History Main / PromotionToParent

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In Volume 5, Yang says that she basically raised Ruby by herself due to their father Taiyang not being around often after Summer's death. While the show has been vague as to when exactly this happened (sources have implied Ruby was anywhere as young as two to as old as nine), Yang says that Ruby couldn't even ''talk'' at the time, which would mean that Yang herself was no more than ''four'' when she started.

* Volume 5 of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' reveals that Yang basically raised Ruby by herself due to Taiyang not being around often after Summer's death. Yang also states that Ruby couldn't even ''talk'' at the time, meaning Yang herself was no more than ''four'' when she started.

Compare to BigBrotherInstinct and FamilyMan. If this trope is a KlingonPromotion to parent, the promoted will also be a SelfMadeOrphan. Contrast with DisappointingOlderSibling when the first born proves to be too immature, irresponsible, or ineffectual to be a parental substitute. PlayingHouse is when it's just a game kids play.

* The older kids in ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'' act as parents (or at least supervisors) for Molly [[spoiler:and later Klara]].
* In {{Franchise/Batman}}'s absence, [[Comicbook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] is forced to take both [[LegacyCharacter his mantle]] and responsibility for the Bat-Family, specifically his little adoptive brother [[AntiHero Damian]].
** And since Damian and Bruce clash like crazy, Dick was in this position even ''after'' Bruce got back (at least until the reboot).
** Bruce also sort of had this with Tim after Tim's father (his only remaining parent by that point) died. Tim's last name was even changed to Drake-Wayne. Needless to say when Bruce went missing for awhile Tim... had issues.
*** Bruce not doing this ''enough'' is one of the reasons Jason turned out [[BlackSheep like he did.]]
** Harper Row is this for her teenage brother Cullen after the two run away from their abusive father.
* Rory and Pandora Destine of ''Comicbook/ClanDestine'' were raised by their brother Walter and sister Florence (posing as their [[{{Nephewism}} uncle]] and [[RaisedByGrandparents grandmother]] respectively). This seems to be standard procedure for the Destines; one of the grown-up siblings mentions that he was also raised by an older brother, and even when the family's DisappearedDad returns, he doesn't take over as the kids' guardian.
* In ''Comicbook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam,'' Billy (who's about ten) serves this role for his younger sister Mary--the two orphans live alone, using Billy's OlderAlterEgo whenever they need a fake parent. (Note that this is different than most ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' adaptations, where the pair are the same age and both are eventually HappilyAdopted by the Bromfields.)
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibles'': A villain named Larry claims to have raised two brothers and three sisters.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* Yakko in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' movie ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish''. He leans toward this trope in the series too, but since the movie takes place in an {{Alternate Universe}} where the Warners are actual orphans - unlike in the series, where they never had parents, but [[ArtInitiatesLife were created by an animator drawing them]] – it's especially visible there.
* Elsa in ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' goes through this with Anna after their parents die. Even though she's barely present in Anna's life for the three years between their parents death and her coronation, isolating herself out of fear of her ice powers, she still takes her responsibility as Anna's legal guardian seriously, as shown when she vetos her marriage to Hans.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/ThirtyDaysOfNight'', the parents of Eben and Jake Oleson are never seen or even mentioned, so it's very likely that Eben and his grandmother have shared custody of his teenage brother for quite some time. Once the vampires arrive and their grandmother is killed, he becomes this trope in full-force.

* ''Film/OnOurOwn''

* Jane's Promotion To Parent in ''Film/TwentySevenDresses'' is the explanation for her ExtremeDoormat tendencies.
* In ''Film/FindingNeverland'', George, the eldest of the Llewelyn Davies boys, starts taking more responsibility for his brothers as the story goes on, causing James Barrie to comment on him becoming an adult. Fortunately for him, his mother is still alive, albeit ill, and [[ParentalSubstitute James is also looking after him and his brothers]].
* ''Film/LoveActually'' has Sarah's problems in regards with her [[IllGirl ill brother]] after her parents died. Also to a lesser extent, Daniel is left to raise his stepson while trying to deal with his own grief of his wife's death. While he started out as a parent, it was previously a less active role.
* In ''Film/RealSteel'', Charlie Kenton is a deadbeat dad who ends up meeting his son Max for the first time when Max's mother dies and Charlie agrees to look after him for a few months before Max's aunt takes him in. At first, Charlie only agrees to take the kid to get a pay-off from the aunt's wealthy husband while they go on vacation in Italy, but over the course of the film and their restoration of an old robot that they use for fighting, Charlie and Max gradually become closer.
* The oldest brother in the Japanese film ''NobodyKnows'' has to care for his three younger siblings after father and mother abandoned them.

* Alexandria in ''Film/TheFall'' begins to see Roy as a father figure after her own father's death. In Roy's story, the Black Bandit's daughter starts to call him "Daddy", which eventually angers Roy.
* ''Film/TheHungerGames'': Katniss Everdeen for her sister, due to her mother's depression and general ineffectiveness.
* Lucy for the [[CharacterTitle title character]] in ''Film/MarthaMarcyMayMarlene'', since it's implied both their parents are dead.
* In ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape,'' Gilbert's narration describes his older sister, Amy, as more like a mom, and indeed she does most of the household duties; their actual mother, Bonnie, is morbidly obese and rarely moves from the couch, while their father killed himself years before. Gilbert himself seems to be financially supporting the family and takes up most of the responsibility for watching Arnie, their mentally disabled brother. [[spoiler:The film ends with Bonnie's death; after a one-year TimeSkip, Amy and youngest sister Ellen are moving to Des Moines together with Gilbert and Arnie possibly planning to follow]].
* ''Film/{{Joy|2016}}'': 8-year-old Az basically becomes the mom after her mother dies in childbirth. She looks after baby Jargal when their father is away, she keeps the family bankroll under her mattress, and she lectures her father about budgeting and keeping track of expenses.
* Film/BennyAndJoon the title characters parents have died some years before, leaving Benny to raise Joon, who is a mentally IllGirl. He takes his role very seriously but also objects to options that may have been helpful to Joon, such as sheltered accommodation or her relationship with [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Sam]] partly because he doesn't want to lose her.

* in ''Radio/TheSpaceGypsyAdventures'' Gemma has been raising her brother Damien since they escaped from a Federal Alliance prison camp following their family's collective arrest for gunrunning. She often acts maternal towards him (unless he's being a mischievous little brat) and has been mistaken for his mother more than once.

* In the {{backstory}} of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', after the Emperor's incarceration in the Golden Throne, his son Roboute Guilliman was essentially promoted to be the new Emperor until Guilliman himself was mortally wounded. Guilliman also assumed the role the Emperor had to the other Primarchs, attempting to tell them how to behave, how to lead their legions, and what to do in general, though he was arguably unsuccessful in this latter role.
** Before that, [[ParentalFavoritism favoured son]] Horus curried favour with [[TheUnfavourite the brothers the Emperor ignored]], including Konrad Curze, Alpharius and Mortarion, who ended up supporting his rebellion.

* In ''Theatre/DeadEnd'', Drina has been struggling to raise her younger brother Tommy and keep him out of trouble since their mother died. She still dresses like a little girl, despite being in her early twenties.

* In ''VisualNovel/CorpseParty'', Seiko Shinohara's mother disappeared several years ago. As a result, she acts like a surrogate mother to her three younger siblings while their father works. [[spoiler: After Seiko dies in Tenjin Elementary and is erased from existence, her younger brother Yuu is this instead.]]
* In the ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', the lawyer Akira Satou was this to her blind sister Lilly [[spoiler: after their parents moved to Scotland and left them behind]] until the demands of her job force Lilly to start living on-campus at Yamaku. She's quite bitter toward her parents leaving her with Lilly, and thinks she didn't do as good of a job as she could, as Lilly ended up learning how to be independent.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' had Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye, who has been taking care of her teenage sister Ema (13 years younger than her) since the two of them were orphaned. Of course, [[spoiler:it's Lana's love for her little sister which leads to her being blackmailed by her boss, Damon Gant, into covering up a crime. Ironically, that leads Ema to hire Phoenix...]].

* Happens in ''VisualNovel/{{Crescendo|EienDatoOmotteItaAnoKoro}}'', with Ayame Sasaki taking care of her adopted younger brother Ryo (the male lead) after their parents die in an accident when Ryo was in junior high and Ayame was in college. She drops from college and becomes an OfficeLady to support them both, taking care of Ryo devotedly [[GreaterNeedThanmine and neglecting her own needs.]] [[BrotherSisterIncest They can potentially fall in love]].
* [[spoiler: Mira Kagami]] in ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' is revealed to be unable to join clubs because she's the eldest of five children in a poor household, her father died, and she has to help her mother to take care of her ''much'' younger brothers. [[spoiler: All of the times Mira cancels dates with the PlyerCharacter? One of the kids is an IllBoy [[SickEpisode and she must take care of him]]. [[TextileWorkIsFeminine She's good at sewing?]] She fixes the kids's clothes to help her mom. She doesn't let the PlayerCharacter walk her home? She doesn't want anyone to find out she's not the RichBitch she pretends to be at school.]]

