History Main / MaternallyChallenged

* Miss Parker in the ''Series/ThePretender'' is initially shown to be this while babysitting Broots' daughter. She figures things out though.

This is a not-so-rare subversion of women-as-maternal which occurs when a [[AlwaysFemale female character]], usually a successful career gal, is revealed to know little or nothing about taking care of a baby. This will almost always be revealed by a plot in which she is [[ChildrenRaiseYou forced to take care of a baby]], [[StatusQuoIsGod temporarily]] if it's in a {{series}}. If it's not in a series, the Maternally Challenged will probably be adopting the baby permanently. Often, other characters will just ''assume'' she knows what to do since she's a woman. But she doesn't, and HilarityEnsues.

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 behavior 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. Compare to RaisedByDudes, which is a rough male equivalent. Subtrope of ParentsAsPeople.

* Subverted in the ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23658952/chapters/56791102 Lemon Cakes and Late Confessions]]'': Katarina is an infamous scatterbrain, so her friends and family are worried when she gets pregnant. They think she likes the idea of a child but doesn't understand what would actually be required to take care of one. They're very surprised when she proves fully capable of handling the child on her own, even correcting the way her husband holds their newborn. In her [[MediaTransmigration past life]], Katarina worked at a daycare, so she has far more experience than anyone expected.

* The ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23658952/chapters/56791102 Lemon Cakes and Late Confessions]]'': Subverted. Katarina is an infamous scatterbrain, so her friends and family were worried when she got pregnant. They thought she liked the idea of a child but didn't understand what would actually be required to take care of one. They're very surprised when she proves fully capable of handling it on her own, even correcting the way her husband holds their newborn. In her [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld past life]], Katarina worked at a daycare, so she has far more experience than anyone expected.

* 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''. Luckily for her, her child's father already had experience parenting with his son and would be there to help take care of the baby and reminds her how much she has accomplished, persuading her that she can learn to be a good mother.

[[folder:Film ]]

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* In the ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' episode "Hello, Baby", none of the girls in the Masaki household has a clue how to look after a baby - until Washu decides to take charge. [[spoiler:Namely because she's done this before.]]
* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi Sharp'' - how the hell would a kid know how to take care of a newborn (thankfully, the parents did help out a bit with this starting out)? Momoko went through some of the same trouble in ''Motto'', and moreso because the other girls were now pretty experienced at this.
* 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.

* It's mentioned in ''Fanfic/TheLoveClub'' that Melena shouldn't have been a mother. She wasn't fit for it. She tried her best, but [[JunkieParent fell to drugs]] and [[DrivenToSuicide likely herself]] when her three children were young.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13249131/1/Croft-and-Son Croft and Son]]'', it's heavily implied Lara is struggling with this, as she's stumbled more than once in how to raise Nero, and self-deprecating about how little she knows about him in comparison to Sam.

* In ''Film/ThreeMenAndABaby'' (released the same year, oddly enough), one of the men asked a girlfriend for advice on taking care of the baby, expecting that she would know what to do. She didn't.

* In ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' all women except the queen show signs of this. Justified in the three fairy "aunts" in that they don't know much about human children (they may be competent at raising fairy children), and Maleficent just hates the "Beastie" with a passion ... or at least pretends to do. She is good at keeping Aurora alive, though. The only one who cares about Aurora and openly shows affection is Diaval, who is a shapeshifted ''raven''.
* ''Film/ChristmasInConnecticut'': A magazine publisher invites a war hero to join him for Christmas with his star writer Elizabeth Lane, a {{Housewife}} on an [[{{Arcadia}} idyllic farm]] who shares recipes and anecdotes. Only problem is, Lane's a single CityMouse apartment-dweller who's making the entire thing up. Hijinks ensue when she tries to MaintainTheLie, set up shop in a friend's farmhouse, borrow a neighbour's baby, and pretend she has any clue how to handle the darn thing.

* 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 experience helped her when she had three kids of her own.

* The title character of the ''Literature/AMemoirByLadyTrent'' series freely admits that she's not a very good mother, and largely leaves her son to his nursemaid until he's old enough to carry on a conversation. She regrets it and later takes a more active role in her son's life, even taking him with her on a few of her adventures.

