History Main / MaternallyChallenged

This is TruthInTelevision. Humans are one of the few mammal species who do not instinctively know how to care for their offspring. Partly because it's a lot more complicated for us, what with the time they take to grow, but mostly because we are social animals that learn child care from our elders instead of having instinctive reactions. The former has the advantage of more flexible behaviour that can quickly adapt to new situations while the latter does, of course, not require any parent or social group and no learning effort, which saves the animal time and resources.

* [=PeeJee=] and Aubrey in ''SomethingPositive''. Before they marry, Aubrey's husband says "My mother's buying me a vasectomy for a wedding present." Even more explicitly, [=PeeJee=] says at one point "I'm not carrying a parasite for nine months for any man." Oddly enough, they [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09032009.shtml adopted a baby later]], and [[Lampshade|Hanging]] that they have no idea what they're doing, and spend most of the time talking about their new daughter's freakishly large hands. Later on, [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03172009.shtml this]] FlashForward's pretty hard to beat... so far. Still, at least we know the kid's going to survive to 17.

* [=PeeJee=] and Aubrey in ''SomethingPositive''. Before they marry, Aubrey's husband says "My mother's buying me a vasectomy for a wedding present." Even more explicitly, [=PeeJee=] says at one point "I'm not carrying a parasite for nine months for any man."
** Which, considering the characters in question, is almost certainly a good thing...
** Actually, Aubrey and Jason have adopted a baby now: http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09032009.shtml (scroll down). You could say she's not fit to be a mother, given that the first thing she talks about when she sees the kid is her freakishly large hands, but she's pretty happy about it at least.
*** When it comes to questioning Aubery's parenting skills, [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03172009.shtml this]] FlashForward's pretty hard to beat... so far. Still, at least we know the kid's going to survive to 17.
* Zoe of VenusEnvy is press-ganged into baby-sitting her neighbor's infant son. After the experience, she expresses some relief that the hormone treatments she takes to transition from male to female have probably made her sterile anyway.

* Unsurprisingly, the title character of ''{{Bones}}'' is discovered to be Maternally Challenged in the episode "The Baby in the Bough".
** At first. To be fair, she got better at it by the end of the episode.

* One of the many comedy tropes that ends up being completely not funny in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is Misato's utter inability to serve as a maternal figure.
** Though she would be a passable or even effective [[CoolBigSis Older Sister Surrogate]] if she didn't keep trying to molest Shinji and/or Asuka whenever she get's a chance.
*** On the other hand, BrotherSisterIncest is a ''[[{{Rule34}} major]]'' [[{{Rule34}} fetish]] in Japan.
* Of course, Rosa, from ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' will always be [[MemeticMutation BEST MOM EVER]], but the clearest example of this trope can actually be found in [[spoiler:Natsuhi]], who managed to fail so horribly at raising a child that [[spoiler:she ended up pushing it (along with some poor servant who just happened to be holding the kid) off a cliff]].
** [[spoiler:Making your own kid willing to kill you horribly]] still takes a special kind of fail compared to [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring simply offing the brat]] by yourself]].

* Luann from {{King of the Hill}} knew absolutely nothing about baby care in the episode where she gave birth, despite having gone to school.
** Well she did know some things, it was just that all her information was from Peggy and thus severely outdated and dangerous as a result.
** If I recall correctly, when Luanne and Lucky practice parenting on Bobby they make him so confused and exasperated (they literally give him mixed messages, one after another) he proclaims them to be completely useless at at it.
** Another example would be Cotton's wife Didi, who often appears to have difficulty taking care of G.H. to the point that she occationally forgets where he is. Unlike Luann and Lucky though, it ''really'' isn't funny for two reasons. One, Didi is stuck between Cotton's sexist and rather psychotic demands and taking care of a screaming baby, which at times seems to be driving her mad. And second, since Cotton is a possibly-homicidal jackass, G.H. would have no hope for a good parent if Didi isn't up for it.
*** Not to mention the fact that she had post-partum depression, and wasn't all together in the head to begin with.

* In ''{{Drowtales}}'', this seems to run in the Sarghress family, though YourMileageMayVary. The matriarch, Quain'tana, is a warlord [[http://www.drowtales.com/archiveContest2009.php?id=36 who grew up on the streets]] and may not have ever known what proper parenting looks like, and as a result treats her children like tools at best and trash at worst. Her daughter Mel'arnach, who probably has the strongest maternal instinct of Quain's potential heirs, is in prison and has a horrible relationship with her mother to the point of actual death threats. And [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=63 Syphile, who is completely unqualified, is forced to care for Ariel since the latter was an infant]]. Unfortunately is this PlayedForDrama rather than PlayedForLaughs and has very real effects the lives of the characters involved.

This is TruthInTelevision. Humans are one of the few mammal species who do not instinctively know how to care for their offspring. (Partly because it's a lot more complicated for us, what with the time they take to grow, and our having protocols for excrement treatment, and persons besides the nursing mother often being responsible for care, which makes food a multi-step process instead of 'hold nipple against mouth.' And our offspring are unusually fragile- most newborn mammals can at least drag themselves to a nipple as soon as they're born, something that takes the average human a full 9 months or more.)

This is TruthInTelevision. Humans are one of the few mammal species who do not instinctively know how to care for their offspring. (Partly because it's a lot more complicated for us, what with the time they take to grow, and our having protocols for excrement treatment, and persons besides the nursing mother often being responsible for care, which makes food a multi-step process instead of 'hold nipple against mouth.' And our offspring are unusually fragile.)

* Predictably, BadAss ActionGirl Aeryn in {{Farscape}} expects she will fulfill this trope when her child is born.

** Though she would be a passable or even effective Older Sister Surrogate if she didn't keep trying to molest Shinji and/or Asuka whenever she get's a chance.

* A more serious version occurred in a recent episode of ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'', where the titular character was told by a boy she'd had to protect that she kind of sucks at being a mom. She acknowledges it in a "Workin' on it" sort of way.

* In the last episode of LawAndOrderSVU featuring Danny Beck, she develops a bond with a little girl who had been abused by her foster parents and takes her back to her apartment as a temporary living arrangement at the request of the girl. Unfortunately, this doesn't end as well as many of the other examples of this trope when the girl in question thanks Beck for her hospitality by ''attempting to torch Detective Beck's apartment so that they would be eternally together after they die in the resulting fire.'' Beck transfers out of the SVU the next morning, never to return. A couple seasons later, Olivia becomes the legal guardian of a young boy whose drug-addict mother abused him and was declared to be an unfit mother. This example goes much better than the Beck example as the boy Calvin is very appreciative of Olivia's efforts despite the fact she has admitted a few times throughout the series that she wouldn't make a good mother due to a number of reasons, the most frequently cited one being her job (hours, stress, etc.). The arc still ends in a bittersweet way, with Calvin being forcibly taken back to his birth mother. The final scene of the episode consists of Calvin repeatedly screaming Olivia's name as he's dragged away, with Olivia standing there, visibly upset and unable to do anything (the birth mother got an order against her).

* Happened to [[TortallUniverse Alanna]] in TamoraPierce's first quartet. She clearly figured it out at some point, cause she now has several very healthy kids.

*** Not to mention the fact that she became depressed after giving birth, and wasn't all together in the head to begin with.

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** At first. To be fair, she got better at it by the end of the episode.

* GreysAnatomy plays with this one a lot mostly with Christina in particular, recently she was put in charge of a ten year-old daughter of a patient and despite her disinterest and missteps she does form a bond with the girl. Alex actually subverts this trope by being the best with kids out of the fab five despite earlier protests that he wasn't and his {{Jerkass}} personality.

-->'''Aeryn''': He wants it so badly. So I do.
-->'''D'Argo''': You'll come around when you see the little guy in person.
-->'''Aeryn''': I hope so.

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* In an episode of {{Johnny Test}}, the twin geniuses, Susan and Mary, turn themselves into babies so that their boy crush, Gill, can take care of them, much to their brother's annoyance. It doesn't take long for Johnny to find out that Gill is, in fact, a horrible babysitter who, while good intentioned, knows absolutely nothing about caring for babies and often threatens Susan and Marys' lives. Johnny steps in and proves to be a far better caretaker of his sisters as a brother should be.

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* Both of the leads from ''MoonOverJune'' have an uphill battle to prove they are the reincarnation of June Cleaver; however self-described "single, perverted, promiscuous porn star" Hatsuki at least has admitted concern over her fitness to raise the child she just bore. Her [=OB/GYN=] roomie Summer (whose water broke just before starting on Hatsuki's c-section)?

* When [[Sammy Keyes]] is handed a shopping bag with a baby in it by a terrified teen, she has a horrible time trying to care for the baby until she can hand him over to the police the next morning.

* Of course, Rosa, from ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' will always be [[MemeticMutation BEST MOM EVER]], but the clearest example of this trope can actually be found in [[spoiler:Natsuhi]], who managed to fail so horribly at raising a child that [[spoiler:it wound up leading to the baby's death]].