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'': Santa [[spoiler: or Aoi Kurashiki]] was promoted to parent after his parents were killed in an accident. He's been looking out for [[spoiler: Akane]] since he was 8. [[spoiler: It's basically the reason he's TheLancer to Akane when she's acting as [[BigBad Zero]] - he knows that if her plans fail or never come to fruition then she'll die.]]
* ''VisualNovel/ShallWeDateNinjaShadow'': Saori's potential boyfriend [[spoiler: Ritsu]] was orphaned at 10 years old and had to take care of his 6-year-old little brother from then on. [[spoiler:Then his brother was killed by the Nagasaki Vigilantes for [[HeKnowsTooMuch learning their secret identitites]], and the deeply hurt Ritsu has come to ''loathe'' them for it.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/NamirDeiter''

* When their parents died, Sara from ''Webcomic/AloneInACrowd'' was forced to put her life on hold to look after her sister Faith.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Dave's Bro]] plays it straight while John's Dad is simply a [[MissingMom Single]] [[AvertedTrope Parent]], with no insight into the rest of their respective families. Later, thanks to a lot of complicated [[CloningBlues Ectobiology]] [[TimeParadox Shenanigans]] and [[StableTimeLoop Weird]] {{Time|yWimeyBall}} [[RunningGag Shit]], we learn that [[spoiler: [[InvertedTrope Dave's Bro is his biological clone-father,]] [[DoubleSubversion John's Dad is his genetic half-brother and his grandmother is actually his biological clone-mother,]] [[RuleOfThree and]] [[TrulySingleParent John is unwittingly responsible for cloning both the parents and the kids]] [[ZigZaggingTrope just before they all got launched throughout time and space to become those very people]]]].
* ''{{Webcomic/Strays}}'': Meela's backstory --until her brother got killed.
* Webcomic/WoodenRose: [[http://www.woodenrosecomic.com/comic/chapter2/40.html Lillian has been a second mother to Nessa]].
* In ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany'', [[ElegantGothicLolita Gary]] is this to his "[[HeroicBuild little]]" brother Marty, from [[DemotedToExtra what little]] is known about them. Nonspecific Evil Mage #157675 learned the [[ManOnFire hard way]] what {{k|nightTemplarBigBrother}}inds of {{p|apaWolf}}owers Gary gained from the role.
* Jae Gu of Webcomic/GirlsOfTheWild became the sole supporter of his two younger siblings after his father died and his mother abandoned them all out of stress. This is not a happy arrangement, as he works desperately to keep his siblings fed and cared for well also still going through school. He absolutely despises his mother for abandoning them and he fears that if she returns his siblings will easily forgive her and accept her back.
* The basic plot of ''Webcomic/StepMonster'' is that, out of desperation to avoid being split up by the child services, Suzette and Mikey Miller recruit Matilda, the monster who [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight lives in Mikey's closet]] to pretend to be an aunt of theirs to adopt them. Since the alternative for Matilda is to watch them leave and have to go back to living with her parents in the monster world, she agrees. Things develop from there.
* Emma in ''{{Webcomic/Namesake}}'' did have her father around after her mother left when she was a child, but she still pretty much raised her younger sister Elaine afterwards.
* ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'': Part of Onni's backstory. The list of charges includes both a younger sister and a younger cousin; the latter may have been orphaned at the same time as them.

* {{Creator/Amoridere}}
** Bunny has been this to [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=sweetheart#/d5gr949 Sweetheart and Speckles]], [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=eglantine#/d58h76y Eglantine]], and, of course, [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=Madgie+#/d4la3jj Madgie]]. Needless to say, understandably so, she was rather unwilling to take on these responsibilities but, with her younger cousins, she seems not to mind. However, this is because Madgie is a wanted fugitive, while said little cousins are not.
** Similarly, in Toki and Doki's backstory, the former played this role, when their parents died. Later, we have Jinx and Spin playing this role to Toki, especially since they've thawed her out of the block of ice she was frozen in.
* In the toy lines, Franchise/{{Barbie}} has largely InvisibleParents who [[ToylessToylineCharacter only exist in books]]. It's assumed her two younger sisters live with these usually-unseen parents. In ''WebAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'', however, Chelsea and Skipper clearly live with Barbie.
* Volume 5 of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' reveals that Yang basically raised Ruby by herself due to Taiyang not being around often after Summer's death. Yang also states that Ruby couldn't even ''talk'' at the time, meaning Yang herself was no more than ''four'' when she started.
* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Snake is like this to Bear, Duck, and Balloon since their father is never on-screen. He keeps them from getting into ''too'' much trouble.
--> '''Bear''': Face it, Duck. Without Snake, we'd be all dead.

* Film/BennyAndJoon the title characters parents have died some years before, leaving Benny to raise Joon, who is a mentally IllGirl. He takes his role very seriously but also objects to options that may have been helpful to Joon, such as sheltered accommodation or her relationship with [[Cloudcuckoolander Sam]] partly because he doesn't want to lose her.

Compare to BigBrotherInstinct and FamilyMan. If this trope is a KlingonPromotion to parent, the promoted will also be a SelfMadeOrphan. PlayingHouse is when it's just a game kids play.

* PromotionToParent/RealLife

* Bunny has been this to [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=sweetheart#/d5gr949 Sweetheart and Speckles]], [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=eglantine#/d58h76y Eglantine]], and, of course, [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=Madgie+#/d4la3jj Madgie]]. Needless to say, understandably so, she was rather unwilling to take on these responsibilities but, with her younger cousins, she seems not to mind. However, this is because Madgie is wanted fugitive, while said little cousins are not.