* A more serious version occurred in an episode of ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', 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.
* ''Series/MurphyBrown'', full stop. She eventually settles into the role, but not without embellishing it with her own unique twists first.
* ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' plays with this one a lot.
** Mostly with Cristina. 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 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. He eventually becomes a pediatric surgeon, so this skill comes in handy.
* Predictably, ActionGirl Aeryn in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' expects she will fulfill this trope when her child is born. She later learns to love motherhood.
--> '''D'Argo''': You never struck me as the type who would want children. (Aeryn shoots him a significant look.) You either, huh?
-->'''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.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'':
** One episode featuring Dani 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.
** 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).
* Miss Parker in the ''Series/ThePretender'' is initially shown to be this while babysitting Broots' daughter. She figures things out though.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' 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.
** An earlier episode had Prue admit that she didn't want to ever have kids, only to be subsequently taken by criminals who are also holding a magically-powered teenager to help them with crimes. She manages to help him escape and ends the episode admitting she might want kids one day...[[KilledOffForReal though of course, she never does]].
* On ''Series/LivingSingle,'' Regina dates a single father and spends a day with his daughter. At first, it goes well, with the two having a shopping spree, but Regina lets the little girl eat a whole cake and then is completely flustered when she's up all night sick. She admits this to her boyfriend, but he notes that at this early point in their relationship it's not a huge deal if she's a less-than-perfect mother figure, and they keep dating ([[GuyOfTheWeek not that we see that]]).
* Happens to Earl and Joy in ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' with Dodge. Justified, though, as Dodge had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_colic colic]]. Later episodes occasionally show Joy still in this trope. Earl is a little more ambiguous, because [[{{Jerkass}} Joy]] tricked him into signing away not only the trailer-home they once shared but custody of the kids when she divorced him.
* A major source of humour in ''Series/TheLetdown'' is that motherhood has not come as naturally to Audrey as she hoped it would. Her parenting skills are so bad in the pilot episode that at one point a drug dealer is driven to give her advice on the proper way to hold the baby so it can feed.
* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'': Despite "So Maternal" being an IAmGreatSong, it's painfully clear from the lyrics and video that Rebecca is actually terrible at parenting (during the below lyrics, she's also seen awkwardly rolling an entire banana, with skin, in a tortilla):
-->''Gonna keep them warm, gonna keep them safe''
-->''Gonna keep their homework free of mistakes''
-->''If a kid gets hungry I'll feed his face''
-->"A real wholesome meal!" ''Piece of cake!''
-->"Here, have a piece of cake!"
* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': At one point during the running shootout between the Mando and his allies against Moff Gideon's Stormtroopers in the season 1 finale, [[ActionGirl Cara Dune]] is forced to carry the Child so IG-11 [[spoiler:can tend to the grievously wounded Mando]]. Cara anxiously retorts that she "doesn't do the baby thing" when the droid places the infant in her arms. Ramping up the absurdity of the exchange is that IG-11, who had been caring for the Child throughout the episode up until then, is an ''[[KillerRobot assassin droid]]'' reprogrammed as a nurse.

* Danny in ''Webcomic/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."

* 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 [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/a-damned-long-day-pts-1-4/ 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, [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/revenge-of-q-a-pt-2/ this]] FlashForward's pretty hard to beat... so far. Still, at least we know the kid's going to survive to 17.
** Even more explicitly, [=PeeJee=] says at one point "I'm not carrying a parasite for nine months for any man," and Vanessa likewise mentions that she doesn't want kids. Both, however, are good caretakers for Davan's [[LawOfInversePaternity unofficially adopted]] son Rory. (Vanessa considered Davan having a kid as a plus since she's fine having a ''step''son.)
** In a meta example, the author has mentioned in the past that he doesn't want kids...[[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/time/ until January 2018]].
* Zoe of ''Webcomic/VenusEnvy'' is press-ganged into babysitting 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.

* Both of the leads from ''Moon Over June'' 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 she could sew up Hatsuki's c-section)?
-->''[Summer sighs]''\\
'''Hatsuki''': Let me guess, you're sad because you ''don't'' have and postpartum depression.\\
'''Summer''': I was so looking forward to it! Then, bam! Nothing but happiness! Talk about a real downer!

* 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 surprisingly 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 the advantage in numbers.
* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' has an example of a mother who was separated from her children from before they hatched (as they are ducks) to when they are about ten and struggles to figure out how to parent from a combination of inexperience, her own personality being more 'one of the kids' than anything, and some sanity damage from being gone for so long. That being said, [[spoiler: Della Duck]] is hard at work trying to figure it all out, and everyone around her is willing to help and give her some slack while she learns the ropes a decade in.

* Subverted in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' when Thorfinn hands a screaming baby to the girl of the group and tells her to feed it. She can't, not because of this trope, but because she's not pregnant/recently pregnant and therefore isn't producing milk.

* Subverted as far as we can tell in her ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' with Cheshire. Unlike her comic counterpart, she does genuinely care for her daughter and goes to confront the father to help get him up to code about it.

-->'''Summer''': *sigh*
-->'''Hatsuki''': Let me guess, you're sad because you ''don't'' have and postpartum depression.
-->'''Summer''': I was so looking forward to it! Then, bam! Nothing but happiness! Talk about a real downer!

* ''Fanfic/TheNewRetcons'': [[ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse Therese]] ultimately feels this way, as while she does love her daughter Francoise and will make sure she's taken care of, she just doesn't have a motherly bone in her body and will always pick [[FamilyVsCareer career over family]]. It's why she ultimately lets Anthony have primary custody of her so Therese can emigrate to France (with a month-long visit every summer).

