Basic Trope: Parents who don't discipline their children for certain reasons.
- Straight: Carl's parents are afraid to punish Carl.
- Exaggerated:
- Carl's parents become suicidal of the thought of giving Carl a time out.
- Carl's parents are reluctant to punish their son who is an omnicidal maniac debating whether or not it is the right thing to do.
- Downplayed: Carl's parents feel nervous whenever faced with the situation where they could berate Carl for his bad behavior.
- Justified:
- Carl is a Creepy Child prone to committing irrevocably evil acts that even an average strict parent would be afraid to punish.
- Carl's parents punishing Carl is a horrible reminder of how each of their parents punished them, often a bit too much.
- Carl's parents would feel that Carl would hate and resent them forever if they discipline him.
- Carl's parents came from abusive backgrounds and are afraid of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope if they so much as raise their voices at him.
- Carl's parents favor him more than Jake, whom they (and Carl) treat horribly.
- Inverted:
- Carl's Abusive Parents are scared of the thought of being nice to Carl, who happens to be a relatively good kid.
- Carl's parents are afraid to punish Carl for helping out an elderly lady across the street.
- Carl is afraid of standing up to his parents after all of the abuse they have given him.
- Subverted: It seems that Carl's parents are afraid to punish him in public, and they are currently punishing him in private...
- Double Subverted: ...just until they start crying for disciplining him for the very first time.
- Parodied: Carl's parents are afraid to punish Carl for the things that they would normally shrug off (accidentally spilling the milk, leaving the television on, forgetting to brush his teeth, etc.)
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Carl's parents are good parents who discipline him for his own good.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "You two call yourselves parents?! Control that little psychopath of yours!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited:
- Carl recognizes quickly how easy it is to manipulate his parents into giving him anything he wants, exploiting their passiveness.
- Abusive Offspring
- Defied:
- Although they won't like it, they put aside their soft feelings and begin disciplining Carl.
- Although he won't always like it, Carl pleads his parents to punish him for his wrongdoing.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Carl ends up becoming a Spoiled Brat who feels entitled to anything and everything he wants, and ends up becoming a loafer that mooches off his parents' enabling attitudes.
- Carl develops a complex as a result.
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