PromotionToParent/RealLife

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* During the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', Bulkhead and Bumblebee seemed to have a sibling relationship with Sari. After her father disappeared, they started moving into more of a parental role--or at least they tried.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Katara took on this sort of role in looking after her family after her mother Kya was murdered. A notable case, since Katara is actually the younger sibling. Even when she and Sokka leave the South Pole, she becomes the TeamMom. Her brother Sokka even highlights this at one point in Book 3, talking to Toph about how whenever he tries to picture his mother's face, Katara's is the face he sees.
** It was zigzagged around in the first few episodes, since Sokka was adamant about the duty that Hakoda gave to him: [[BigBrotherInstinct taking care of his little sister.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Mako took care of his younger brother Bolin while the two of them were growing up on the streets, and is still fiercely protective of him.
** Ghazan [[TheUnreveal may or may not]] have been raised by an older sister.
* A unique example in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''--the title character is the HalfHumanHybrid son of an alien MagicalGirlWarrior, being trained by his mother's old teammates. [[ParentsAsPeople Their attempts are spotty but loving]]. Steven's father, Greg, did raise him until recently and is still involved in his life, but decided that he needed to stay with the Gems in order to learn how to use his powers. (The fact that Greg LivesInAVan may have also contributed.)
* Their parents are alive and well in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', but Jazz relegated herself as the "parent" to Danny for a number of years. Fearing that her parents were too incompetent and obsessed with their ghost hunting that would in turn traumatize her naive, scared younger brother, Jazz served as a crutch and guidance to ensure his growth. In some ways it worked, but half the time he's irritated with her too-mature behavior. It works out in the end when Jazz realizes that she underestimated her parents' love and devotion to their children and that [[CharacterDevelopment Danny's doing a fine job standing on his own two feet. With it, she, too, learns to let go and enjoy her given age]].
* On ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim,'' Dib sometimes seems to feel this way towards Gaz, since their father is always working and their [[MissingMom mom may or may not have ever even existed]]. {{Fanon}} tends to exaggerate this a bit, however; for the most part, Gaz is self-sufficient, and Dib seems to know it.
* When Goliath in ''{{WesternAnimation/Gargoyles}}'' (the [[AFatherToHisMen "rookery father"]] of the Manhattan Clan) goes missing, his NumberTwo Brooklyn, is forced to take up Goliath's [[TheLeader leadership responsibilities]].
* Though it's never mentioned what happened to their parents, Sue Storm on ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' is definitely this to [[HotBlooded Johnny]].
* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Daria}}'' [[AllThereInTheManual website]] describes Casa Lane as the house where siblings [[CoolLoser Jane]] and [[TheSlacker Trent]] "were raised. By each other." It's not entirely true, but [[HandsOffParenting their parents are usually off in some foreign country]] and their older siblings (all moved out by the time the show takes place) are all dysfunctional in some way, leaving Jane and Trent alone to try to stabilize each other. (Trent is older, but Jane is probably the more responsible of the two.)
* In ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', Dot takes this role to Enzo. Naturally it ends after Enzo's YearInsideHourOutside TimeSkip, rendering him physically older than Dot. Enzo's {{clon|ingBlues}}e gets the original and Dot as surrogate parents, but later gets his real dad back ([[AndIMustScream sort of]]).
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Finn was adopted by Jake's parents, who later died, and Jake watches out for Finn, although Jake is the FunnyAnimal version of a ManChild (a Dog Puppy?) and they mostly act like best friends and equals rather than a younger brother and a much older brother. In one episode, Jake makes an odd comment that his ability to sense when Finn is going to cry is like a "mother-daughter" thing.
** [[spoiler: Simon Petrikov]] as well, after he found a young [[spoiler: Marceline]] in the ruins of a city in the aftermath of the [[WorldWarIII Mushroom War]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic:'' The Apple siblings were technically [[RaisedByGrandparents raised by Granny Smith]], but she's a bit senile. It's implied that Big Macintosh has taken on the "dad" role for his sisters (with WordOfGod adding that he's probably the farm's legal owner), with Applejack also trying to be a BigSisterMentor for Apple Bloom.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':
** [[ShapeShifting M'gann]] and [[{{Animorphism}} Gar]] consider themselves "[[BloodBrothers blood siblings]]" after she saves his life with a SuperHumanTransfusion. After his mom dies during the TimeSkip he moves to Mount Justice with her.
** "Misplaced" is sort of a worldwide temporary example: all the adults in the world disappear and we see teenagers rounding up and trying to care for all the younger kids.
* Somewhat similar its live action counterpart, the animated WesternAnimation/PunkyBrewster becomes a de facto parent to Glomer, the magical creature who is stranded from his homeland within a rainbow.
* In TheSeventies' SaturdayMorningCartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Devlin}}'' by Creator/HannaBarbera, the main character and local BadassBiker Ernie Devlin has had to raise his teenage brother Todd and pre-teen sister Sandy in [[CircusBrat the circus they live and work in.]] According to some flashbacks, their dad was a highway motorcycle patrolman who was killed in the line of duty.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In several rapidly developing Southeast Asian cultures, such as Vietnam, as parents work for longer and longer hours to support their large families, the eldest children are expected to act as surrogate parents to their younger siblings while their parents are absent. This is common to all cultures where the firstborn son is considered to be second in status only to the father--many, if not most, place the firstborn son above the mother in the family hierarchy, while still maintaining the tradition of utter respect for one's parents--but is especially prominent in countries that have until recently been considered Third World. This is due to the rapid economy growth and increased cost of living resulting in a need for parents to work for longer and longer hours.
* There's quite a bit of Sub-Saharan Africa where the current parental generation has been severely depleted by HIV/AIDS leaving many households headed by the very young or the very old ... and given that life expectancies in Sub-Saharan Africa aren't all that great, the very young tend to get handed the ball.
* This can also happen in the western world, where one family has a lot of kids and the parents are too busy to look after each of them individually.
** One of the most notorious examples are the Duggars, who have '''19''' biological children. Although they say they are involved with the kids' lives, the Duggars have gone on record that each of their children is paired with an older sibling who basically acts as their mentor/parent. It's understandable, considering Jim Bob works and Michelle is perpetually pregnant and bed-ridden.
*** The most egregious example occurred at an airport. They allowed their (then) three year-old to travel to the bathroom by himself. When he (SHOCKER) got lost, he cried for/ran to his oldest sister for comfort when found and seemingly wanted nothing to do with his parents.
* This is what gave Herbert Gmeiner the idea to found the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS_Children%27s_Villages SOS Children's Villages]]: His mother died when he was young and his father had to work very hard and couldn't take care of the family, so his older siblings, especially his oldest sister, took over the role of parents for the younger ones. This experience of family bonds and family love, even when parents are absent, was what inspired the SOS Children's Villages concept, which differs from other foster-care concepts in various ways, including in that siblings are supposed to be kept together by all means possible.
* UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, while second of several children, supposedly teamed up with his younger full brother to ambush and kill his older half brother after their father was killed, because he couldn't accept being subordinated to this half-brother when he became head of the family, according to steppe tradition. Apparently the brother died with dignity, and thereafter young Temujin was undisputed head of the little clan, although his father's various wives hung around for years.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker Eddie Rickenbacker]]: Father died when he was 13. He quit school and went to work to support the family. Got in on the ground floor of automobile manufacturing (his job was cleaning the garage), took correspondence classes in mechanics and engineering, went on to become a race car driver, the American Ace of Aces in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Medal of Honor winner, and basically all-around badass.
* Given that the Gilbreths had twelve children (technically eleven, but Mary was always counted out of respect), the family worked under a system in which the older children were responsible for overseeing the younger ones. Since the parents were pioneers in the field of motion study and work saving (and rather successful ones at that), the systems set up pretty much worked perfectly. After their father died, the oldest four children (Anne, Ernestine, Martha, and Frank Jr.) split the various household responsibilities between them while their mother went out to give lectures.
* Stephen Brookes helped his family flee from the Japanese in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. [[https://www.amazon.com/Through-Jungle-Death-Escape-Wartime/dp/1620457768 And he wrote a book about it.]]
* Psychological studies have shown that there is a certain pattern in "problematic" families (such as families in which the parents have major problems like alcohol / drug abuse, mental health problems, etc): The first/oldest child is the "hero" of the family, the one who takes care of younger siblings, the parents and every-day problems, the youngest child is the "comedian/sunshine" of the family, who distracts the other family members from their problems and the other children in between (if there are more than two children) are the ones who're either the "troublemaker", or the "quiet/easy" child who doesn't make trouble at all. Interestingly enough, the roles of the younger children can vary (a child other than the youngest can be the "sunshine", for example), but the role of the oldest is pretty much always the "hero".
** "Parentified" children can actually result in a bit of an issue when a family of children is taken into the foster system. A six year old who has basically been acting as the adult her whole life is not always going to take kindly to being told to go to bed and that Mommy will take care of the siblings.
* Casts of players tend to form themselves into pseudo-families, usually (but not always) the director, male or female, as TeamDad and an older or at least WiseBeyondTheirYears actress as TeamMom. If the players in these roles have siblings in the cast, it'll cros into this.
* The patron saint of Ecuador, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_de_Jesus_de_Paredes Saint Mariana de Jesus de Paredes y Flores]], was the youngest of eight kids from a high-class family. Mariana's parents died when she was just 7 years old, so she was raised by her older sister Jerónima and her husband Cosme de Miranda. In fact, Mariana's mystical activities happened almost exclusively in a small room located inside Cosme and Jeronima's household.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nani Nani's]] father [[ParentalAbandonment left the family when he was 5, his mother left when he was 12]]. His older brother Paolo Roberto became a father figure to him. By Nani's confession, Paolo taught him everything he knows, including how to play football.
* From 2012 to 2015, actress Shanelle Workman-Gray had to be the caretaker of her little sister Creator/ArielWinter, after their mom Chrisoula Batista-Workman's StageMom behavior [[AbusiveParents went too far.]]
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic,'' it's heavily implied, and confirmed by WordOfGod, that Applejack's parents are dead. Applejack thus takes this role for her younger sister Apple Bloom, while oldest sibling Big Macintosh seems to take it for both of them.

** Ghazan may or may not have been raised by an older sister.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Fanfic/{{Dangerverse}}'' series, Hermione's parents are killed by Death Eaters when she's still a baby, and she's raised by her big sister, Danger.
* Basically the core of the story in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3703685/1/Family Family]], following Yakko Warner as he tries to raise his siblings.
* A bit of an odd example in ''FanFic/TheNewRetcons'', in that no parent actually ''died'', but when Elly started to go insane, she denied that April was ever her daughter and threw her out. Since April was still a minor, this could be applied to her older brother Michael, who took her into his family. A ''lot'' more plausible when John gives up on convincing Elly that April's their daughter, effectively disowning her.
** [[spoiler: Later, they're introduced to their half-sister, Claire, and Claire ends up becoming more of a mother figure to April than Elly ever was, even when she was sane. Was made kind of awkward when April said she could have been her mother: there's a 22 year age difference, since Claire was the result of a TeenPregnancy and April was a late in life baby]]
* Averted in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8413363/8/Where-Paths-Cross When Paths Cross]]'' where the older child left the then-fifteen-year-old main character in an orphanage after the death of their parents rather than even try to take care of her.
* In most ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' fan fictions, Mungojerrie is often the protective one (Rumpleteazer often written as the younger sibling) and it is a fan WMG that Macavity killed their parents.
* In ComicBook/PowerGirl fanfic ''Fanfic/AForceOfFour'', Franchise/{{Superman}} tried to serve as Kara's father upon his cousin's arrival, but she couldn't regard him as her own father.
* Kristoph parented Klavier for a while after their parents died in a car accident in ''FanFic/DirtySympathy''. It obviously didn't end well since Klavier immediately left home when he was 15 and they both hate each other by the time the fic takes place.
* In ''Fanfic/GhostsOfEvangelion'' Kaji becomes his little brother's guardian after Heishiro returns from Instrumentality. He thought Heishiro would want nothing with him, but his brother makes clear that he refuses to live with strangers.
* In ''Webcomic/KillLaKillAU'', we have an eleven-year old Satsuki, with her mother living at a special care facility and her father working constantly. She does note how difficult this can be, especially with the thought of her sisters being taken away from her. However, sadly, the stress of this is what turns her into an IllGirl.
* In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' fic ''Fanfic/{{Survivors}}'', [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Kal]] and [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]’s parents die on Krypton and Kara becomes her baby cousin’s mother de facto upon crash-landing on Earth.
-->The mention of her mother almost took her back, but she shook her head. There was no time. Kara was a practical girl now. She had to be. No more playing, no more crafts, no more classes... no more anything. She was a mother for all intents and purposes. A 13 year old homeless mother on a strange world with no food.
* "Fanfic/AenrhienVailiuri": Jaleh Khoroushi mentions to the ''Aen'rhien''[='s=] tactical officer that she and her older brother Ehsan ended up as backup parents just from the fact that she was the second of five kids.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6494630/2/Daisy-Dursley Daisy Dursley]]'' Harry's aunt and uncle announce that their infant daughter is a "freak" after she exhibits accidental magic and make Harry responsible for her care. After his cousin Dudley worries that he might be classed as a freak someday too, the two boys make a blood oath that they and Daisy will always be a family of their own.
* In ''Fanfic/TheEquestriaChronicles'', Celestia is as much a mother figure as a sister to Luna, at least at the start.
* An adult example in ''To live again'', a ''Series/CriminalMinds'' fanfic: Alex and Annie were in an aunt/niece-like relationship in Annie's childhood and when they're reunited they just think of it as a chance to friendship... Then somewhere along the way Alex becomes Annie's MamaBear and Annie decides that Alex is the best mom she could ask for. And you don't mess with Annie's mom. Ever.
* In the ''Series/TheXFiles'' fanfic ''The Truth is out there... and it hurts'', Sally takes Samantha's raising in her own hands after they escape from the colonists' prison. They call each other sister, but Sally is more of a mom to her.
* In ''{{FanFic/Vapors}}'' Aiko Uzumaki has a lot of bitterness (at the village) due to feeling that she had to raise Naruto instead of responsible adults. Later, Sasuke discovers that one of his cousins was secretly having an affair, and he has a now-orphaned, academy-student cousin in the village.
* This happens with Satsuki and Nui (mostly the former) in ''Fanfic/CellarSecrets''. In light of Rei's suicide, their mother being committed and living in the care of a mental hospital before later on dying of a terminal illness, and the fact that their father died years ago, the sisters have to play a caregiving/parental role to their [[spoiler: WildChild little sister Ryuuko]]. Unlike some examples, they do have some help in the form of Aikurou on the side.
* A popular FandomSpecificPlot in the ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fandom, affectionately nicknamed "Baby Bones", involves this as a backstory for Sans and Papyrus. It does have some canon evidence to go by--they live with each other and have no other relatives to be seen, they apparently [[TheSpook just showed up in town by themselves one day]] at an unspecified age, and due to Papyrus' [[ManChild immaturity]], Sans still performs parental tasks for him such as nursing his belief in Santa and reading him bedtime stories. In some stories it's PlayedForDrama and used to speculate about their past and the hardships they'd face in such a situation, while in others it's played purely for its [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming sheer adorableness]]
* A common occurrence in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' fanfics where the Targaryens win in Robert's Rebellion and Prince Rhaegar becomes king. In addition to his own young children, he also has to raise his siblings; he's 25 at the end of the war, but his brother Viserys is 8 and his sister Daenerys is a newborn. Granted, the situation is a lot easier for him to deal with since he's a king.
* ''Fanfic/QueenOfTheSwarm'': Brian gets legal custody of his little sister Aisha to get her out of their home before their parents screw her up.
* In the ''Fanfic/AftermathOfTheGames'' universe, the human version of Shining Armor and Twilight's parents were killed by a DrunkDriver when the latter was thirteen. Shining, since he was in his mid-twenties during the time of the accident, took custody of his sister. His fiancee, Cadance, decided that she wanted to help raise Twilight, so they both agreed to tie the knot down at the courthouse instead of doing the big wedding they were planning before the tragedy struck so she could adopt Twilight as well. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming The two of them agreed to hold off on the wedding and having kids of their own until Twilight graduated high school so they can make sure she spends her teen years in an supportive environment.]]
* ''FanFic/YinAndYangSeries'': Lupapa is perhaps the most egregious example of this trope, having taken care of his seven siblings since her parents' death. Frannie Martin also underwent this towards her younger siblings Oliver and Maggie.
* In the ''Fanfic/HarmonyAndValor'' universe, the human versions of Twilight Velvet and Night Light died in a semi-truck accident four years ago while on a family road trip. Shining Armor and Cadance have been taking care of Sci-Twi ever since then. During "A Daughter Not His Own," Sci-Twi lets them know on Patents' Day how much she appreciates all that they have done for her and asks if she can call them "Mom and Dad" just for the day, and they pull her into a group hug crying TearsOfJoy. Shining Armor even calls her their "beautiful daughter".
* In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Brock is this as in canon, although this time much more seriously [[spoiler: since his parents [[DeathByAdaptation are dead in the new timeline]].]]
* In ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'', Itachi becomes this to Sasuke. [[spoiler: Shisui also becomes this to an extent, given that [[SparedByTheAdaptation in this story he's the oldest surviving Uchiha]].]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheOutside'', we have this happen three times to Ryuuko in light of father's death and her mother's decade-long absence.
** Earlier, we have Satsuki, who is Ryuuko's guardian, however, this is deconstructed as she's, agoraphobia and poor health aside, no more mature than Ryuuko is and isn't too capable a guardian, which gets Ryuuko removed from her care.
** Later, Shiro starts to play this role and he really plays this to a hilt when he tends to give Ryuuko lectures in much the vein a father would.
** Periodically, we have Nui playing something of this (despite being younger) because, due to being sheltered, Ryuuko is ''more'' naive than she is.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12157282/1/Percy-Take-the-Wheel Percy Take the Wheel]]'' is a ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic where an accident kills Molly and puts Arthur in a coma, leaving Percy to raise the younger Weasleys. (Bill and Charlie are supporting the family financially, but this means staying at their jobs overseas.)
* In the ''Dusk to Dawn'' fan novel series, this is deconstructed in ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'s backstory. Selina had to be a mother figure for her sister Maggie after their parents died, and was ''way'' too wild and irresponsible to be up to the task. Realizing this, Selina left her sister behind in an orphanage where she believed Maggie [[GiveHimANormalLife could have a normal life]]. [[spoiler:She didn't. The CorruptChurch funding the orphanage took Maggie shortly after, and raised/brainwashed her into their borderline superhuman warrior.]]
* In ''Fanfic/ToTryForTheSun'', 12-year old Celestia and 8-year old Luna were orphaned in King Platinum's war. Celestia works as a grave-digger to support her family.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo Advanced V.G.]]'': Satomi's parents died years ago, in a car accident, leaving her to fend for herself and [[IllGirl her kid brother]], since they have no other living relatives. But she [[PerpetualPoverty barely earns enough for them to get by]], due to how costly her brother's treatments are, which is why she's [[HealthcareMotivation set her sights on the VG Tournament's prize money.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'' [[PrivateEyeMonologue Lucas]] casually mentions that his older brother Marcus "took care of me after our parents died". Sounds sweet enough until you see their grave stones and figures out that Lucas was around eighteen when his parents died (ten years later he has a former girlfriend that used to live with him in his huge loft).
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', Raine, sister of Genis, takes the parental role; at the start she only has a vague memory of her mother and Genis doesn't remember anything. [[spoiler:They do find their mother near the end, but she's insane and nursing a doll whom she named Raine]]. Raine [[spoiler: (not the doll)]] ends up in a parental role for the group of children sent out to save the world, along with Kratos, the mercenary hired for the job; of course [[spoiler: Kratos pulls a [[LukeIAmYourFather Darth Vader]]]].
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', [[spoiler: Van acts like a parent to Tear when Hod is destroyed]]. Also, although they aren't actual siblings, Guy acted as both an older brother and a parent to Luke, as he is the one who taught Luke how to walk/talk/etc. [[spoiler:after he was found at Choral Castle.]]
** Chester from ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' was promoted to a father figure for his little sister Ami after their parents died... up until she dies as well, [[DoomedHometown together with other denizens of Toltus]].
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'', Julius serves as a father figure for his younger half-brother, [[TheHero Ludger]] [[spoiler:after Julius killed Lugder's mother, who was the younger sister of Julius's mother, in self-defense. Julius was extremely careful to keep all of this hidden from their ArchnemesisDad]].
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'': Celica had to take care of her much younger siblings Velvet and Laphicet when their parents died. When Celica died, Velvet had to step up, but in that case she didn't have to fill the role completely since Celica's husband Arthur was still around to help.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', the Falcoknight [[ActionMom Juno]] raised her sisters, the Pegasus Knights [[DefrostingIceQueen Thite]] and [[GenkiGirl Thany]], after their Ilian mercenary parents were killed together in the battlefield when Juno was a teenager and the others were little girls.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' has [[LadyOfWar Fiora]], who raised her sisters [[{{Tsundere}} Farina]] and [[ShrinkingViolet Florina]]; [[TheStoic Uther]], who had to raise his younger brother {{H|otBlooded}}ector in addition to ruling Ostia; and [[MysteriousWaif Ninian]], who's been taking care of her little brother Nils.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' has [[{{Stripperiffic}} Tethys]], who raised her younger brother [[MagikarpPower Ewan]] alone until she joined Gerik's group and he went to study with [[BadassBookworm Saleh]]). There's also [[spoiler: Forde]], who became a knight both to follow his DisappearedDad's example and provide for himself and his little brother [[spoiler: Franz (who would become a knight as well)]].
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has Oscar raising his little brothers Boyd and Rolf in Greil's group.
** Going even further back in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' are half-brothers [[WellIntentionedExtremist Arvis]] and [[BadassBookworm Azelle]] of Velthomer. Azelle's mom was one of the maids working for Arvis' dead mother and died some time ago, and their father Lord Victor went the SpurnedIntoSuicide way at some point, so Arvis took upon himself the duty of helping raise young Azelle. [[spoiler: Arvis was less than an ideal parent, though, since Azel presumably dies along with the rest of Sigurd's army at the end of the game's first half when Arvis betrays and slaughters all of them. Other sources, however, hint that Azelle ''was'' spared by Arvis, but [[KilltheCutie died of illness]] and grief some time later.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'':
*** [[spoiler: Morgan, the Avatar's KidFromTheFuture, can have an older brother or sister depending on who the Avatar marries (If a female Avatar marries Chrom, or if a male Avatar marries a first generation girl who ''also'' gives birth to another KidFromTheFuture). If this happens, in the Bad Future the parents will die and the Avatar will become the Vessel for Grima, leaving little Morgan in the care of his/her older brother or sister, barely a teenager themself.]]
*** This is also heavily implied with Lucina. [[spoiler: She's Chrom's daughter from a Bad Future ''and'' the first born of the Future Children, and as said above all of his playable wives have their own canonical child who's younger than her, meaning Chrom will typically father two children no matter who he marries (unless said wife is the Village Maiden). It's outright stated in all of Lucina's supports with her younger sibling that Chrom told her to protect them; if either Morgan or Cynthia is Chrom's kid, either of them says in their dad support that they have next to no memories of him (though for different reasons), further evidencing this.]]
*** Emmeryn is also this for her younger siblings Chrom and Lissa; Lissa explains to the Avatar that she never really knew her parents because they died when she was too young to remember them.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', the Nohr siblings barely survived in a DeadlyDecadentCourt. The two eldest surviving kids, [[TeamDad Crown Prince Xander]] (mid-to-late 20's) and [[TeamMom Princess Camilla]] (early 20's), ended up taking parental roles towards their half-siblings Leo (mid-to-late teens) and Elise (early teens) and their adoptive sibling the Avatar (also mid-to-late teens, though older than Leo).
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' and its remake ''VideoGames/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'', the villager Atlas has been raising his little siblings on his own. When they're kidnapped by Grieth, Atlas joins Celica's group to rescue them.
* The ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series has Chris Redfield to his little sister Claire, as it's stated in the Japanese companion novel that their parents died in a car crash years ago. Like many examples this realistically subverted as Chris given new responsibilities was overprotective of Claire since he trained her in firearms and combat training from a young age and apparently bossed her around frequently. Claire only expressed her struggles with Chris’s parenting much later in life in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'' showing even as full grown woman she still has some bitterness about it.
** The first ''Gun Survivor'' has Lott taking care of his little sister Lilly once their parents are zombified.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' (DS version), where [[spoiler: Golbez/Theodor started to be a good older brother to Cecil, but Zemus started his mind control and Golbez proceeded to kick Cecil's ass to the curb.]]
* Allegretto, from ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'', takes Beat in as his adopted little brother.
** This relationship is even further cemented with the orphans living in the sewer. At one point, you can speak to an orphan who will say, "If we're a family, then [[HoYay Beat's the mom and Allegretto's the dad!"]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', Lightning decides to raise Serah on her own at fifteen, when their mother dies (their father died when the girls were very small). There's an almost total lack of resentment, and the sisters care deeply about each other. Interestingly, Serah worries plenty about Lightning too, [[MarriedToTheJob and with]] [[SugarAndIcePersonality good reason.]]
** Lightning gets it again around the end of the first disc, when Hope joins her when she tries to go solo, in the process proving how [[SquishyWizard weak and defenseless]] he really is. She's visibly displeased--[[CharacterDevelopment at least at first]].
* Because ''everyone'' in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' is either ConvenientlyAnOrphan or subject to ParentalAbandonment, but there still seem to be a fair number of siblings, even though there are no parents to go with them, this happens in a few places.
** Remilia Scarlet is head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion... even though she [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld looks (and often acts) like a 10-year-old]]. The actual maintenance of the house is handled by the human {{meido}} Sakuya (at least, as long as her merely human lifespan lasts), Remilia is functionally boss / dictator of the household. Of course, perhaps her most important duty is keeping EnfantTerrible little sister Flandre Scarlet from throwing a [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum temper tantrum]] that accidentally ends the world in an EarthShatteringKaboom.
** Satori Komeiji heads the household, although her younger sister, Koishi, often gives herself a PokeInTheThirdEye to give herself a functional InvisibilityCloak and live essentially as a hobo, stealing food and trespassing for shelter. Regardless, the household has many "pets" that have grown up into full-fledged humanoid {{youkai}} that live with Satori in the Komeiji household, although the events of ''Subterranean Animism'' imply she wields little control over her "pets" or "family" if one of them can make a crack at [[TakeOverTheWorld World Domination]] without her noticing.
*** It's worth pointing out that Rin seemed to be actively covering up for Utsuho [[DontTellMama for fear of Satori finding out]].
* In the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue first]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver second generations]] of ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'', Blue's sister Daisy seems to be assuming the role of acting mother for him in lieu of missing or deceased parents as she is several years older than him and looks after the house with no other adults present.
** It's stated in ''[[VideoGameRemake FireRed/LeafGreen Versions]]'' that Professor Oak lives with them, and even in the first generation, his lab is right next to Blue and Daisy's house. He probably cares for them.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', this ends up happening to Terra when she comes across a town in which all of the adults have died.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}} Xenoblade Chronicles]]'', Dunban is this to his younger sister Fiora, their father having died in a Mechon attack long before the events of the game, and their mother passing away not long after.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Dwarf Commoner Origin implies, the PlayerCharacter was effectively raised by their elder sister Rica due to their mother's alcoholism.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'':
** Hawke became the sole breadwinner after the death of their father, three years prior to the game. Most of Hawke's actions for the first part of the game are simply trying to find a way to provide for their mother and their two younger siblings, the HalfIdenticalTwins Bethany and Carver.
** After the death of Varric's father a few years after their exile to the surface, Bartrand took over as head of House Tethras and busied himself with running the family business, while Varric ended up being left to raise himself and [[TheDutifulSon look after]] his alcoholic mother.
* ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'':
** Ryo Sakazaki looks after his little sister Yuri after his mother's death and his father left the family for a while, which would explain a ''lot'' about his massive BigBrotherInstinct towards her.
** King looks after her IllBoy little brother Jean. It is not known what happened to their parents, but she takes care of him and enters fighting tournaments in order to [[HealthcareMotivation pay for his medical bills and treatment]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', Henry is this to his brother Sam.
* The pre-generated Newson family in ''VideoGame/TheSims2: Apartment Life'' have this; two teens have to raise their younger siblings (two children and two toddlers) after their parents' death. [[note]]Also worth noting that everyone in said family is adopted, according to their bios.Does that mean there is a possibility that the teens can end up together?[[/note]]
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':
** A particularly interesting example of this trope appears in the ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology, in that both of the parents in question are alive, present in the home, and neither are antagonists. Tatsuya Suou's older, police sergeant brother Katsuya got the upgrade--although flashbacks in ''Innocent Sin'' show him in a quasiparental role even before this--after their father was released dishonorably from his capacity as a police officer and simply...wasn't interested in raising his children. Their mother (who's only ever mentioned [[AllThereInTheManual in the side material]]) is technically there, but entirely ineffective and as unconcerned about her children's lives as her husband, leaving Katsuya to act as the family's sole breadwinner and his brother's caretaker all on his own.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Makoto Nijima's older sister Sae looks after her after their father's death. While Sae cares for Makoto, the fact that Sae doesn't think much about Makoto's relatively idealistic worldview and desire to follow in her father's footsteps (since Sae blames her father for getting himself killed), and [[spoiler:is secretly jealous of Makoto]] causes friction between the sisters.
* Vetra Nyx in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' raised her younger sister Sid after their father mysteriously disappeared. After her loyalty mission, it becomes clear that Vetra is so accustomed to being Sid's mother that she doesn't actually know how to be her sister now that Sid is approaching adulthood.
* In ''VideoGame/OneShot'' Calamus takes care of his younger sister, Alula after their mother died.
[[/folder]]

** Periodically, we have Nui playing something of this(despite being younger) because Ryuuko is ''more'' naive than she is.

%%* PromotionToParent/LiveActionTV

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/{{The 100}}'', Bellamy is this for Octavia.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Viserys has been taking care of Daenerys for almost her entire life since their exile. He is abusive, but Daenerys still gets to her wedding day healthy, unharmed, reasonably innocent, and with her virginity intact.
* Marc Vilaseca, original prankster/good guy of Catalonia based series ''Series/{{Merli}}'' gets promoted to parent his younger brother Pau because their mother works at night. Problems occured.
* Promotion To Parent is the fundamental premise of ''Series/PartyOfFive'', in which 24 year-old Charlie is given the responsibility of legal guardianship of his four younger siblings (with ages ranging from 16 to 1 year old), after both parents are killed by a drunk driver.
* Apollo, to Boxey, after [[spoiler: Serina is killed]] in the fifth episode of the original ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}''.
* On ''Series/{{Mom}}'', Christy finds out that because of her years of substance abuse and continued self-absorption (even in the wake of her sobriety), Violet has assumed the role of mothering Roscoe and does an incredibly good job at it.
%%* Jaime Sommers in the 2007 ''Series/BionicWoman'' series.
* In the ''{{Series/Bones}}'' episode "The Girl in the Mask", Ken Nakamura raised his sister Sachi, leading Booth to refer to him as a parent.
** Bones herself is an aversion; when their parents disappeared, her nineteen-year-old brother allowed her to be put in foster care because he didn't think he could take care of her. Years later she's still bitter.
*** This crops up in an episode where Bones becomes very close to the older brother of a deceased victim, largely because the brother accepted the Promotion To Parent her own brother could/would not. This makes it all the worse when [[spoiler: the older brother is revealed to be the killer.]]
* Starting in mid-season five, Buffy of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' gets to pull double-duty as Slayer and caretaker of her sister Dawn. This starts catching up with her in season six, although the other Scoobies assist where they can (DependingOnTheWriter). During the gap between Season Five and Season Six (when Buffy was dead and in no condition to take care of Dawn), Willow, Tara, and Spike got a temporary promotion. In the Season 8 comic books, Dawn outright states that "Will is like a mom to me", and in Season 6 she's given a divorced-parents talk with Tara when she and Willow break up. It's pretty clear who Dawn views as her parents. Really all you need to see that is "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]" and how she reacts to finding [[spoiler:Tara's body.]]
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Ellie Bartowski had to step up from about the of age twelve to raise her brother and run their household since their mother left them with their mentally absent father. Their father left as well a few years later, making the promotion to parent even more official.
* Fiz in ''Series/CoronationStreet'' has to act as mother to her younger brother Chesney, after their mum Cilla abandoned them.
* Tom Jennings on ''Series/{{Dark Shadows}}'' was apparently a very good parent to his much younger sister, Amy, [[spoiler:then he got turned into a vampire.]] His twin, Chris, took over, but seemed content to let [[BigScrewedUpFamily the Collins]] look after her [[spoiler:because he's a werewolf]].
* Sean on ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' is taken care of by his older brother because he doesn't want to live with his parents after being expelled from his old school for a violent incident.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': Though it hasn't been elaborated on much, it's indicated that Lynette was this to her two younger sisters, since their father was out of the picture for as-yet-unspecified reasons and their promiscuous, alcoholic mother alternated between abusive and neglectful. This may also provide some insight into Lynette's initial reluctance to the idea of having children.
* Nancy in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild The Empty Child]][=/=][[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances The Doctor Dances]]" looks after a bunch of homeless Blitz orphans and failed BlitzEvacuees. [[spoiler:Except one of them really is her son.]]
* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', after Simon rescues River he is put in a position where he has to protect and take care of her due to the [[MindRape results]] of what was done to her at the Academy. He is also considered responsible for her actions in the ship and is expected to keep her in line, though this sort of blurs as the series progressed, with the rest of the crew starting to care for River as well toward the end. Notably, Simon and River's parents never actually died; Simon was just the only member of the family willing to do what it took to [[AFriendInNeed rescue]] and [[BigBrotherInstinct protect]] River from the government.
* ''Series/TheFirstShopOfCoffeePrince'': Eun Chan's dad died, so she helps to support her mom and sister by working several jobs. She's also rather protective of her sister.
* In the ''Floricienta'' SoapOpera, lead male Federico Fritzenwalden is a HelloAttorney who at the age of 27 becomes the TeamDad in his very numerous family after their parents suddenly die in an accident, and the lead female Flor is actually working for him as the babysitter/caretaker/TeamMom for his orphaned siblings.
* [[spoiler: Sam Evans]] on ''{{Series/Glee}}'' is revealed to be this after [[spoiler: his father loses his job and he's forced to babysit his young brother and sister while his parents look for work]].
* In ''Series/{{GilmoreGirls}}'' Luke is promoted to parent for his nephew, Jess, after his sister and Jess's mother [[ParentalAbandonment ships Jess off to live with him]]
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', it's strongly implied this was the case for Nathan and Peter Petrelli: in the pilot, their mother Angela quite casually confessed to Peter that she never paid him much attention in favor of supporting Nathan's ambitions (and frankly, she thought Peter was too needy and she didn't have the energy to deal with it) and you find out at various points in the series that Peter was their father Arthur's [[TheUnfavourite Unfavorite]], leaving him to turn to his older (by about twelve years) brother Nathan every time he needed help or support.
* Tim from ''Series/HomeImprovement'' sometimes mentions being this for his younger siblings after his dad died when he was 11.
* The ''Series/{{House}}'' episode "Whac-a-Mole" had its patient of the week being a teenaged boy whose parents died in a car accident, leaving him to raise his younger siblings. [[spoiler:When faced with the choice of getting cured from his disease or having his siblings placed in foster care, he actually chooses the second, feeling that he can't handle parenthood.]]
** Another episode has a young man taking care of both his younger brother and his schizophrenic mother, and lying to Social Services about his age.
* Spencer in ''Series/ICarly''. Their father is in the military and did not appear until the finale; their mother, on the other hand, was never mentioned.
* One of the students in the sixth season of ''Series/KinpachiSensei'' has parents who are too busy to take care of their kids. However [[spoiler:the boys older brother is a JerkAss drug user [[BigBrotherBully who abuses him]] and takes money from him. He ends up beating him up and abandoning him.]] It's played with later on when it's revealed his parents were overworking to try and make their children's lives better than theirs were. They end up reconciling their bond [[spoiler:after the older brothers gets put in jail]].
* Both used and averted in ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'', in which the oldest of the five Ozu siblings brings home the paychecks and grows vegetables for food, while the middle sibling uses said paychecks to handle the bills and does the cooking/cleaning. Only the youngest sibling is school age, but since all five are superheroes, the whole WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld thing isn't an issue anyway.
* In ''Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman'', Gaku Hoshikawa acts as a father to his siblings after the loss of their parents. [[spoiler: Until it's revealed they're still alive and well.]]
* In ''Series/MelissaAndJoey'', Mel Burke becomes in charge of her niece and nephew after their parents get in trouble with the law for running a Ponzi scheme.
* This is Lisbon's backstory in ''Series/TheMentalist''. Her mother died in a drunk-driving accident and her father became an alcoholic who was unfit to care for her and her younger brothers. Might explain why she tends to mother Jane and the team.
* On ''{{Series/NCIS}}'', it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: Agent Lee's parents had died shortly after adopting a young girl, leaving Lee responsible for her new little sister]].
* Happened in Aussie soap ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' when a new family (or rather, part of an old family, the Ramseys) were introduced, but before they even got introduced properly, the single mother died in a car accident. With the father missing, oldest child Katie steps up to the plate as year-12 student and bread-winner for her marginally younger brother Harry (who repeatedly undermines her authority, not always deliberately, because he is only a year younger than her) and little sister Sophie (who's about 10 and looks up to both her older siblings--which causes problems if/when they clash).
* In ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', Del Boy and Rodney Trotter's mother Joan died when Rodney was a baby and their father Reg left as soon as Del was a teenager, so Del had to raise Rodney himself, with help from Grandad.
* In ''Series/OnMyBlock'', Cesar was raised by his older brother Oscar because their mother was neglectful, possibly due to drug abuse or a mental illness. When Cesar says he never noticed that she had problems, Oscar replies, "Good - then I did my job."
* ''Series/{{Privileged}}''
** Part of Megan's back-story is that she became this when her mother left; some of the conflict in the later half of the season stems from her father and sister expecting her to resume this mantle when [[spoiler: the mother returns, only to abandon them all over again]]. She is also usually promoted to parent for the twins whenever Laurel has to leave town for a while.
** Sage also fits this trope; after the twins' parents died, she took it upon herself to partially fulfill the parental role and sees herself as responsible for both her own and Rose's future security (as revealed in ''All About The Big Picture'' after she [[spoiler:fires their publicist]].)
* Lauren from ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' season 2 episode "Alpine Fields" raises her infant sister Sydney after both her father and mother are killed by a Terminator.
* The premise of ''Series/{{Shameless}}'' is that due to a MissingMom and alcoholic deadbeat dad Frank who might as well have disappeared, eldest daughter Fiona Gallagher stepped up to the plate and began taking care of her five siblings.
** The original UK version had the responsibility shift to other siblings in later series.
* Luke's older brother in ''Series/SLiDE'' after their parents are killed. Not the most pleasant example of the trope as it has turned him into a taciturn and brooding young man with a propensity for taking his anger out on Luke.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''
** Dean was the one who looked after Sam when they were kids since their dad John was too busy going around trying to find the demon that killed their mother. Hell, Dean was the one who pulled Sam out of the fire that killed Mary, and he even uses the BecauseISaidSo line, like in "Bedtime Stories." Dean arguably replaces their mom even more when the three are reunited, as he regularly acts as peace-keeper between Sam and John. In Season 12, Dean outright states that he had to be a big brother, father, ''and'' mother to Sam (John clearly couldn't be any) which was damned unfair to expect of a child.
** [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] also claims that he was this to his younger brother [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].
* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''
** Elena's aunt Jenna, after her parent's are killed. [[spoiler:After Jenna is killed, Elena becomes this towards Jeremy. Although she eventually leaves for college, leaving Jeremy in the custody of her boyfriend, Damon.]]
** Elijah and Klaus are this to their younger siblings, Rebekah and Kol, since there parents are [[ParentalAbandonment dead]] and [[AbusiveParents horrible]].
* This is the {{backstory}} of Joe from ''Series/{{Wings}}''; when his and Brian's mother abandoned them as children, his father wasn't really competent to look after them and the job went to Joe. As he rants to his mom later:
-->"Who do you think got your job when you left? I was twelve years old; you left me with a sinkful of dirty dishes and two kids to take care of, Brian and Dad."
* Michael Lee of ''Series/TheWire'': his father is unknown, his step-father is in prison, and his mother is a drug addict, so he has to take on the role of parenting his younger brother Bug. When his step-father returns, there's a power struggle between him and Michael over who is a better father figure for Bug, complicated with the [[spoiler:implication of sexual abuse]] in their shared past.
* On ''Series/TheLWord'', Shane is forced to take care of her half-brother Shay for part of Season 4 after both his parents abandon him. She grows to care for him deeply, and is devastated when their father Gabriel returns and takes him away. Despite the fact that Shay has minimal lines, he is shown to have drawn a picture of himself and Shane when assigned a drawing of "family" at school.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': This is where Tess's relationship with Alexander (the young clone of her half-brother) was headed before [[EnfantTerrible his inner Lex took over]]. By "Scion," when he's become Conner, she's closer to a regular older sister or aunt to him. (It's interesting to note that while it's this trope in retrospect, at the time she was technically a ParentalSubstitute since she didn't ''know'' that she was Lex's sister.)
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': Interestingly, even though Sherlock's parents never died or abandoned them, they never understood their kids that well, so this is literally what happened with Mycroft.
-->'''Mycroft:''' ''[pouring tea]'' I'll be 'Mother' [for non-brits: the highest ranking Female of the party that serves the tea] \\
'''Sherlock:''' [dryly] And that is our entire childhood in a nutshell.
* Animal sort-of example in ''Series/TooCute''. The Tonkinese cat Queenie and her eldest daughter Princess [[HasTwoMommies raise their litters together]], but [[SickEpisode Queenie gets sick]] so Princess finds herself with her paws full by taking care of both her half-siblings and her own babies until the matriarch gets better.
* Bea for Evie in ''Series/TheHouseOfEliott''. After their mother didn't survive Evie's birth, their father, [[HeirClubForMen having hoped for a boy]], wasn't interested in her and so abandoned her to the care of Bea, who was only twelve herself.
* ''Series/FullerHouse'': In some ways, Ramona becomes this when she gives Kimmy advice. Lampshaded when she points out that one person in the family has to be an adult.
* Henry Warnimont invokes this when he adopts Series/PunkyBrewster.
* In ''Series/RoyalPains'', Hank stepped up and raised his little brother, Evan, after their mother died and their father abandoned them.
* An ''Series/AfterschoolSpecial'' titled "Daddy, I'm Their Mama Now" dealt with a country singer's oldest daughter becoming a mother figure to her younger brothers after their mother is killed in a plane crash.
[[/folder]]

%%* PromotionToParent/{{Literature}}

* Film/BennyAndJoon the title characters parents have died some years before, leaving Benny to raise Joon, who is a mentally I'll Girl . He takes his role very seriously but also objects to options that may have been helpful to Joon, such as sheltered accommodation or her relationship with [[Cloudcuckoolander Sam]] partly because he doesn't want to lose her.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' Ward did this to himself, even though his parents were alive. With an abusive father, and a mother who'd rather take drugs than oppose her abusive husband, Ward as the big brother had to take over. His younger brother Tosten [[spoiler: whom Ward took to a nearby town to apprentice him to a cooper after a failed suicide attempt]] lampshades this by saying that their mother had it easy, as her duty of protecting the children was taken over by Ward. Young Ciarra has a lady in waiting who looks after her, but Ward also parents her to some extent. There is also Garranon, who was promoted to parent when his parents were killed. He's very protective towards his younger brother, even though they're both adults.
* Happens in Creator/KAApplegate's and Creator/MichaelGrant’s ''Literature/{{Remnants}}'' series, especially to Jobs, who takes the role for both his own little brother and Billy, who is oddly vulnerable despite being about Jobs' age. Also more literally with Mark, who raised his little brother D-Caf after their parents' deaths. He didn't do a very great job, being moody and mercurial, but was [[PapaWolf willing to kill]] [[spoiler:and die]] to get him and D-Caf to survive [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Earth's destruction]].
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has a variant early on, when the "[[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive death]]" of Marco's mom puts his dad into such a depression that Marco becomes the more parental one for the next two years. His dad eventually gets his act together.
* Basically everyone in ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' after all of the adults disappear in a town, and the town is then covered with an impenetrable barrier. Especially Mary, who gets the job of taking care of the Under 5s.
** Deconstructed with Sam, who gets so sick of playing the daddy that he quits his job as mayor.
** Astrid to Little Pete, her autistic little brother.
* Cora to Alice in ''Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans''. Alice characteristically calls her in one point "my more than sister, my mother..."
* The protagonist of the novel ''Literature/BackRoads'', by ''Creator/TawniODell'', becomes this to his three younger sisters.
* Variant 2 is given a nice scrubbing and dusted off for Creator/TerryBrooks' ''Genesis of Literature/{{Shannara}}'' series. While there are adults around, the majority of them are either demons or holed up in fortified cities, petrified of everybody else. The main protagonists are pretty much all children of some sort, except for the Knights of the Word.
* Violeta from ''Literature/ShoshanYLaDamaOscura'' got this after losing the rest of her family. So she has to see over her little sister, Luisa.
* The type 2 variant is played straight in Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/EndersGame''; children are drafted into schools that first prepare them for military service and then become real military action, carefully disguised from the kids. Though parenting as such isn't a major component of the book, squad leaders end up in semi-parental roles for the younger children.
* In memoir ''Literature/AHeartbreakingWorkOfStaggeringGenius'', author/protagonist Dave Eggers is given charge of his younger brother Toph after his parents die within a month of each other.
* Creator/CSLewis:
** In ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', a [[TwiceToldTale retelling]] of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche's mother [[DeathByChildbirth dies in childbirth]], leaving Psyche's sister Orual to raise her. [[spoiler: [[MyBelovedSmother Rather too much so.]]]]
** As mentioned already, he also sorta used the trope in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' books, since the teenaged Peter and Susan have to deal with helping out Edmund and Lucy (with help of Professor Kirke) when their parents send them to the countryside to protect them from the London bombings. The 2005 film version strongly highlights this, with [[{{Jerkass}} Edmund]] given the FreudianExcuse of particularly missing their father and resenting Peter's attempts to be a father figure to him.
* Similar to the situation in the Narnia books, once Literature/TheBoxcarChildren are orphaned, Henry and Jessie, the two oldest, take on the role of mother and father for their younger siblings Violet and Benny. This is most noticeable in the first book, before [[spoiler:the Aldens realize their grandfather is kind and go to live with him]].
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn, parental units of house Stark, head south on matters of intrigue, leaving eldest son Robb to perform the lord's duties. He commands the household, deals with his father's bannermen, holds and scolds his younger brother Bran, and [[spoiler: even marches off to war to defend the family honor. At that point Bran himself might qualify for the trope, as he is then the acting lord in his brother's place and the only role model the even younger Rickon has left]].
** Viserys has been taking care of his younger sister Daenerys since their mother died giving birth to her. Too bad he's not very good at it.
* The {{backstory}} of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'''s SweetPollyOliver involves her being this to her ''older'' brother, who was mentally challenged. Even though they still ''had'' a parent.
* In ''Literature/TheOutsiders'', the main character Ponyboy and his brother Sodapop are under the legal guardianship of their older brother Darryl after the death of their parents.
* This is basically the entire premise of the novel ''Homecoming'' from Literature/TheTillermanFamilySeries. Dicey Tillerman and her three younger siblings are abandoned in a car in a supermarket parking lot by their mentally unstable (and, as it turns out, [[spoiler:terminally ill]]) mother Liza. When Dicey, who is all of thirteen, realizes that Momma's not coming back for them, she very calmly and rationally hikes the kids to their distant cousin's house in New England, which is where they'd been headed in the first place. From there, they then travel--again, by themselves--down to Maryland, where they find and move in with their grandmother. The sequel, ''Dicey's Song,'' deals with Dicey learning to give up the Promotion To Parent she'd been forced to shoulder when Gram legally adopts the four of them and the fate of their mother is learned.
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's {{TabletopGame/Warhammer 40000}} ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Encarmine]]'', when Rafen and Arkio were sent off to the Blood Angels, their father told Rafen to look after Arkio. Even when they are both Space Marines, he feels responsible for him.
* Renie Sulaweyo, protagonist of Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'' series, is forced into caring for her brother, Stephen, due to her mother's death and her father's degeneration into an irresponsible drunkard. As a variation of the trope, however, she is an adult.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'', the older children, Victor and Amelia, frequently took on a parental role because they knew none of the adults about could be trusted.
* The protagonist of ''Literature/TheBeanTrees'' vows to graduate high school and escape her hometown without getting pregnant--only to become responsible for an abandoned toddler as soon as she hits the road.
* Sara Crewe becomes Lottie's "mamma" in ''Literature/ALittlePrincess''. It's explained in the novel that Lottie's mother has died, and her father, described as a "flighty young man", has placed her in boarding school because he doesn't quite know what to do with her.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Albus Dumbledore, a child prodigy, was quite bitter about becoming the parent to his two younger siblings, Aberforth and Ariana, after his mother Kendra died. When he was too distracted by a mysterious stranger who was a prodigy equal, Albus neglected his siblings in his new excitement and unfortunately, [[spoiler:this eventually led to a three-way fight between himself, Aberforth and best friend Grindelwald that accidentally killed poor Ariana, and led to years of bitterness between the two remaining siblings]].
* In Creator/LewisCarroll's ''Literature/SylvieAndBruno'', Sylvie is in charge of Bruno--particularly his lessons.
* In ''[[Literature/TheEdge On the Edge]]'', [[ParentalAbandonment Mom died and Dad ran off]], so Rose is left to raise her two younger brothers. She's forced to work long hours at a minimum wage, physical labor job in order to put food on the table, and she still has to save her pennies in order to buy the boys shoes.
* In ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Claude Frollo singlehandedly raises his younger brother, Jehan, after their parents die of plague.
* In ''[[Literature/TheTomorrowSeries The Ellie Chronicles]]'', Lee has to take on the job of raising his younger siblings since they were orphaned by the war.
* Angus Solomon, in ''Literature/{{Bumface}}'', does all the day-to-day caring for his younger siblings and has an awkward quasi-brotherly quasi-parental relationship with them, as all three of them have {{Disappeared Dad}}s and a mother who works very, very long hours.
* ''Literature/WickedLovely'': Ren and Leslie's mom walks out, and their dad is never home. Ren is sort-of promoted to parent, even though Leslie's the one left paying the bills. Ren doesn't make a very good parent.
* ''Literature/TheDemonsLexicon'' by Sarah Rees-Brennan gives us Alan, who took charge of his younger brother Nick at a very young age after [[spoiler:Nick's intensely unstable mum Olivia tried to drown him as a baby]]. The sequel ''The Demon's Covenant'' reveals that [[FromBadToWorse Worse it's even worse]] than that: [[spoiler:Daniel Ryves, Alan's father, made baby Nick Alan's "especial charge" to avoid dealing with him because of what Olivia said he was. When Alan was seven, he caught his father with a magic knife, ready to stab a five-year-old Nick in his bed]]. As a result of this, Alan freely admits to putting his brother before the entire world, [[spoiler:with potentially disastrous consequences]].
* In Michelle Paver's ''The Shadow Catcher'', a pregnant mother, whose husband was away at the army (and later dies) gives premature birth to a girl. Because there was no time to call the doctor and the family's servant had left them without a warning, her daughter Madeleine is left to be midwife. Did I mention Madeleine was ten years old? Then, the mother [[DeathByChildbirth dies]], and Madeleine takes care of herself and the baby with only the assistance of a medical textbook, until some relatives come to take them. Those relatives want to separate the sisters, so Madeleine has to come up with a story to persuade them to keep both of them. (She told them it was her mother's dying wish.) As they grow up, the younger sister develops [[IllGirl tuberculosis]], so Madeleine basically spends the rest of the novel acting MamaBear and doing various things which fall into the category of GreyMorality to get her sister a chance to grow up healthy and happy.
* Creator/VCAndrews:
** In ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'', Chris and Cathy Dollanganger become surrogate parents to their younger siblings whilst locked away in the attic. This plays a factor in how their [[BrotherSisterIncest perception of the other changes]], [[spoiler: eventually culminating in what becomes a life-long incestuous relationship]].
** In Literature/TheCasteelSeries, Heaven and Tom become parents to their younger siblings after Sarah walks out on the family.
* In ''Literature/{{Hero}}'' by Creator/PerryMoore, high school student Goran has been raising his little brother ever since their parents were killed in a war.