This is a not-so-rare subversion of women-as-maternal which occurs when a [[AlwaysFemale female character]], usually a successful career gal, is revealed to know little or nothing about taking care of a baby. This will almost always be revealed by a plot in which she is [[ChildrenRaiseYou forced to take care of a baby]], [[StatusQuoIsGod temporarily]] if it's in a {{series}}. If it's not in a series, the Maternally Challenged will probably be adopting the baby permanently. Often, other characters will just ''assume'' she knows what to do since she's a woman. But she doesn't and HilarityEnsues.

* This is subverted with Cheshire from ''ComicBook/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.

* 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....

* 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 experience helped her when she had three kids of her own.
* 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/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''[=/=]''Anime/{{Robotech}}'', where Miriya cheerfully lobs her newborn daughter to Misa[=/=]Lisa - while Max looks on, smiling.

* Nadira, the BigBad's daughter in ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce''. The handle of a parting was handled to her by the Green Ranger, and seeing the baby was what started her HeelFaceTurn. She later tries to protect a baby (maybe the same one, not sure) through the final battle between the Rangers and her dad, and seeing her almost getting hurt leads to the ''BigBad's'' redemption.

** Mostly with Cristina. 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.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' 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.

* On ''Series/LivingSingle,'' Regina dates a single father and spends a day with his daughter. At first it goes well, with the two having a shopping spree, but Regina lets the little girl eat a whole cake and then is completely flustered when she's up all night sick. She admits this to her boyfriend, but he notes that at this early point in their relationship it's not a huge deal if she's a less-than-perfect mother figure, and they keep dating ([[GuyOfTheWeek not that we see that]]).
* Happens to Earl and Joy in ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' with Dodge. Justified, though, as Dodge had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_colic colic]]. Later episodes occasionally show Joy still in this trope. Earl is a little more ambiguous, because [[{{Jerkass}} Joy]] tricked him into signing away not only the trailer-home they once shared, but custody of the kids, when she divorced him.

* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'': Despite "So Maternal" being a IAmGreatSong, it's painfully clear from the lyrics and video that Rebecca is actually terrible at parenting (during the below lyrics, she's also seen awkwardly rolling an entire banana, with skin, in a tortilla):

** Even more explicitly, [=PeeJee=] says at one point "I'm not carrying a parasite for nine months for any man," and Vanessa likewise mentions that she doesn't want kids. Both, however, are good caretakers for Davan's [[LawOfInversePaternity unofficially adopted]] son Rory. (Vanessa considered Davan having a kid as a plus, since she's fine having a ''step''son.)

* Zoe of ''Webcomic/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.

** Cotton's wife Didi, who often appears to have difficulty taking care of G.H. to the point that she occasionally 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. She had post-partum depression, and wasn't all together in the head to begin with.
* 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 the advantage in numbers.

* 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.

** In a meta example, the author has mentioned in the past that he doesn't want kids...[[http://somethingpositive.net/sp01022018.shtml until January 2018]].

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* 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....
-->"Babies." said Alice. "Who, without prejudicing my reputation as a flinty-hearted lethally murderous stone-cold bitch, I'd quite like to see. You know, out of interest. As long as ''other people'' have them. Did I tell you I've already had one offer to be a godsmother?"
-->Vimes started. Alice Band as a godsparent? Well, she'd be one mean Mother, Gods help the child.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13249131/1/Croft-and-Son Croft and Son]]'', it's heavily implied Lara is struggling with this, as she's stumbled more than once in how to raise Nero, and self-deprecating about how little she knows about him in comparison to Sam.
[[/folder]]

* This is subverted with Cheshire from ''ComicBook/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.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': During the running shootout between the Mando and his allies against Moff Gideon's Stormtroopers, at one point [[ActionGirl Cara Dune]] is forced to carry the Child so IG-11 can [[spoiler:tend to the grievously wounded Mando]]. Cara anxiously retorts that she "doesn't do the baby thing" when the droid places the infant in her arms. Ramping up the absurdity of the exchange is that IG-11, who had been caring for the Child up until then, is an ''[[KillerRobot assassin droid]]'' reprogrammed as a nurse.

[[quoteright:347:[[Webcomic/GirlsWithSlingshots https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MaternallyChallenged_8043.jpg]]]]

* Sumiko Sumimura of ''Manga/Kekkaishi''admits she has more talent as a Kekkeishi than a mother and generally leaves the child-raising to her HouseHusband Shuji. Her children, however, don't seem to mind and actively reject any claim of her being a bad mother.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{King of the Hill}}'':

[[folder:Other]]
* Cynthia Frady from the original ''WebVideo/MaddisonAtkins''.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'': Despite "So Maternal" being a IAmGreatSong, it's painfully clear from the lyrics and video that Rebecca is actually terrible at parenting: