History Main / DotingGrandparent

[[folder:Films — Live Action]]

[[folder: Film – Animation]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}} considers himself the kind of grandparent who adores and spoils his grandchildren, it's just that Wonder Woman and he have very different values so while he does save her life on multiple occasions and they both seem to enjoy their verbal spars they're more like mortal enemies than the normal take on this trope. Ares of course loves it this way since fighting is what he lives for and values above almost all else.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E58LongDistanceCall Long Distance Call]]", the extremely frail Grandma Bayles adores her grandson Billy. She gives him a toy telephone for his fifth birthday so that he will always be able to talk to her on it. She dies later that day, after mistaking Billy for her son (and his father) Chris. She begins to [[PhoneCallFromTheDead communicate with him over the toy phone from beyond the grave]] and convinces Billy to commit suicide so that they can be TogetherInDeath. When Billy is on the brink of death after being found face down in the family pond, Chris talks to his mother over the toy phone and persuades her to let Billy live if she really loves him.

* ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun'': The three great demons are the most powerful demons of the netherworld, second only to the demon king. All three of them are extremely fond of their grandsons and spare no opportunity to brag about them. One of them, Lord Sullivan had never married and decided to adopt a human as his grandchild he could dote on. It was for this reason he bought Iruma from his parents. Not that Iruma minds because Lord Sullivan is far better than his own feckless and abusive parents.

* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/479606/the-once-and-the-future-princess The Once and the Future Princess]]'' (the sequel to ''Fanfic/CastlingCozyGlow''): Flurry Heart has deal with an almost smothering degree of affection from her grandparents, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, while staying with them during her time at Canterlot, studying under her aunt Twilight. So much so, she struggles to get out of the house in time to make it to her aunt's lessons no matter how early she gets up and is so loaded down by things her grandmother insisted she take to stay well fed, warm, etc. that she can barley carry herself to the palace.

Grandparents tend to dote on their grandkids, to the point that it's become a common joke among grandparents that it's their job in the family to to "spoil the grandkids and send them home". They'd shower the the tykes with food, toys, affection, and permissions that the child's parents would never grant--and that they themselves probably never granted to their own children when they were younger.

There are possible reasons for why grandparents might spoil their grandkids even when they weren't as indulgent as parents. First, they don't usually live with the kids, so they don't really have to think about the side effects that these excesses might have on the child. Second, disciplining a child is hard, and the grandparents might no longer have the energy to deal with the persistent request and tantrums that the child might throw if their requests are denied as they did when they were parents. Third, there's a common belief that people become more sentimental and mellow out as they grow older, meaning that grandparents are more likely to go CutenessOverload over their adorable grandkids than they would have as young(er) adults towards their children.

* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' have the titular character's grandfathers, Ginnosuke Nohara and Yoshiji Koyama (the fathers of Hiroshi and Misae, respectively) who genuinely dotes over Shin-Chan and Himawari, although the latter tends to be slightly strict and overbearing sometimes due to being a retired discipline teacher. Best exemplified in the story arc which introduces Himawari, where a week after Himawari is born both Ginnosuke and Yoshiji ''immediately'' goes on a gift-buying spree (Barbies from the former, stuffed toys for the latter) trying to out-do each other with presents for baby Himawari. Cue the grandmothers scolding them for wasting their monthly retirement budgets over the ridiculous amount of toys that fills up an entire room.

* ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun'': The three great demons are the most powerful demons of the netherworld, second only to the demon king. All three of them are extremely fond of their grandsons and spare no opportunity bragging about them. One of them, Lord Sullivan had never married and decided to adopt a human as his grandchild he could dote on. It was for this reason he bought Iruma from his parents. Not that Iruma minds because Lord Sullivan is far better than his own feckless and abusive parents.

* In ''Fanfic/TheManyDatesOfDannyFenton'', [[spoiler:regardless of who Danny chooses, their parents are very loving towards their grandchildren, even the ones who don't like Danny. For example, Phantasma's father hates Danny yet loves his grandson, Eidolonius. However, Kim's parents get along well with him while doting on their granddaughter, Annie.]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'' sequel ''Webcomic/AkiChansLife'', after using to the idea of suddenly having a four-years granddaughter due to time-travel, Anja considers her grandmotherly duty to spoil Aki.

* In ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'', Papa's parents Gran and Gramps are this to his offspring Brother and Sister Bear. They spoil their grandchildren and emphasize fun unlike disciplinarian Mama Bear who is not above scolding her cubs for eating junk food and watching TV. On at least two occasions, when tensions rose high between him and his parents due to getting poor grades in school, Brother's strategy was to go stay at his grandparents.

* Edna from ''Series/{{Everwood}}'' used to be an Army nurse and still works, married her [[DecemberDecemberRomance new love]] despite most people frown upon their mixed marriage and she rides a motorbike. She loves her two grandkids, Amy and Bright, and she's a cool female role model for Delia Brown who has lost her mother.
* In ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', Marie Barone often makes it unsubtly clear that Debra's greatest single function in married life to her son was to provide she, Marie, with grandchildren she can dote on and spoil rotten. Grandchildren, although she genuinely loves them, are just another weapon she uses to remind Debra of her subordinate position and failings as a home-maker. Meanwhile, Frank Barone is the opposite of this trope - as often as not the grandkids are another imposition designed to spoil his comfortable retirement. Contrast Marie to Debra's mousy and unassertive mother - she is barely there in their lives, even when staying with her daughter. Debra's mother doesn't have a clue as to how to be a grandmother.
* Hattie Banks, a recurring character from ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', is Will Smith's doting adopted grandma who cheats Will in the cards game, takes him to Disneyland and embarrasses Uncle Phil. She loves the whole family but their Bel-Air lifestyle leaves the rest of them too high strung and at times resistant to her actions when she visits. Will, who was raised in a far more laid back manner in Philadelphia, gets on with her far more than the Banks part of the family because of similar fun loving personalities.

* ''Webcomic/{{Erma}}'': [[spoiler: Osamu]], is TheDreaded to ''a whole town of Yokai''. But, to the absolute shock of everyone, he turns to be absolutely loving to his granddaughter Erma the minute he meets her.

* Jasmine Lee aka Ah-Mah from ''WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee'' is an old magical fighter who chose Juniper as her substitute and trains her in the role of Te Xuan Ze. She often sidekicks Juniper against magical villains. Juniper's parents don't suspect of their double life and think Jasmine is a regular grandma.

* Discussed in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': The possibility comes up of [[RecursiveCreators sapient robots eventually creating yet another form of sapient life]]. Sawtooth optimistically expresses hope that humans will still be around when this happens, to which Florence jokes that humans, upon learning that they've become "grand creators", are likely to spoil this new species rotten.

Grandparents tend to dote on their grandkids, to the point that it's become a common joke among grandparents that it's their job in the family to to "spoil the grandkids and send them home". They'd shower the the tykes with food, toys, affection, and permissions that the child's parents would never grant--and that they themselves had never granted to their own children when they were younger.

* In ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'', Papa's parents Gran and Gramps are this to his offspring Brother and Sister Bear. They spoil their grandchildren and emphasize fun unlike disciplinarian Mama Bear who is not above scolding her cubs for eating junk food and watching TV. On at least two occasions has if tensions rose high between him and his * ''Literature/FireAndBlood:''

parents (both were about poor grades in school), Brother's strategy was to go stay at his grandparents.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/RumikoTakahashiAnthology https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grandaddy_350px2_9.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "Now he is a sugar grandaddy."]]

* Hungramps from ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' was one of these in life. He had a granddaughter who he adored however as she grew she started spending less time with him. He ended up becoming ill and died of his illness. His granddaughter had made it her aspiration to become a doctor and cure him, and even after his death, she continued her dream of becoming a doctor. Hungramps originally appeared haunting a convenience store because he was waiting to see his granddaughter again.

* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/479606/the-once-and-the-future-princess The Once and the Future Princess]]'' (the sequel to ''Fanfic/CastlingCozyGlow''): Flurry Heart has deal with an almost smothering degree of affection from her grandparents, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, while staying with them during her time at Canterlot, studying under her aunt Twilight. So much so, she struggles to get out of the house in time to make it to her aunt's lessons no matter how early she gets up and is so loaded down by things her grandmother insisted she take to stay well fed, warm, etc. that she can barley carry herself to the palace.

* Averted in ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga''. Several of the grandparents presented (like Piotr to Miles and Ezar to Gregor) just aren't the doting type, to say the least. Cordelia and Alys are definitely the type to dote on Miles's children and Ivan's upcoming child respectively. However, they haven't been shown doing too much doting as of yet.
* ''Literature/FireAndBlood:''
** Aegon the Conqueror, the man who united six out of the seven kingdoms of Westeros via a combination of dragons and fire, was said to have been an utterly doting granddad to his first grandkid.
** Viserys I was very defensive about his daughter's children, and made it clear anyone who even dared suggesting they might've been illegitimate would lose their tongues.
* In ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'', Papa's parents Gran and Gramps are this to his offspring Brother and Sister Bear. They spoil their grandchildren and emphasize fun unlike disciplinarian Mama Bear who is not above scolding her cubs for eating junk food and watching TV. On at least two occasions has if tensions rose high between him and his parents (both were about poor grades in school), Brother's strategy was to go stay at his grandparents.

* Ed "Pop" Ward from ''Series/LikeFamily'' is Bobby's doting grandpa who lives with his son Ed and dates 40-year-younger women. He is also a doting adopted grandpa to Keith and often helps him and Bobby to get out of trouble.
* Hattie Banks, a recurring character from ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', is Will Smith's doting adopted grandma who cheats Will in the cards game, takes him to Disneyland and embarrasses Uncle Phil. She loves the whole family but their Bel-Air lifestyle leaves the rest of them too high strung and at times resistant to her actions when she visits. Will, who was raised in a far more laid back manner in Philadelphia, gets on with her far more than the Banks part of the family because of similar fun loving personalities.

* Edna from ''Series/{{Everwood}}'' used to be an Army nurse and still works, married her [[DecemberDecemberRomance new love]] despite most people frown upon their mixed marriage and she rides a motorbike. She loves her two grandkids, Amy and Bright, and she's a cool female role model for Delia Brown who has lost her mother.

* ''Webcomic/LovelyLovecraft'': Howard's deceased maternal grandparents were extremely close to him, encouraging his interests and forming a relationship of mutual adoration. His mother is less close to him, and she laments her inability to live up to her parents' example.

* Max Tennyson from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' is a retired intergalactic cop who sidekicks his grandson Ben Tennyson, the bearer of an alien weapon called Omnitrix, in his fight against alien villains who threaten the planet Earth. Ben's parents weren't aware of their double life until the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce''.
* Beatrixo from ''WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty'' is a retired Galactic Guardian and often likes to bake treats for Betty whenever she visits, though [[LethalChef they often don't turn out so good]].
* Cotton from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' is this to his grandson Bobby. Even though he hates most things, he does love Bobby and treats his grandson far better than he does his son Hank.
* Malloy gets this treatment from Woody's mother Anita (whom he considers a grandmother) in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'' as she keeps spoiling him with expensive toys such as a mini-car. When Anita is about to leave (or rather kicked out forcefully by Woody as retribution for all the abusive crap she inflicted on him such as locking him inside a closet full of birds and bees or the bicycle chain whipping), Malloy begs Anita to stay. But then Anita has some bad news...
-->'''Anita''': I don't have any more money, Malloy.\\
'''Malloy''': [[GetOut Choke on my balls!]]

Grandparents tend to dote on their grandkids, to the point that it's become a common joke among grandparents that it's their job in the family to to "spoil the grandkids and send them home". They'd shower the the tykes with food, toys, affection, and permissions that the child's parents would never grant--and that they had never granted to their own children when they were younger.

* ''[[Fanfic/CastlingCozyGlow The Once and the Future Princess]]'': Flurry Heart has deal with an almost smothering degree of affection from her grandparents, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, while staying with them during her time at Canterlot, studying under her aunt Twilight. So much so, she struggles to get out of the house in time to make it to her aunt's lessons no matter how early she gets up and is so loaded down by things her grandmother insisted she take to stay well fed, warm, etc. that she can barley carry herself to the palace.

Grandparents tend to spoil their grandkids, indulging them in ways they never did for their own children (i.e. the grandkids' parents) when they were younger. In fact, it's quite a common joke among grandparents that it's their job to "spoil the grandkids and send them home"--often showering them with food, toys, affection, and permissions that the child's parents would never grant.

* ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'': Shinobu from the episode ''[[https://youtu.be/dgRIFBHYNdg Mother-in-law canceled my reservation without consent but husband sided with her]]'' always spoiled her granddaughter Arisa whenever she visited Akihiro and Kyouko's house. However, this is {{subverted|Trope}} when she moves in with the couple and starts forcing her [[StayInTheKitchen outdated]] ideals on Arisa.

* ''Fanfic/TheSimpsonsTeamLASH'': Agnes Skinner, to an unhealthy extreme. Seymour's [[MyBelovedSmother beloved smother]] has become Simon's beloved grandsmother. She greets him by giving him a [[AndCallHimGeorge painfully tight hug]], has a whole host of AffectionateNicknames for him, cheers for him (not his team, just him) at his peewee hockey games, offers cookies to him and exclusively him when he comes over, has pictures of him all over her house, and is very prone to CutenessProximity whenever she's around him. However, her affection for him is tied up in a lot of [[AlwaysAChildToParent infantilization]]; she speaks to him in borderline BabyTalk, treats him like he's younger than he actually is, and still makes him sleep in a crib and wear very childlike outfits.

Grandparents tend to spoil their grandkids, indulging them in ways they never did for their own children (i.e. the grandkids' parents) when they were younger. In fact, it's quite a common joke among grandparents that it's their job to "spoil the grandkids and send them home"--often showering them with food, toys, affection, and permissions that the parents would never grant.

There are possible reasons for why grandparents might spoil their grandkids even when they weren't as indulgent as parents. First, they don't usually live with the kids, so they don't really have to think about the side effects that these excesses might have on the child. Second, disciplining a child is hard, and the grandparents might no longer have the energy to deal with the persistent request and tantrums that the child might throw if their requests are denied as they did when they were younger. Third, there's a belief that people become more sentimental and mellow out as they grow older, meaning that grandparents are more likely to go CutenessOverload over their adorable grandkids than they would have as young(er) adults towards their children.

** The Ox-King is very fond of his grandsons Gohan and Goten, often buying them toys and spoiling them.

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16670314110.24168500 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

* ''Manga/RumikoTakahashiAnthology'': In the story "How Ridiculous at That Age'', the protagonist's father is recently widowed and starts blowing through his pensions to pamper a much younger woman he met at the gym--giving her extravagant gifts and signing on a life insurance policy with her as the beneficiary. When it's revealed that [[spoiler:the woman is already married and is simply taking advantage of him]], he turns his attention to his newborn granddaughter, and using those same funds to buy her extravagant toys and cooing over her. The protagonist remarks that he is now a sugar-granddaddy.