the truth and takes up the mantle of Robin this changes, of course.
45	** Tim Drake's parents were often out of Gotham on business trips and visiting archeological sites, and when they were in Gotham his father was pretty much always busy and never really knew much about his son though it's clear he wanted to be a better parent and felt guilty about it.
46	** ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'': Played with in the case of Jacob Kane, Kate and Beth Kane's father. As a Special Forces soldier, he was often away on missions, and thus commonly missed events in his daughters' lives, such as their birthdays. However, this tapered off as he received promotions, and after Kate enrolled at West Point, he was present at a few Academy events, such as accompanying Kate to R-Day or attending one of her boxing matches.
47	* Post-Crisis, pre-New 52 ComicBook/BlackCanary had a childhood like this. Her mother was the original Golden Age Black Canary. She was often too busy being a superhero to be around in her daughter's life. Dinah II gave her mom a "Best Mom Ever" mug ironically.
48	* The ''Film/Godzilla2014'' tie-in graphic novel ''Godzilla Awakening'' shows that [[Characters/MonsterVerseIshiroSerizawa Dr. Ishirō Serizawa]] got this from his father [[Characters/MonsterVerseMonarch Eiji Serizawa]] as a child. After joining Monarch, Eiji was often absent for long periods during Ishirō's childhood, to the dismay of his son who was unaware of the true nature of Monarch's work as anything other than a cargo company. After Eiji revealed the full truth to Ishirō as an old man, it led to reconciliation.
49	* ComicBook/GreenArrow was this after he took Roy Harper in and made him his sidekick. Oliver was frequently out and about when they weren't in costume and left Roy by himself for varying periods of time. Roy's birth father died in a forest fire when Roy was three, and Roy's adopted father Brave Bow died of liver failure when Roy was twelve. Brave Bow sought Oliver out before that happened because he knew he was dying.
50	* Diamond Tiara gets a taste of this in the ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' arc where her father, Filthy Rich, becomes mayor of Ponyville. Among the things he promised was to spend more time with his daughter but with him so busy running the town, Diamond Tiara feels alone and forgotten.
51	* ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' shows that ComicBook/{{Sunspot}}'s mother is an archaeologist who's almost always away from home. She didn't show up to the football game where he developed his mutant powers, which he later calls her out on. Combined with his father, who is revealed to be a [[ParentalBetrayal villain]], it leaves Sunspot as a LonelyRichKid.
52	* ''ComicBook/PoetAndersonTheDreamWalker'': The first issue's opening show Jonas and Alan's parents are often absent due to their jobs.
53	* ''ComicBook/{{Plutona}}'''s hero gets this treament. She comes home from her day job earning money they need to survive only to be immediately called back out to save lives as a superhero. Her teenage daughter begs for more time but Plutona refuses.
54	* ''ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp'': [[spoiler: In "[[Recap/ScoobyDooTeamUpFutureShocked Future Shocked]]", [[WesternAnimation/TheJetsons Elroy Jetson]] is revealed to be the one behind the Space Age Specter. He did it because Mr. Spacely kept Elroy's Dad busy with Project X]].
55	* In the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comic that first revealed that ComicBook/NormanOsborn was the Green Goblin, we see Norman being this to his son Harry in a flashback. We even see him bringing Harry an expensive present and trying to tell himself that this surely makes up for never having time for him.
56	* In ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'', this winds up being the relationship between Nomi Sunrider and her daughter Vima. Although they aren't physically separated, Nomi has little time for Vima (or for Vima's training) when she becomes Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. As a result, Vima acts out and then seeks out a new teacher in the regretful fallen Jedi, Ulic Qel-Droma.
57	* ''ComicBook/TeenTitansGo'': [[spoiler:Killer Moth's]] daughter did what she did in Issue #41 to get his attention because he's distracted with some [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination plot]].
58	* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Charles Xavier had a distant relation with his son David. Even when he was home, he managed to be absent.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Fan Works]]
62	* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': Although the [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans AbraxasVerse version of Ren Serizawa]] hasn't taken it [[FreudianExcuse nearly as badly]] as the ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' incarnation of the character did, it's still implied that his father Ishirō Serizawa rarely made time to visit him at home due to the demands of his work for Monarch.
63	* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/81212/cats-in-the-cradle Cat's In The Cradle]]'' is basically a retelling of the trope namer in the form of Rainbow Dash's life growing up, complete with Rainbow having a kid and being unable to spend time with her dad because her kid has the flu.
64	* ''Fanfic/CheshireMiraculousLadybug'': Marinette's parents sincerely care for her, but are ''extremely'' busy catering for several events for the Mayor of Paris or by his indication, like catering [[spoiler:for the United Heroes in ''New York'']]. This was planned by Chloe to keep Marinette alone and miserable.
65	* PlayedWith in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13249131/1/Croft-and-Son Croft and Son]]''. Lara is often away at work, but she'll talk to Nero whenever she can and is always by his side when he gets sick or hurt, and delayed a work trip entirely to spend a day with him for a school activity. Nero for his part is more than happy being with her, and his only sign of resentment came about in an argument over his future because Lara had a case of ParentalHypocrisy.
66	* Naruto in ''Demon in the Hyuga Clan'' goes through this for years (turning him into a rather soft-spoken, stoic yet well-adjusted kid) but due to being a master of AngstWhatAngst, his parents (Minato and Kushina are alive and well) don't realize he's miserable. Hinata calls them out on it (Naruto confides in her) saying they're making him feel unwanted. When they answer that he (Naruto) would've told them she basically asks: [[ArmorPiercingQuestion "How can he when YOU'RE NEVER HOME?"]] Cue StunnedSilence.
67	* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10305847/1/In-Love-of-Quidditch In Love of Quidditch]]'' James Potter spends long hours working as an Unspeakable as a reaction to [[DeathByChildbirth his wife's death]], leaving Harry and her twin brother Alex to be raised mostly by the house elves.
68	* Played straight and then resolved in ''[[Fanfic/SkyholdAcademyYearbook Life is a Roller Coaster]]''. [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Cassandra's]] son says his first word, prompting his father (who works in another country) to evaluate what's more important - his work or his family.
69	* In ''Fanfic/MarieDSuesseAndTheMysteryNewPirateAge'', Marie's parents have a troubled marriage, and Garreth, her father, often stays at work rather than go home, causing Marie to resent him for it.
70	* In ''FanFic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'', this happens with the Bonnes' parents, who are on indefinite vacations and check in infrequently.
71	* Subverted in ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku''. Hisashi Midoriya only gets to come home once or twice a month because of the rigors of his overseas job as a nuclear physicist. Despite this, he remains HappilyMarried to his wife Inko and his adoptive son Izuku is very happy to spend any amount of time with him.
72	* While Kensuke is growing up under far better conditions than the pilots in ''Fanfic/NeonMetathesisEvangelion'', matters aren't perfect. As the side story ''Life During Wartime'' indicates, his mother is dead, and his father is well off, but basically never around, always staying late at work.
73	* In ''Nexus'' this is subverted, as Jack rarely thinks about his father unless he has to.
74	* ''Fanfic/PerfectCompanions'': Applejack's parents had to travel to help the other Apple Families get their farms started up, and as a result weren't there that often, even missing her birthday several times. They finally made it to give her Winona to help keep her company while they were gone. [[spoiler:Sadly they died in an accident shortly thereafter.]]
75	* ''Fanfic/{{Queens}}'': Apple only sees her father five times a year. What other times she does are only brief passings.
76	* ''Fanfic/ThePriceOfFlight'': Captain Olga Romanoff of the Ankh-Morpork City Air Watch lives a busy professional life. She commands Ankh-Morpork's Air Police. The Pegasus Service means she has to fly seriously long-distance missions on behalf of the City. On top of this she is one of the three or four people in the next tier down from Sam Vimes who can reasonably be expected to step up and take acting command of the whole Watch. Olga is also married with twin children. She values being able to see them every now and again. And she frets that she isn't giving them enough time.
77	* ''Fanfic/WolfInTheStreetsSardineInTheSheets'': Fuka ''believes'' that this is why her father is taking so long to pick up her and Desco from Valvatorez's youth rehabilitation home. The truth of the matter is much sadder: he's currently serving time for involuntary manslaughter after causing a lab explosion that killed his wife and one of his daughters. Fuka and Desco barely survived the incident, and Fuka [[IRejectYourReality clings to the notion]] that he's just absorbed in his work like normal rather than face the [[AwfulTruth painful truth]].
78	* With the Emperor in ''{{Fanfic/Everqueen}}'' busy being, well, the Emperor, his relationship with Horus has a disturbing amount of this, at least at first.
79	* In ''Fanfic/WeAllNeedAHero'' this is one of [[AscendedExtra Sayu Yagami's]] primary motivations for becoming Kira after finding the Death Note. She's resentful of the long hours her dad works as a police chief and the way it hurts her mother, who's resigned to suffering Soichiro's neglect in silence. Her greatest fear is of Light getting so caught up in police work that he disappears from her and Sachiko's lives the way Soichiro has. Sayu herself even lampshades this in the story's opening lines.
80	--> If only Dad had come home more often, Sayu Yagami reflected, she might not have turned out like this. Sure, that's what all the serial killers say. But none of them had killed as many people as she had.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
84	* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''. Upset with lack of attention from her workaholic parents, Coraline is ensnared into the seductive world of the Other Mother where Coraline gets everything she wants and her parents exist only to please her. [[spoiler:It's later revealed to be a {{honey trap}}, as the Other Mother is actually a creature that feeds on children's souls.]] It is implied, however, that her parents at the start of the movie are close to an important deadline and are not workaholics. They've also just moved into a new house, which partly explains Coraline's resentment; she's also upset that her parents had her leave behind her old friends and home.
85	* In ''WesternAnimation/JetsonsTheMovie'', George is given a promotion and becomes a workaholic to try and maintain said rise in power. He has to be snapped out of it by his family and the fact that Spacely Sprockets is destroying an alien race's home. This all leads to his crowning moment where he finally tells Spacely off.
86	* WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse: In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'', Dr. Stone appears to be always too busy at work to attend Victor's games. It turns out he doesn't give a flying leap about base-level human athletics in a world where superheroes have appeared, and sees Victor's football skills and talent as pointless; he was using work as an excuse not to go to the games. He ''does'' care -we see this when Victor is blasted by a gate box- but his poor evaluation and understanding of humanity does him no favors.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
90	* An underlying theme early in ''Film/The6thDay'' is that if you work late with the excuse of getting your daughter an expensive doll to make up for it, [[SpaceWhaleAesop a clone will go home on time and steal your life]].
91	* ''Film/{{Click}}'': Creator/AdamSandler's character needs to learn that spending time with his kids and having sex with Creator/KateBeckinsale is better than working.
92	* In ''Film/ADivasChristmasCarol'', Bob Crachit is the manager for famed singer Ebony Scrooge. On Christmas Eve, he's working for Ebony in New York, while his wife and ill son Tim are waiting for him in Cincinnati. Tim is understanding, but Bob's wife, Kelly, is pissed off. She all but says that she's poised to divorce him. [[spoiler: After Ebony is redeemed, she helps to set things right.]]
93	* ''Film/EvanAlmighty'': Also about spending more time with his wife.
94	* In ''Film/GoldenWinter'', the human protagonist, Oliver, feels this way about his parents. It's part of the reason he joined a neighborhood gang.
95	* In ''Film/HellraiserInferno'', Detective Joseph Thorne does seem to love his daughter if not his wife anymore, but he ignores both of them by claiming he's working a case when in fact he's visiting hookers. At one point his daughter cries out that she just wants him to come home as he leaves to hunt the killer. [[spoiler:It's Joseph's absence that leads the Engineer to murder his wife and child with no one there to protect them.]]
96	* The Taiwanese war movie ''Film/AHomeTooFar'' portrays this trope in a depressing way. The protagonist, Sergeant Deng Ke-pao, is constantly away from his wife and children due to the war, and both his kids would express how much they missed him through letters for their father. Sergeant Deng does eventually come back... to find out the news of his son's death, from falling and breaking his neck after climbing to the top of a tree hoping to catch an early glimpse of the father's return.
97	* ''Film/{{Hook}}''. Peter Pan has grown up into a workaholic businessman, who misses a lot of time with his kids, Jack and Maggie. Hook uses this to get Jack to pull a FaceHeelTurn.
98	* ''Film/TheHuggaBunch'' has Bridget, whose only source of affection is her grandma, with her brother and parents not paying her any attention or love.
99	* Creator/MichellePfeiffer's character in ''Film/IAmSam''. She and her husband are overworked and share little time with their son who has become estranged.
100	* Happens in ''Film/{{Inception}}'', where Dominic Cobb's young son asks his father when he would be coming home. Cobb audibly sighs and later the audience finds out that he can't return to America because [[spoiler:his wife set up her suicide to look like he murdered her. (She believed that she was in a dream world, and wanted Cobb to "die" with her to "wake up.")]]
101	* ''Franchise/IndianaJones''
102	** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. A major source of friction between the Joneses Sr. and Jr. is that Sr. wasn't around much when Indy was a kid. The young Indy was frequently neglected as a child because his father was always off hunting relics. This also let a bad guy get away with a valuable relic that he was going to sell on the black market because [[NotNowKiddo he was too busy translating something to look at him]]. Bright side is that he reclaimed it years later.\
103	Things had settled down in the ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'' series when Indy was in High School, but now the physical distance had been replaced with emotional distance after the death of Mrs. Jones.
104	* This is one of the primary themes in ''Film/{{Ink}}''.
105	* ''Film/{{Jack Frost\|1998}}'': Jack Frost is a workaholic singer of his self-titled rock band and he constantly puts his career over his wife Gabby and son Charlie and often breaks/forgets the promises he made to them. Jack misses Charlie's hockey game but promises to make up for it with a trip to the mountains for Christmas. But then Jack is called in to record songs that mean he won't be home for Christmas. On his way to the gig, Jack realizes his mistake and cancels the gig and leaves to spend the holidays with his family. Unfortunately, a bad storm begins to block his vision, and he crashes his car and is killed instantly. One year later, the spirit of Jack is reincarnated inside a snowman in order to put things right with Charlie before he completely disappears into the afterlife.
106	%% * The theme occurs periodically in ''Film/JerseyGirl''.
107	* ''Film/JingleAllTheWay'' shows how Howard is not spending enough time with his son Jamie, who is starting to resent him. When the postman who Howard is sharing some shenanigans with tells of similar disappointment with his father during childhood, Howard gets downright afraid Jamie will grow up to become a similarly broken man.
108	* ''Film/LiarLiar'': Learning to spend more time with his kid isn't Creator/JimCarrey's main lesson, but it is one of the things he does learn.
109	* Johnny in ''Film/LittleGiants'' wants nothing more than to spend time with his father, who is always away on business. When the father makes it to the football game, Johnny plows through the opposing team and scores a touchdown as a mere side benefit of getting to his dad.
110	* ''Film/MaryPoppins'': Both parents are period-piece examples of this trope, although in the mother's case it's her political crusades, not a job, that take up too much of her time (she's a suffragette). Moreover, in both cases, it seems as if it's not that their jobs are particularly time-consuming so much as they're mildly disinterested in the children and willing to palm their parental responsibilities off on someone else. The kids get an aesop on the subject as well; just because their parents aren't around as much as they'd like doesn't mean they don't love them. They also learn that being a grown-up and providing for a family is very hard, and you shouldn't be too hard in judging them.
111	* In ''Film/{{Mental}}'', the girls and Shirley wish that Barry were home more often, as he often stays away for days [[spoiler:with his mistresses]].
112	* ''Film/{{North}}'': Young North feels so neglected that he actually divorces himself from his parents. This sets a rather dangerous precedent as children across the nation are now forcing their parents to wait on them hand and foot, lest they call Cat's Cradle and get their own divorce.
113	* In ''Film/{{Parenthood}}'', Gil struggles to balance his home life and career to be able to spend time with his kids and still keep a roof over their heads.
114	* This is something Creator/TomHanks' character does in ''Film/RoadToPerdition''. It turns out that his reasoning for keeping distant is because he doesn't want his sons (especially Michael Jr.) to follow the same road as him and become a hitman for the mob.
115	* ''Film/TheSchoolgirlsDiary'': Su-ryeon bitterly resents her father for constantly working and only making brief and very infrequent visits home to his family. However, this film was made in UsefulNotes/NorthKorea, so the Aesop is that her father is ''right'' to essentially abandon his family for his work because he's serving the state and Kim Jong Il.
116	* The protagonist of the 2006 version of ''Film/TheShaggyDog'', to the point that his wife’s coworkers believe she’s a single mother.
117	* ''Film/TheSwarm2020'': At the time the events of the movie take place, Virginie has put so much time and effort into trying to get her locusts to produce the desired volume for her to sell them as a food source that she hasn't been spending as much time as she could've with her kids. This is exemplified by her son Gaston asking her to drive him to soccer practice, and her calling out to her daughter Laura to take him.
118	* ''Film/Tetris2023'': Henk's daughter Maya expresses her disappointment of her father's absence while he chases the game rights and wishes for him to attend a school concert. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he just misses it. He makes up for it by watching it with his wife in private at the end of the movie.]]
119	* ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': The strained relationship between Victor Stone and his father Silas comes from the fact that Silas' scientist job took too much of his time, while his mother Elinore has been way less distant and more supportive of him. The last occurence before the accident that crippled Victor was Victor's last football match, which Silas [[DaddyDidntShow promised to attend and didn't]].
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Literature]]
123	* A minor point in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. Rachel's mom is a lawyer and a single parent so there are occasional references to her not being around as much as the others' parents.
124	* ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'':
125	** Stacey's dad is a workaholic who rarely spends time with her.
126	** Abby's mother is like this too. Possibly justified to an extent, since she's a single parent with two teenagers to support.
127	** Shannon Kilbourne's father is never home, either.
128	** Kristy's biological father is an extreme example, walking out on the family when Kristy was seven and pretty much disappearing for most of a decade. When he does pop back into their lives, he's still the epitome of [[JerkAss jerkiness]], resenting Charlie for not immediately forgiving him and not even acknowledging David Michael at all.
129	** One book had a subplot in which the sitters begin taking care of two kids who are constantly forced to attend extracurricular classes and sports activities because their parents are always at work or spending time alone together.
130	* ''Literature/BlazeOrLoveInTheTimeOfSupervillains'': Blaze's mother works double-shifts as a nurse to support the family since Blaze's father left them. She's not home a good bit of the time, forcing Blaze to take on the role of making sure that dinner gets on the table and Josh gets to soccer.
131	* In ''Literature/CatsCradle'', all the children of Dr. Felix Hoenikker suffer from the fact that he neglects them in favor of his work and [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove does not seem to understand much about emotions in general]], although he genuinely cares from them. He's also the father of the atom bomb.
132	* One of the ''Literature/ChickenSoupForTheSoul'' books contains a poem entitled "But You Didn't," in which the narrator repeatedly asks one of his parents to play with him, ending each request with the words "but you didn't." In the end, [[spoiler:[["My country called me to war; you asked me to come home safely... but I didn't!"]] (Some versions of this poem are between lovers or spouses though.)
133	* In ''Literature/TheCompound'', the fabulously wealthy father had grown up in an orphanage and, during his kids' childhood, realized he didn't spend enough time with them. [[spoiler: So he faked a nuclear attack and made them live with him in an underground bunker for 6 years. He was planning to keep them there another twelve, even if that meant they'd have to eat the younger siblings who were born underground.]] Well, the thought was there...
134	* Bertram's relationship with his dad in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' starts off like this. The two are friendly but the dad never has time for Bertram, who does most of the household chores.
135	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The first conversation between [[spoiler:Harry and Maggie Dresden]] is somewhat aloof - mainly because, for a variety of reasons ([[spoiler:eight years of not knowing Maggie exists, one year of being mostly dead, and a year of being unable to leave a small island in the middle of Lake Michigan]]), this first-ever father-child conversation happens when the child is ''ten''.
136	* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'': Aldarion loves his family, but he spends long periods of time in sea because of his obsession with sailing. As a result of it his daughter Ancalimë spends most of her early childhood asking who is her father and why he is not around.
137	* The ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' {{novelization}} reveals that [[Characters/MonsterVerseIshiroSerizawa Ishirō Serizawa]] was the same way toward his own son Ren as Eiji was to him (see Comic Books), beinng extremely absent to the point where he barely made any time to console Ren even when Ren's mother died and he had to organize the funeral all on his own. Unfortunately, Ren responded differently to the ParentalNeglect than Ishirō, growing up filled with resentment and rage at the lack of attention, which turned him vengeful after Ishirō's death and led him to become an [[AntagonisticOffspring evil complete antithesis to everything that his forefathers had stood for]]; [[spoiler:allying with a ruthless humanocentric CorporateConspiracy to try and murder Godzilla, and arrogantly believing that they could control an undead Ghidorah's remains]].
138	* [[spoiler:Barty Crouch, Sr.]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' was this, with deadly consequences. Not that this character didn't have [[KnightTemplar other problems]].
139	-->'''Sirius:''' Nasty little shock for [[spoiler:old Barty]], I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while ... got to know his own son.
140	* In ''Literature/TheShipWho Partnership'' Nancia, unlike most [[ManInTheMachine shellpeople]], has contact with her family, but they're all busy people and her father likes to remind her that every time he visits her he's taking a lot of time from his busy schedule. None of the family makes it to her graduation, or to her being installed in her first ship. Her brother manages to visit before she takes off on her first assignment, and her father sends her a very short, distracted message. Nancia finds this rather crushing and wonders if she's embarrassed the family. [[spoiler: It turns out he didn't show BecauseYouCanCope and he wanted to try to make her brother leave music and get a "real" job.]]
141	* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', Jaina Solo (Han and Leia's daughter) is this with respect to her mother as, during her childhood, her parents were always off saving the galaxy and were too busy for her. [[DaddysGirl She oddly doesn't hold her father to the same standards]], though this is partly due to the fact that she somewhat resented the fact that Leia never properly learned to be a Jedi even though she carries a lightsaber, and that she otherwise shares all of her skills with her father.
142	* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': [[MasterApprenticeChain Anakin and Obi-Wan]] are shown to have had this relationship during the former's time as a Padawan. After losing his mother and [[SacrificialLion Qui-Gon Jinn]], Anakin's attachment issues only got worse and he clung to Obi-Wan who frequently had to leave him behind for missions. In ''Literature/FromACertainPointOfView'', it's shown that early on in his training he'd sleep on the floor next to Obi-Wan's bed to make sure he wouldn't vanish in the middle of the night. To make matters worse, in the ''ComicBook/StarWarsObiWanAndAnakin'' comics it's shown that [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] took advantage of this to [[TheCorrupter mold Anakin]] into a TykeBomb.
143	* Morris Rosenfeld's poem 1887 "My Boy" is about this trope from the parent's perspective. The narrator is a father who has to work so much that he never sees his little son awake.
144	-->Ere dawn my labor drives me forth;\
145	'Tis night when I am free;\
146	A stranger am I to my child;\
147	And strange my child to me.
148	* ''Literature/OldKingdom'' series:
149	** Abhorsen Terciel: Sabriel mentions she only sees her father in person at Midsummer and Midwinter, and some other months by astral projection during the dark of the moon.[[spoiler:Just before he sacrifices himself, Sabriel's father apologizes to her for not having been an "ideal parent", saying that the duties of the Abhorsen tend to come before those of a father.]]
150	** In ''Lirael'', [[spoiler: Sabriel makes a similar speech to her son Sam in a letter to him following her inability to go to him when he is severely injured. Touchstone is also often away from his children, though less so than Sabriel.]]
151	** Arielle, Lirael's mother, [[spoiler: apologises for leaving her daughter at the age of 5 in a letter conveyed by Mogget saying that she had to leave Lirael because of something she saw]].
152	* ''Literature/WonderWomanWarbringer'': Diana mentions that she once wove a small tapestry with her mother, and kept pulling out threads at night so that the tapestry wouldn't be finished and she'd get to spend more time with Hippolyta.
153	* ''Literature/TheHalfLifeOfPlanets'': Liana's dad has to take so many business trips that he's usually only home for a few days a month.
154	* A Tagalog story called "''Saan ang Lakad Mo Ngayon, Ma?''" ("Where are You Off To Now, Ma?") has this dynamic between a student and her workaholic mother, and sometimes the mother is away not always strictly for work reasons. It does not end well.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
158	* ''Series/{{Acapulco}}'': "Time After Time" reveals that Don Pablo had a son who adored him as a kid, but the demands of his job (and his tendency to enjoy the high life the resort provided) kept him from coming home too often. Eventually his wife left him, and he doesn't reconcile with his son until the latter is well into adulthood.
159	* This is one of TheChainsOfCommanding Birgitte Nyborg suffers from on ''Series/{{Borgen}}''.
160
161	%%* The AlphaBitch in ''Film/CampRock'' has a parent like this.
162	* In the TV-movie ''The Christmas Shoes'', Rob Lowe plays a lawyer who spends too much time away from his family, but learns his lesson because of the aforementioned shoes (it makes more sense if you know the song on which the TV-movie is based).
163	* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': in "[[Recap/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAirS4E24PapasGotABrandNewExcuse Papa's Got A Brand New Excuse]]", it is revealed that Will always asked his mother when his deadbeat father, Lou, would come home during the most important moments in his life, and his mother always told him he would never come back. At the end of the episode, Will finally realizes why: He's just a cowardly piece of shit who would rather run away than being his father. So, in Will's eyes, his real father is his Uncle Phil.
164	* Morland Holmes, father of Sherlock Holmes in ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', is implied to have been like this for most of his younger son's childhood. He's an international business consultant; when Sherlock was eight, he was sent to boarding school.
165	* Maya on ''Series/JustShootMe'' has a contentious relationship with her father Jack because as a child he was too busy running a fashion magazine (and being an out and out playboy) to be with her. The low point may have been when he hired someone to take his place to go trick or treat with her on Halloween. [[spoiler:Ironically, when Jack tries to make amends, she ends up doing the same to him in order to go to a Halloween party with a handsome guy.]]
166	* ''Series/MonarchLegacyOfMonsters'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseFamilies Hiroshi Randa]] was a barely present father, who was always away on work as far as either of his children knew. It's heavily implied that he was actually working for [[BenevolentConspiracy Monarch]] the whole time. His [[SecretOtherFamily trans-Pacific double life with two wives and a child by either of them]] certainly couldn't have helped with his lack of time for them. He had to go away on Titan-related work in the immediate aftermath of G-Day, only visiting his freshly-traumatized daughter long enough to give her tickets for her and her mother to leave the quarantine zone.
167	* On ''Series/{{NCIS}},'' Tony's mother died when he was young and his father was a struggling businessman who was usually one step away from bankruptcy. [=DiNozzo=] Senior spent a lot of time traveling and would regularly neglect Tony when trying to scrounge up a new business opportunity. Tony remembers one summer when they went on vacation to Hawaii and Tony spent an entire week by himself in the hotel room because his father met some investors and was trying to hammer out a deal.
168	* In the US version of ''[[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]]'', when Jim comes back to work after his daughter's birth, Dwight attempts to induce a guilt trip in him by playing Chapin's ''Cat's in the Cradle'' to get him to take more time off (so Dwight can use his desk). It ''almost'' works.
169	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'':
170	** In "Double Helix", the world's most eminent geneticist Dr. Martin Nodel is berated by his 19-year-old son Paul for never attending his Little League games.
171	** In "Fathers & Sons", Joe "Madman" Dell, a famous blues musician, was frequently absent during his son Hank's childhood because of his music career. This leads him to resent Joe later in life.
172	** In "Family Values", Jerry Miller is too busy working to be there for his children Candace and Russ, which leads to Candace getting into trouble at school.
173	* ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'': Justin's dad is too busy trying to find and hold down a job to spend much time with him. Justin has a bit better luck than most on this page because this is resolved by the end, and in the meantime, his fellow Rangers act as a surrogate family.
174	* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. Pilgrim has to leave his [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes children and his dying wife]] to act as TheDragon for the Schultz's. When his wife dies he has a VillainousBreakdown and considers returning home. Mrs. Schultz puts his son on the phone to give this trope, but Pilgrim knows this is actually an ImpliedDeathThreat to his children should he fail to carry out his orders.
175	* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'':
176	** Roseanne tried to encourage Dan to spend more time bonding with DJ by threatening that she might have to play a Harry Chapin song for him.
177	** Dan's issues with his own father are all about how much time he spent on the road with his job and trying to make up for it by giving expensive gifts whenever he came back.
178	** Another episode had Roseanne realize just how much she and Dan ignore DJ (who, in a metafictional sense, had spent much of the series until that point being OutOfFocus). They have to be told he's stopped seeing his friends and that he'd stopped playing hockey a year ago. When she finds out he's been driving their car around the neighborhood (implied to be to see if they'd notice), she decides to spend more time with him by making him work as a busboy in the diner.
179	* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' has Zack's father portrayed as this, being away on business and on his phone all the time, which becomes a plot point in one of the few episodes with him in it: his father is clearly distracted when Zack tries to talk with him and takes a call for his cell phone when it starts ringing. It turns out to be Zack, using his own cell phone to Invoke a ShortDistancePhoneCall to make the point about his father being absent.
180	--->''"Dad, is this the only way I can talk to you?"''
181	* On ''Series/SchittsCreek'', Moira and Johnny were too busy with their careers, wrapped up in each other and their busy social life to pay much attention to David and Alexis, who were raised by their nanny in a different wing of the house. The main arc of the show is the family becoming an actual family when they become destitute and are forced to live in close quarters.
182	* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E09Defiant "Defiant"]], [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineGulDukat Gul Dukat]] laments to Ben Sisko that, rather than spending the day trying to stop the hijacked USS ''Defiant'' from attacking Cardassian space, he was ''supposed'' to be taking his son to an amusement park for his eleventh birthday.
183	-->'''Dukat:''' He always wanted to go, but I never had the time. I told him, "This year will be different, Mekor. This year I will ''make'' the time."\
184	'''Sisko:''' I had the same experience with Jake. At that age, they never understand, do they? You just hope that, one day later, they'll look back and say, "Now I understand. Now I know why he did that."\
185	'''Dukat:''' When my son looks back on this day, the only thing he'll remember is that a Federation officer, on a Federation ship, invaded his home and kept his father away from him on his eleventh birthday, and he won't look back with understanding. He'll look back with hatred, and that's sad.
186	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
187	** A very common question in flashbacks, as John would leave his young sons by themselves in seedy hotels for weeks on end while he hunted monsters. Also very popular in fan fiction, as canon establishes that Sam doesn't find out the truth about what John does until he's ten and thought his father was a traveling salesman.
188	** [[Characters/SupernaturalMenOfLetters L. Frank Baum]] (yes, ''that'' L. Frank Baum). His daughter Dorothy (yes again, ''that'' one) felt he was more invested in his work as a Man of Letters than in his role as her father.
189	* On ''Series/WillAndGrace'', Jack, who has daddy issues of his own, despondently recites the lyrics of the song into the mirror when his biological son's mother forbids him from seeing the boy again.
190	* ''Series/TheWire'': Detective Jimmy [=McNulty=]'s bad parenting encompasses this trope but is by no means limited to it. He is separated from his wife and is frequently disputing the terms of the custody agreement, insisting he needs more time with both his kids.
191	** The first time we, the audience, see either of his kids is when he realizes almost too late that he has to attend his son's soccer game, and has to bring Bubbles, a police informant and drug addict, with him to the game.
192	** The second time, he's playing soccer outside with his two kids, when suddenly he gets a page, at which point he bundles both kids into the car and takes them to the morgue (getting takeout for dinner instead of the restaurant date he'd promised them, and staying past their bedtime), in the company of a convicted felon, so said felon can identify the horribly mutilated corpse of his lover.
193	** Another time, he gets his kids to tail Stringer Bell, but they do too good a job and he loses track of them. When a security guard asks him what they were wearing, he just shrugs.
194	** Ziggy Sobotka accuses his father Frank, always preoccupied with "dock business", of never having been there for him.
195	[[/folder]]
196
197	[[folder:Music]]
198	* The {{Trope Namer\|s}} is a line from Music/HarryChapin's "Cat's in the Cradle." The father never seems to have time for his kid, making empty promises to spend time with him, and despite all that, his kid continues to look up to his dad, promising that he'll grow up to be just like him. When the dad is retired and finally has time for his son, he finds that his son is now the workaholic that has no time for him. (Though the son's mention of his own children suggest he's trying to do right by them this time around[[note]] or he's just learned to make empty excuses by watching his father - tossing "my new job's a hassle" and "the kids have the flu" in the same sentence suggest he's not actually urgently attending to the latter[[/note]]).
199	--> And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me. / My boy was just like me.
200	** The song was based on a poem Harry's wife wrote about her first husband's relationship with ''his'' father, and written when his child was born, while he was out touring.
201	* Obliquely mentioned in Franco de Vita's "No Basta".
202	* Jamey Johnson's "[[http://www.cmt.com/videos/jamey-johnson/72201/the-dollar.jhtml The Dollar]]" delivers the same [[AnAesop Aesop]] as the {{Trope Namer\|s}}, but in a heartwarming tone instead of a depressing one.
203	* John Anderson's "I Wish I Could Have Been There" is similar in storyline to the {{Trope Namer\|s}} (a father who's always on the road, thus missing his daughter's birth and son's first home run). It then [[InvertedTrope inverts]] the usual path on the last verse, where the son and daughter are now grown up, and say the same thing to their parents when they are unable to make their parents' anniversary.
204	* "American Dream" by ChristianRock band Casting Crowns, which compares the proverbial man-who-built-his-house-upon-sand to a workaholic father who's never there for his wife and child.
205	* "Slipping Through My Fingers" by Music/{{ABBA}} tells the story of a mother that laments how work kept her away from her daughter as she grew up. Made even more of a TearJerker when you learn that it's based on both Björn and Agnetha's lives and how they missed their daughter's early years.
206	* "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens is an inversion, being more of a "Why You Leaving Home, Son?" The father has never really taken the time to get to know his son, and cannot understand the son's frustration at conveying how important leaving to become his own man is. Incidentally, "Cat's in the Cradle" is often a MisattributedSong to Cat Stevens.
207	* "Busy Man," Music/BillyRayCyrus' only hit song between his Achy Breaky heyday and his ''Series/HannahMontana''-induced comeback, explores this theme.
208	** Billy Ray's [[Music/MileyCyrus daughter]] [[WordOfGod mentions in her 2009 memoirs]], ''Miles to Go'', that she never understood why her dad had to be out on the road for so long until she herself had to do long tours away from her family. Billy Ray's intense schedule led him to slow down his country career by the late [[TheNineties 1990s]] to settle down and raise his family, which led to him living and working with them in Canada filming ''Doc''.
209	* "Someday Never Comes" by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival, which not only invokes this trope with both the father's life and death but states that the son ends up just like his father with the implication that '''his''' son will be the same way when he gets older.
210	-->First thing I remember was askin' Papa "Why?" / For there were many things I didn't know.\
211	And Daddy always smiled; took me by the hand / Sayin', "Someday you'll understand."\
212	Well, I'm here to tell you now, each and every mother's son\
213	You'd better learn it fast, you'd better learn it young\
214	'Cause, "Someday" never comes.
215	* Music/NeilDiamond's "Shilo" uses this trope. A boy creates an {{imaginary friend}}, Shilo, because his father won't pay attention to him and he's lonely:
216	-->Papa says he'd love to be with you\
217	If he had the time\
218	So you turn to the only friend you can find\
219	There in your mind
220	* The song "Wasted" by Music/{{Cartel}} has a variety of fairly depressing moments in it throughout the course of a person's life, including this one.
221	-->He's seven years old, got his bat in his hand\
222	He's looking for his father and he doesn't understand\
223	'Cause Dad's too busy, got some deals on the way
224	-->His son sits alone as the children play
225	* "I'm Already There" by Music/{{Lonestar}}:
226	-->A little voice came on the phone
227	-->Said "Daddy, when you coming home?"
228	-->He said the first thing that came to his mind
229	-->"I'm already there
230	-->Take a look around…"
231	* The song "Don't Miss Your Life" by Phil Vassar was written when the singer was on a plane missing his daughters. It's about a young man on a plane for a business trip, sitting next to an older man who tells him he's missed a lot such as his daughter's first steps, and who advises him "don't miss your life". By the end of the song, the young man decides that as soon as the plane lands, he'll buy a ticket back home so that he can be there for his daughter's eighth birthday.
232	-->I missed the first steps my daughter took\
233	The time my son played Captain Hook\
234	In Peter Pan, I was in New York\
235	Said "Sorry, son, Dad has to work"\
236	I missed the father-daughter dance\
237	The first home run, no second chance\
238	To be there when he crossed the plate\
239	The moment's gone, now it's too late\
240	Fame and fortune come with a heavy price\
241	Son, don't miss your life.
242	* Music/{{Queensryche}}'s song "Bridge" is a particularly bitter version, made [[TearJerker all the sadder]] when you learn that it was based on guitarist Chris De Garmo's relationship with his father, who died before they could make up:
243	-->You say, "Son, let's forget the past,\
244	I want another chance, gonna make it last."\
245	You're begging me for a brand new start\
246	Trying to mend a bridge that's been blown apart\
247	But you know,\
248	[[WhamLine You never built it, dad...]]
249	* The Music/FortMinor song "Where'd You Go" is all about this trope from the point of view from the neglected family.
250	* In the video for Music/KellyClarkson's song "Because of You," when her younger self proudly shows her father a picture that she drew in school, he is so busy talking on his cell phone that he absent-mindedly drops it into a sink full of water.
251	* Music/RogerWaters [[WordOfGod mentioned in a 1979 interview]] with British DJ Tommy Vance promoting the Music/PinkFloyd album ''Music/TheWall'' that "Bring the Boys Back Home" is partly to do with this:
252	-->... It's partly about not letting people go off and be killed in wars, but it's partly about not allowing rock and roll, or making cars, or selling soap, or getting involved in biological research, or anything that anybody might do ... not letting that become such an important and 'jolly boy's game' that it becomes more important than friends, wives, children, or other people.
253	* "Come Home Billy Bird (international business traveller)" by Music/TheDivineComedy is about a father's heroic attempts to avert this trope.
254	[[/folder]]
255
256	[[folder:Podcasts]]
257	* ''Podcast/PlumbingTheDeathStar'': Mario gets a 5/10 as a stepdad largely because he's too busy plumbing, saving princesses, [[VideoGame/MarioKart going go-kart racing]], [[VideoGame/MarioParty holding massive parties]], and [[VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames mastering sports]] to raise a child with love and care.
258	[[/folder]]
259
260	[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
261	* Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}} sang the Harry Chapin, "Cat's in the cradle" up to "When you coming home dad?" to Vince [=McMahon=] after it was "revealed" Vince had a bastard son. (It was actually a prank by Finley but Boogeyman seemed to believe it, being crazy.)
262	[[/folder]]
263
264	[[folder:Roleplay]]
265	* ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'':
266	** Irene's mother is so busy with work abroad that Irene doesn't get to see her much. She's willing to accept it since her mother is the main breadwinner of the family.
267	** While Jacob's father is still around, he's so busy with work that he rarely gets to see his son. This also means he's in the dark about [[AbusiveParents how his wife treats Jacob]].
268	** Ivy's father works at a software company out of town, and thus his work schedule isn't very compatible with Ivy's routine. They've had trouble connecting to each other as a result.
269	** Both of Melissa's parents are rarely in Oldport, being important doctors. Unbeknownst to them, this has only helped foster her [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] tendencies. She spends most of her time at her boyfriend's place instead, as his father is bedridden and his step-mother is out of the picture.
270	** Amy's mother is a shoe saleswoman and is always travelling across the east coast. While Amy doesn't mind this too much, it does mean that she's much closer to her father than her mother.
271	** A non-parental version with Jae Jung, who is Hyeon's cousin and legal guardian after [[ParentalAbandonment Hyeon's parents left]]. He's so busy with his work out of state that he can only check up on Hyeon when the latter is causing problems, which has put something of a strain on their relationship.
272	[[/folder]]
273
274	[[folder:Theatre]]
275	* In ''Theatre/TheTwentyFifthAnnualPutnamCountySpellingBee'', Olive saves a seat for her emotionally distant father. He never shows.
276	* In ''Trouble in Tahiti'', Sam denies his wife's plea for him to attend his son's school play, because he wants to play in a handball tournament and prove he's a BornWinner.
277	[[/folder]]
278
279	[[folder:Video Games]]
280	* Mizuki in ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'' had a {{workaholic}} corporate executive father who left her to be raised by her [[AbusiveParent abusive mother]], never making an effort to spend time with her himself. After they divorced he knew he was unfit to be a parent so he left her to be raised by his best friend, Date. Date made much more of an effort to spend time with her, but because of her [[WiseBeyondTheirYears independent streak]] and his work as a police officer, he often left her alone. After her mother's murder and her father's disappearance Date is gone night and day working especially hard to find those responsible, but [[WhatTheHellHero gets called out by several people (including Mizuki herself)]] for not being there for her when she needs him most.
281	* Poor Ashley Robbins suffered this in ''VideoGame/AnotherCode R'' when her father wound up leaving her -- [[ParentalAbandonment again]] -- after he returned to civilized life. He was aware of it enough to invite her to visit, though, which kicked off the plot of the game.
282	* In ''[[VideoGame/DotsHome Dot's Home]]'', migrant mother Esperanza is worried that her daughter Zeze might forget her and her father Rafi's faces because they work long hours away from her.
283	* Both ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' and ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' have the protagonist's father in such a situation, contactable only by phone; exaggerated in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', wherein the cast roll in the credits your father ''is'' a phone. ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'' also does it, in a different way: for much of the game, Lucas' father spends most of his time up in the mountains searching for his other son that had gone missing, leaving Lucas home alone.
284	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
285	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' has Marlene frequently waits up for her father, Barret to come back home and expresses disappointment when he's unable to do so.
286	** In the 2016 Starlight event in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', a young and sick boy wants only one gift and that is to see his father. Because the boy's father is a merchant, he spends a lot of time away from the city and has little to no time to rest. Seeing that his father will never show up, the boy's illness grows worse because he gave up hope. You then confront the boy's father before he sets sail to another land and it turns out that he was away for so long in order to find a cure for his son and he just found it, but it requires him to go overseas in order to negotiate a deal for the medicine. In the end, the father can't return home, but the boy bounces back with confidence once he hears the truth and vows to stay strong until his father returns.
287	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' opens with a scene where your father is last seen leaving through your bedroom window. Throughout the game, the two of you bond through brief encounters as you try to convince him to stop working so damn hard.
288	* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', we get a dose of this with Carth's son. Part of the reason he [[spoiler: joined the Sith]] was because he resented his father for always being off at war.
289	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZero'': One of the game's great many townspeople subplots is the little girl Lima constantly talking about how she never sees her father Melson at all, which is due to him getting home from the mines after her bedtime.
290	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
291	** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[spoiler:Thane Krios']] relationship with his son [[spoiler:Kolyat]] is this trope. It turns into a WholePlotReference to the song when [[spoiler:Kolyat]] decides to follow in his father's footsteps and [[spoiler:become an assassin]]. The achievement for completing this subplot is even titled Cat's in the Cradle.
292	** [[WrenchWench Tali's]] father was an admiral and never really close to his daughter, and [[ActionGirl Ashley's]] father was always out in space serving the military, while she, her sisters, and her mother stayed planetside, although the time she did spend with him sounds happy. Tali wasn't so lucky.
293	** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', you get the opportunity to prevent this trope from happening to Liara [[spoiler:by convincing her to talk to her "dad" - the bartender Aethyta. Who isn’t distant due to her work, she is distant because she is afraid Liara may have turned evil.]]
294	** Alec Ryder in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' is an interesting example. He started out distant to his kids Scott and Sara, due to his job as an N7 SpaceMarine. However, when he found out that the twins’ mother Ellen is terminally ill, he throws himself into highly illegal AI research to try to save her so the twins won’t lose their mother, since “God knows they never had a father”. This research torpedoes not only his own career but his kids’ nascent Marine careers too. After this, Alec brings his kids with him to the Andromeda Initiative and even assigns them roles on his Pathfinder team. And finally, Alec sacrifices himself to save his kid, without hesitation.
