History Main / MaternallyChallenged

* One episode of ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' had Piper upset that her husband and sisters seemed better at taking care of her son, Wyatt, than she was; for example, they could tell what he wanted by variations of his cries while she was always left confused. Surprisingly, she managed to fix this when the VillainOfTheWeek inflicted her with TemporaryBlindness.

* Danny in ''OtherPeoplesBusiness'' provides a rare instance in which this trope isn't played for laughs. Danny actually is a biological mother, but a great deal of her personal angst comes from the fact that she despised even the word "Mommy" and felt no connection at all to the role. She admits in a later comic that she's glad she lost custody of her son to his father and step-mom. She still maintains a strained relationship with her son (during her bouts of sobriety), but she doesn't seem to mind one bit that he calls his stepmother "Mommy."

** Luann knew absolutely nothing about baby care in the episode where she gave birth, due to [[KnowNothingKnowItAll all her information being from Peggy]] and thus severely outdated and dangerous as a result. 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 it.

* One of the early episodes of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had Rachel not even knowing how to hold her boyfriend's baby son. A ''much'' later episode had her not knowing what a bassinet is, ''at her own baby shower''.

-->-- '''Prissy''', ''GoneWithTheWind''

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11536013/11/Hyperemesis-gravidarum Hyperemesis Gravidarum]]'', Miss Alice Band freely states she has the maternal instincts of a concussed housefly. However, confronted with several pregnant colleagues....

* Aubrey in ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive''. Before they marry, Aubrey's husband Jason says "My mother's buying me a vasectomy for a wedding present." Oddly enough, they [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09032009.shtml adopted a baby later]], and [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] 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 ''Webcomic/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 [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] 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.

* This is subverted with Cheshire from ''TeenTitans'' and ''ComicBook/SecretSix''. There have been moments where she's seen as somewhat loving and nurturing towards her daughter Lian, but it's blatantly implied that Jade has no actual love for either of her children beyond simply using them to keep their dads under her control when the situation calls for it. So it's more that she knows when to ''pretend'' to not be maternally challenged.
** It's probably better to say that Cheshire's maternal feelings are DependingOnTheWriter--some making Lian her MoralityPet, others consider her too evil to have any sort of loving relationship.
** Subverted as far as we can tell in her ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' counterpart. She does genuinely care for her daughter and goes to confront the father to help get him up to code about it.

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** Luann knew absolutely nothing about baby care in the episode where she gave birth, due to [[KnowNothingKnowItAll all her information being from Peggy]] and thus severely outdated and dangerous as a result. 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.

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* Cynthia Frady from the original ''WebVideo/MaddisonAtkins''
* This is subverted with Cheshire from ''TeenTitans'' and ''ComicBook/SecretSix''. There've been moments where she's seen as somewhat loving and nurturing towards her daughter Lian, but it's blatantly implied that Jade has no actual love for either of her children beyond simply using them to keep their dads under her control when the situation calls for it. So it's more that she knows when to ''pretend'' to not be maternally challenged.

* Persephone in DestroyerOfLight considers herself to be this, and therefore opts for an abortion when she gets pregnant.
* [=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 [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] 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.
* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The series revolves around the [[MagicalGirlWarrior Crystal Gems]] raising the teenage son of their former leader. Although they [[ParentsAsPeople usually]] do a good job, "Steven's Birthday" has him revert to a baby, and his father Greg has to take over because they have no idea how to take care of him. This is pretty {{Justified}}, since they're [[NoBiologicalSex asexual]] aliens who are all BornAsAnAdult. Their inability to understand babies (and ''especially'' Steven given he's a hybrid) is best shown in a flashback episode where they visited a baby Steven to bring him presents. Their gifts were a razor blade (He'll need it in the future), adult diapers (expecting him to shape-shift into them), and a dictionary (to help him learn English).

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'', the twin geniuses, Susan and Mary, turn themselves into babies so that their boy crush, Gil, can take care of them, much to their brother's annoyance (since it ruins his plans to have fun). It doesn't take long for Johnny to find out that Gil is, in fact, a horrible babysitter who, while good intentioned, knows absolutely nothing about caring for babies and often threatens Susan and Mary's lives. Johnny steps in and suprisingly proves to be a far better caretaker for his sisters and being a good brother. He did have help from Dukey (the uplifted Dog) to help, though with th advantage in numbers.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The series revolves around the [[MagicalGirlWarrior Crystal Gems]] raising the teenage son of their former leader. Although they [[ParentsAsPeople usually]] do a good job, "Steven's Birthday" has him revert to a baby, and his father Greg has to take over because they have no idea how to take care of him. This is pretty {{Justified}}, since they're [[NoBiologicalSex asexual]] aliens who are all BornAsAnAdult.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'', 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 Mary's lives. Johnny steps in and proves to be a far better caretaker of his sisters as a brother should be.
* The Uxorite species from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' as a whole have this. Once the egg is hatched the newborn is left to fend entirely for itself. They are actually confused by a parents attachment to their children in other species.

* In ''{{Discworld}}'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11536013/11/Hyperemesis-gravidarum Hyperemesis Gravidarum]]'', Miss Alice Band freely states she has the maternal instincts of a concussed housefly. However, confronted with several pregnant colleagues....

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNH9FkuF4Q This advertisement]] for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz featured a woman complaining to her son that he’s boring and never discusses interesting things like world affairs or culture. Her son is a toddler, so he pretty much ignores her.

* One of the many comedy tropes that ends up being completely not funny in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is Misato's utter inability to serve as a maternal figure. She would be a passable or even effective [[CoolBigSis Older Sister Surrogate]] if it weren’t for the implied sexual tension between her and Shinji.

* PlayedForDrama in ''ComicBook/{{Persepolis}}'': the narrator/lead character Marjane mentions how in a time of crisis, her neighbour handed her her baby and ran off, and since then she has always been very sceptical towards the concept of ‘maternal instinct’.

* Happened to Alanna in the fourth ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' book when she wound up protecting some clergy and orphans. It's her man-at-arms ''Coram'' who has to teach her how to hold a baby and deal with diapers, since he cared for her and her brother as infants. Presumably the experienced helped her when she had three kids of her own.

* Predictably, BadAss ActionGirl Aeryn in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' expects she will fulfill this trope when her child is born. She later learns to love motherhood.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Justified with the Crystal Gems, since they're asexually produced aliens who are created fully formed. At one point Rose Quartz believed that babies were a different species.

** It's probably better to say that Cheshire's maternal feelings (and her morality in general) are DependingOnTheWriter.

* In an episode of ''JohnnyTest'', 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 Mary's lives. Johnny steps in and proves to be a far better caretaker of his sisters as a brother should be.

* Cynthia Frady from the original ''MaddisonAtkins''

** 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.

* In ''{{Drowtales}}'', this seems to run in the Sarghress family. 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.
** Syphile ends up calling her out on this, telling Quain'tania just how poisonous of a mother she is, right before Quain' ''[[spoiler: kills her]]''

* The titular character in ''Film/{{Enid}}'', a biography on the life of Enid Blyton. When her baby starts crying she just stares at it, completely ignorant of what to do. In the end, she picks up the dog.

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': Inverted by ''[[PsychoForHire Barracuda]]'' of all people: having kidnapped Frank Castle's illegitimate daughter as bait, he proceeds to actually take good care of her, due to being the eldest sibling in his family he knows how to take care of toddlers.

* Mentioned in the ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'' ExpandedUniverse novelizations. One of the chapter quotes mentions that Max Sterling had taken over the familial and maternal roles, since his wife was from a race of ArtificialHumans with no concept of childbirth or childcare. When a visitor asked if she could hold the baby, Miriya threw him at her. The latter actually happens in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortress''[=/=]''Anime/{{Robotech}}'', where Miriya cheerfully lobs her newborn daughter to Misa[=/=]Lisa - while Max looks on, smiling.