295	* In ''VideoGame/LabyrinthineDreams'', Beth's father has to work constantly just to make enough to support the family. He hates that he's missing so much of his daughter's childhood [[spoiler: and this ultimately drives him to stage his own death to secure the family money from life insurance.]]
296	* In ''VideoGame/NanashiNoGame'', Ikuta was always too busy with work to spend time with his wife and daughter, which ended tragically for all involved.
297	* The title character of ''VideoGame/NieR Gestalt'' spends all his time desperately searching for a cure for his sick daughter [[PluckyGirl Yonah]], [[TheUnfettered no matter the cost]], but all Yonah wants is for him to be at home with her.
298	* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', Dojima is always too busy solving crime to do anything with Nanako (and he's particularly obsessed with finding the man who killed his wife, Nanako's mom, in a hit-and-run). She asks him the title question over the phone more than once.
299	* In ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', Arven is the teenage son of TheProfessor Sada/Turo who's been forced to raise himself while his parent was absorbed in their research, with [[ABoyAndHisX only his Mabosstiff for company]]. He was Koraidon/Miraidon's caretaker before entrusting it to the PlayerCharacter, and admits resenting it on some level for stealing away their attention. [[spoiler:Near the end of the story it's revealed that part of the reason for the ParentalAbandonment was that the professor was DeadAllAlong, leaving behind a VirtualGhost with limited abilities.]]
300	* The PlayerCharacter's father in ''VideoGame/PokemonUranium'' throws himself into his work after his wife dies in a nuclear reactor meltdown, and sends his child to live with his aunt rather than raise them himself.
301	* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', William and Annette Birkin are high-ranking scientists who work for Umbrella. But because of their work, they're almost never home and barely able to spend any time with Sherry, their twelve-year-old daughter, forcing her to learn how to take care of herself. It's even worse in the remake; after she's implanted with a G-Virus embryo by her mutated father and Annette [[TheNeedsOfTheMany chooses to stop William from leaving the city over curing her]], Sherry begins doubting if Annette even loves her, outright refusing her pendant when Claire offers it back to her, claiming it was a birthday gift from her mother... But all Sherry wanted was for her to be home more.
302	* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheThirdPower'': Rashim is often away from home because of his military duties. His husband, Maliq, and their kids are understandably upset that he doesn't spend enough time with them, though he promises to retire soon.
303	* In ''VideoGame/RootsOfPacha'', Era misses her father Zelk because he's a [[IntrepidMerchant wandering merchant]] who visits the village occasionally to trade with you.
304	* This is [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] in ''VideoGame/RuneFactory4'' if the player marries Arthur, the local merchant. He notes that he's someone [[MarriedToTheJob very dedicated to his job,]] but he's determined not to become one of "those" fathers. He wants to make sure he's always there for his child with the player character.
305	* In ''VideoGame/TheSandman2014'', Richard Grundler is always busy with work, to the point that he leaves notes for his daughter letting her know that he'll be staying there for several days at a time to get things done. For her part, Sophie [[StepfordSmiler hides how she feels about this]].
306	* ''VideoGame/ThisStarryMidnightWeMake'': As learned after her third quest, Nagare's dad is a military man running an investigation that's taking up all of his time and she's really aching for his attention.
307	[[/folder]]
308
309	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
310	* In ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', Hisao's parents spent most of his childhood working. He notes that this resulted in him having evenings to himself, enabling him to go out into the city.
311	[[/folder]]
312
313	[[folder:Web Comics]]
314	* ''Webcomic/ButImACatPerson'' runs [[LonelyRichKid Miranda]] through multiple flavors of ParentalAbandonment, including this one (although it's her mother, not her father, who's the workaholic).
315	* Theo Nero in ''Webcomic/{{CharCole}}'' is far too distracted being a scientist to be a father to the main character. The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example was when he wished his son a happy 16th birthday. The problem? His son had just turned ''18''.
316	* Factors into [[Film/{{Beetlejuice}} Lydia's]] home life in ''Webcomic/CobwebAndStripes''. Stepmother Delia is a self-absorbed artist, which is no loss, but Lydia's father Charles is genuinely kind and loving; he just works ridiculous hours, which leads to things like missing his daughter's birthday. It's part of why she's such a loner.
317	* In the short comic ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/strangelykatie/art/Counting-Stars-Full-Comic-290955152 Counting Stars]]'', the protagonist's mother is working a late-night shift on her 16th birthday.
318	* In ''Webcomic/ForestHill'', Colin, a single father of two young kids, tends to be out of town on a regular basis because of work meetings.
319	* In ''Webcomic/LittleLapses'', Cinnabar's mom has to work long hours as a waitress to make ends meet. This causes her to miss out on much of Cinnabar's life, much to the dismay of both.
320	* In ''Webcomic/{{Magellan}}'', one of the main contributing factors to Charisma's AlphaBitch personality is the fact that her father, the famed superhero Epoch, is frequently too busy with that to be around.
321	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Varsuvius turns out to be one. Specifically, they have a spouse and children that they left behind to go become an adventurer and didn't contact or even think about until their lives were threatened due to an enemy V had made. [[spoiler: After a HeelRealization, V decides that the best thing they can do for their kids is to accept it when their spouse files for divorce and sign without fighting it]].
322	* Chapter eight of ''Webcomic/{{Terra}}'' opens in a {{flashback}} of Rick [=MacFarlane=] in the last stages of getting ready to go on deployment, only to discover that his daughter (10-ish) has gone so far as to steal his ID to keep him from leaving. He was apparently supposed to help her finish a model kit of some kind. And then since it's a flashback, we know that after this, his SpaceFighter gets shot down and he and his pilot Alex are stranded a ways across the galaxy with no easy way home.
323	* Tiger from ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' had a case of this in his flash-back; he often had precious little time with his wife and kids because he was working so many hours as a police officer. In truth, it was because he was moonlighting as a superhero. When his family catches him, his kids aren't upset anymore; in fact, they're completely ecstatic! His wife... not so much.
324	* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': One of the few mentions of Emil's father by other characters is him not being able to make it home in time for dinner because of his work. The phrasing indicates this isn't the first time it's happening.
325
326	[[/folder]]
327
328	[[folder:Web Videos]]
329	* Inverted and played for laughs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsqHWqAkQIY&feature=kp this]] ''WebVideo/FiveSecondFilm''.
330	[[/folder]]
331
332	[[folder:Western Animation]]
333	* In ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'', ickis has a famous father Slickis who is often too busy to properly connect with Ickis. They do make up after Slickis saves Ickis from danger and reaffirms he believes his son can do great things too.
334	* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Jake becomes the father to a litter of dog-rainicorn pups. However, his status as an adventuring hero means he's rarely around to see them. It doesn't help that the pups have reached adulthood in weeks, so all of Jake's attempts to bond come off as hopelessly immature and childish. One of them even tried to buy out Jake's house and force him to take a more "serious" job.
335	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': Jimmy once travels back in time and persuades his father to invest in a fast food restaurant. When he gets back to his own time, his parents are millionaires, but they can't even bother to give him the time of day, so he goes back to the past to change things back to normal.
336	* Both of Macie's parents in ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'' are quite distant and they even forget her own 13th birthday. However they are horrified when they realise it, and the episode is about them trying to make it up to her.
337	* Mocked in ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' with Oxnard, Mr. Peanutbutter's BeleagueredAssistant, whom Mr. Peanutbutter all-but abducts after concocting another ZanyScheme. Oxnard had wanted to listen to the trope-naming "Cat's in the Cradle" with his son, who runs into the house to listen as his father's literally getting dragged to work.
338	-->'''Oxnard''': No! The lyrics are too relevant! Don't do it. [[BigNo Noooooo]]!
339	* In ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndPotato'', Nico and Bodi's father, Andy Panda, rarely gets to see his sons because he often takes business trips to work on people's houses. But they still love each other.
340	* Edd's parents from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' are implied to be this. Although they show that they love Edd through their sticky notes and homemade meals, they are implied to have demanding jobs. This hinders their interaction with their only son.
341	* In ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'', [[SatanIsGood Lucifer is a caring father]] but between his [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy depression over a constant exposure to the worst of humanity]] and his duties as the King of {{Hell}} he was largely absent from his daughter Charlie's life, leaving her mother Lilith to do most of the work raising her. When they reconnect in the present day he's elated to be a part of her life again, while Charlie's initially frustrated that he ''still'' hasn't been paying her any attention.
342	* In ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', [[HeroAntagonist Dib]] and [[CreepyChild Gaz]] suffer from an extreme version of this, as their father [[ReluctantMadScientist Professor Membrane]] is always either at his laboratory or working on some odd project in the basement. He often communicates with his children through floating video monitors rather than in person. To make things worse, most of his remaining interaction with Dib is spent on lamenting his "[[CassandraTruth insanity]]" and/or pestering him to study "[[ForScience real science]]". The [[ComicBook/InvaderZimOni comics]] downplay this, with him having a greater presence at home, though he still questions Dib's obsessions.
343	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' had Johnny and Dukey enlisted by TheMenInBlack Black and White to help investigate an ObviouslyEvil-looking man by becoming friends with his daughter.[[spoiler: Then it turned out it was ''the daughter'' who was evil, and plotting to destroy her father's pet food factory because he was too busy with work for her.]]
344	* On ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', Adrien's father Gabriel is ''always'' busy with work. This is on top of keeping Adrien locked into a busy schedule of modeling work and lessons. At the end of "Simon Says" Adrien passive-aggressively rips into his dad for his distance. [[spoiler:Secretly being a supervillain doesn't help Gabriel's case, either.]]
345	* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': [[spoiler:Trini's mother is never around because she's too busy serving the United Nations. Trini laments that she can't always stay and always has to leave]].
346	* A CompressedVice version in the ''[[Literature/TheMoomins Moominvalley]]'' episode "Moominpapa and Son". Mrs Fillyjonk convinces Moominpapa that his lack of a job is a bad influence on Moomintroll, so he decides to set up a business offering boat tours (but, since this is Moominpapa, only in storms). As far as Moomintroll is concerned, all this means is that Moominpapa isn't at home any more.
347	* The canonical reason why Scootaloo's parents [[InvisibleParents never appeared]] in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' until the final season is because they're constantly traveling the globe for research work. This leaves her in the custody of her two aunts and seeking attention of CoolBigSis figure Rainbow Dash, but she still maintains a positive view of her folks and deeply admires them.
348	* ''WesternAnimation/PuppyInMyPocketAdventuresInPocketville'' has several cases of this:
349	** Kate's mother Maria is the prime example. At the beginning of the series, she has to take the train and be away for several weeks because of her job being located far away, leaving her daughter to the sole care of Peter, Maria's husband and Kate's father, for a while. She briefly returns to spend time with her husband and daughter for Kate's birthday at the amusement park, but returns permanently at the end of the series after she gets a transfer.
350	** In "Friendship Ceremony", Caroline's parents, who return for a short time to give her a present, aren't around to play with her because of their job. This was the reason why Caroline ended up getting a Dalmatian puppy named Dot, as a loving companion for her.
351	** In "Frisbee", Liam has a father who is constantly busy with phone calls from work that he cannot spend time with his son. When Otto is sent to Liam, he grabs the phone out of his father's hand to get his attention.
352	* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' had Sam's dad be like this when he comes to visit. By the end of the episode, he tosses his phone in the back of their car and ignores it as it rings.
353	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
354	** Parodied in the ''Film/MaryPoppins'' WholePlotReference episode where Homer says that Shary Bobbins taught him not to be a money-driven workaholic (something Homer never was in even the tiniest way).
355	** Played straight in the episode "C.E.D'oh," in which Homer uses a legal technicality to get Burns ousted as owner of the power plant and winds up as its new owner, only to be forced to work late hours as he realizes that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome running a power plant actually requires a lot of effort]], which leaves him teleconferencing into family dinner and rescheduling time with Bart. He ends up reverting to StatusQuoIsGod after Burns shows him a ''graveyard'' of all the loved ones he outlived without ever finding the time for (though not intending to teach him a lesson but to kill him by walling him in one of the mausoleums).
356	** ''Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E9SaturdaysOfThunder'': After failing to spend bonding time with Bart (simply because he was lazy, not workaholic), Homer calls the National Fatherhood Institute for advice. Their [[MockingMusic hold music]] is the TropeNamer.
357	* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' with the elderly supervillain The Terror and his son Charlie. Charlie accuses Terror of never spending any time with him when he was a child. Terror says he had to work, but also because Charlie was such a goody-two-shoes, Terror didn't WANT to spend any time with him. For reference, Charlie became an insurance agent instead of a supervillain.
358	* Shows up in ''WesternAnimation/UnstableFables: Tortoise Vs. Hare'': Murray Hare misses his son's science fair to work at his car dealership. His wife is even worse, as she's a real estate agent who never takes off her Bluetooth headset and appears to be giving motherly advice when she's actually talking to a client.
359	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': Nox, the main villain, 200 years before the actual show took place. His obsession with his work eventually drove his wife and children away from him. [[spoiler: They died when the home they moved to was destroyed in a massive flood, and only then did Nox realize that his obsession had cost him the best part of his life. The revelation drove him insane, leading him on a 200-year quest to travel back in time to fix his mistakes, over the course of which he annihilated several countries, killed a dragon, and wiped out an entire species.]]
360	* ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'''s [[ChristmasEpisode All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper]] had a LonelyRichKid stow away with Yogi and gang, who end up getting accused of kidnapping. The trope is summed up aptly when the dad confronts them:
361	-->'''Dad:''' She wouldn’t leave me for you. What could you give her that I haven't?\
362	'''Yogi:''' [[ArmorPiercingResponse How’s about some uhh... Time?]]\
363	'''Dad:''' [[ExplainExplainOhCrap I'm a busy man. I have a company to run! I have meetings all day, all night. Flying to conferences! I'm never home, I]]-- ''[beat] [[HeelRealization I'm never home]]''.
364	* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice [[WesternAnimation/YoungJusticeRevivalSeries Outsiders]]'', Victor Stone's father, Silas, spends all his time working in his lab for the Justice League, missing pretty much everything in Victor's life. After Silas misses yet another football game Victor was playing in, Victor storms into his father's lab and accidentally triggers an explosion due to [[NoOSHACompliance the carelessly laid power cables]]. The resulting blast [[BodyHorror horrifically injures]] Victor and Silas makes the reckless decision to use a Fatherbox on his son in order to save his life. Dealing with this UnwillingRoboticisation and the ensuing attempts by Fatherbox to [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul turn him into nothing more than a vicious killing machine]] forms most of his arc for the season.
365	[[/folder]]
366

Context Main / WhenYouComingHomeDad