* ''Chanda's Story'' and its sequel ''Chanda's Wars'' by Allan Stratton follow the story of teenage Chanda who becomes the de facto mother of her two (much) younger siblings and her terminally ill mother. Eventually Chanda's best friend (also a teenager) moves in with her own younger siblings.
* In Nicole Baart's ''Beneath The Night Tree'', [[spoiler:Julia has been raising her half-brother alongside her own son for five years, and struggles with not knowing whether to play the role of "sister" or "mom". Toward the end of the book, she decides to be his mom and officially adopts him]].
* J.M. Barrie grew up listening to his mother tell stories about her childhood, when she was an orphan and had to singlehandedly care for her brothers. These helped to inspire his book and play ''Literature/PeterPan'', specifically the character of Wendy, who plays mom to both her brothers while they're in Neverland. In a reversal of the process, she also acts as "mother" to [[TeamMom the Lost Boys]], who eventually get adopted by her parents and raised as her brothers. Demotion to Sibling?
* Hans and Gretchen are [[BrotherSisterTeam co-parents]] to their younger siblings in ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo''. They take this to the point of being willing to be cannon fodder and camp prostitute (to a sadistic mercenary) respectively for their blood and adopted siblings. This in fact is what causes Jeff to fall in love with Gretchen as much as her looks.
* Even while the children move from one guardian to another, Violet takes care of her siblings after they are all orphaned in ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', and [[spoiler: all three children]] become the parents of [[spoiler: Kit Snicket]]'s daughter after the Volunteer dies.
* Everna Palindrake in ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagravandias'' raises her brother and sister from birth because their mother dies and their father is often away from home. To make things worse, she's nine when she takes this role.
* When her father abandoned her family, the protagonist in ''Literature/{{Beachwalker}}'' became the parent… of her alcoholic mother.
* In ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'', with his dad missing, his mom working, and his grandma's dementia, Gregor starts out with a lot of weight on his shoulders. Things don't get much better when he has the Underland to think about as well.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', when Katniss' father dies, her mother goes into [[EmptyShell shock]], forcing Katniss to take over for ''both'' parents.
** Gale becomes the "man of the house" after his father dies in the same mine accident, and the main breadwinner when he turns 18 and starts working in the mines himself.
* ''Literature/{{Forbidden}}'': Due to parental [[DisappearedDad abandonment]] and [[ParentalNeglect neglect]], 17-year-old Lochan and 16-year-old Maya have been promoted to parents for their three younger siblings. The littlest two, who are 8 and 5, accept it, but 13-year-old Kit resents them for it.
-->'''Kit:''' [[YoureNotMyFather He's not my father!]] He may pretend to care, but it's only because he's on some sick power trip! He doesn't love me like Dad did, but he sure as hell thinks he can tell me what to do every second of the day!\\
'''Maya:''' You're right. He doesn't love us the way Dad did. Dad buggered off halfway round the world with his new family the moment things got tough. Lochan could have left school last year, got himself a job, and moved out. He could choose to run off next year to a university at the other end of the country. But no, he's only applying to ones in London, even though his teachers were desperate for him to try for Oxbridge. He's staying in London so he can live here and look after us and make sure we're all right.
* Jerin's father died a few months before the start of ''Literature/ABrothersPrice''. His [[ExoticExtendedMarriage twelve mothers]] and various older sisters are alive, but as the oldest male, almost [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday sixteen years old]], he's expected to take up [[GenderInvertedTrope nurturing fatherly duties]] for his younger siblings. Since he'd been helping his father out anyway, he's able to do it and [[FriendToAllChildren well]], but this does mean that when they hear he's to leave and be married, his littlest siblings are heartbroken.
* After [[EarthShatteringKaboom Alderaan]], Tash Arranda is thirteen, only a year older than her brother, but their new guardians are [[OrphansOrdeal grudging]], and she veers between being sisterly and trying to guide and take care of him. They responded to the deaths of everyone they knew in very different ways; she wanted to withdraw from everything, but he became a reckless daredevil, and so Tash decides that she needs to look out for him in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''.
* There are several examples in Elinor M Brent-Dyer's ''Literature/ChaletSchool'' series, most notably Madge Bettany, the school's founder, and her twin brother Dick, who are responsible for their IllGirl little sister Joey (the series heroine) after their parents die, and Gillian Linton, who takes care of her BrattyHalfPint sister Joyce while their mother is ill.
* In Creator/StephanieBurgis's ''[[Literature/KatIncorrigible A Most Improper Magick]]'', Kat's sisters took over after the nurse. Kat thinks this is why they still think of her as a baby.
* In ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'', Stevie Rae seems to be this for her Red Fledglings, mostly because of ParentalAbandonment and/or because most people think they're still dead.
* In ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', the main character, Pip, was brought up by his (much older) sister and her husband after their parents died.
* In the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' series, Alaric ends up raising his younger sister, Alisa, after she's forced to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill their parents]] and brother during the second Rising.
* In the novel ''Winter's Bone'', main protagonist Ree is faced with raising her two younger brothers after her [[DisappearedDad father vanishes]] and her mother has an unspecified mental condition. Then it turns out her father failed to show up for his bail hearing. [[FromBadToWorse And put the house up for his bail. So if she doesn't find him, they'll all be out on the street.]] It sucks to be the grown-up sometimes.
* Sasha and Joe from ''Literature/TheTenetsOfFutilism'' adopt Joe's younger siblings after being forced to kill their cultist parents. Said parents left the children traumatized after actively crushing their dreams and making them watch a woman being tortured. Sasha and Joe try to be than that. They take the children on a trip around America hoping to bring them out of their depression. But by the end of the book, Sasha and Joe become preoccupied with managing their own cult, and the children are forgotten once again.
* Lina to her little sister Poppy in ''[[Literature/TheBooksOfEmber The City of Ember]]'', as her parents are dead and her grandmother has dementia.
* ''[[Litterature/{{REEL}} REAL]]'' has [[CoolOldGuy Den]], who singlehandedly raised his granddaughter Fasia because her parents were [[LonersAreFreaks such internet addicts]] that they only ever logged out of TheMetaverse to eat, bathe and get some sleep, [[ParentalAbandonment completely neglecting their only child.]]
* The big twist reveal in ''Literature/AfternoonOfTheElves'' is that Sara-Kate [[spoiler:has been acting as a mother to ''her own mother'' for nearly a year, after Mrs. Connolly fell victim to some sort of breakdown or serious illness. Sara-Kate is terrified of being taken away by CPS, so she's been keeping their situation secret and making ends meet through a combination of clever deceit, hard work, MacGyvering, and sheer force of will]].
* In ''Literature/AllOurYesterdays'', James' older brother, Nate, took over raising him after their parents died.
* The novel ''Tex'' (and the movie based on it) has the titular character being taken care of by his older brother Mason, since their mother died and their father tours the rodeo circuit.
* ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Mr. Darcy has raised his teenage sister Georgiana since their parents died when she was a child. He had help from his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam and his staff, but it's clear Mr. Darcy is Georgiana's primary caretaker.
* In ''Literature/ValleyOfTheDolls'', fourteen-year-old Miriam raised her baby brother.
* In Magda Szabó’s novel ''Tell Sally…'', Dora’s guardian is her older sister Vicky. This changes by the end of the novel, which is at the beginning of the book.
* In the Malaussène saga by Daniel Pennac, Benjamin Malaussène raises his mother’s children.
* ''Literature/HeroesSaveTheWorld'': Hannah Johnson was not just promoted to parent in her original home but, after being put in the foster care system, has apparently promoted herself again. It's not yet clear if it was necessary every time or if she's just unable to believe that other people can actually take care of her siblings.
* In ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'' Julian Blackthorn takes care of his four younger siblings, with help from parabatai Emma Carstairs and teacher Diana Wrayburn, after the death of his father, and the kidnappings and banishments of his older half-siblings, Mark and Helen. Technically, the Blackthorn children are taken care of by their uncle, but he is mentally unstable and Julian must instead care for the family; in addition, he must keep his efforts a secret, as knowledge of the incompetency of their uncle as a guardian would result in the family being separated.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* The whole premise--played for laughs--of ''{{Manga/Beelzebub}}''. Example of a teenager being deemed the most appropriate parent, but only because his heart is the opposite of pure.
* [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Yujiki]] looks after her little sister Hinagiku in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', but usually it ends up being the other way around. While this may have been true after their parents abandoned them (and possibly even before), it seems that normalcy has reasserted itself after they get adopted by the Katsura's. Yukiji seems to have reverted to more child-like while Hinagiku is supporting herself and generally not truly caring about her older sister except when it makes her look bad.
* In ''Anime/NeoRanga'', the eldest Shimabara sister Minami is the caretaker for the school-aged Ushio and Yuuhi; she works at least two part-time jobs ''and'' manages her company to provide for herself and her little sisters. This has given her a MoneyDearBoy mentality, and she uses Neo Ranga itself for monetary purposes.
* In ''Manga/KoreWaKoiNoHanashi'', despite Haruka's parents both being alive, Shinichi is eventually given guardianship of her by her father. Her father decided it's for the best, considering the time Haruka has already spent at Shinichi's house and the fact that he and his wife are barely at home.
* In the ''Mazinger'' series:
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': After their parents and grandfather's deaths, Kouji became his little brother Shiro's de facto guardian. Even after they gain a ParentalSubstitute in Dr. Yumi, Kouji remains as Shiro's main caretaker.
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': In the sequel, [[spoiler:Tetsuya and Jun take care of Shiro most of the time after Kouji and Sayaka go to the USA until almost the end of the series]]. Subverted because [[spoiler:they didn't know for a long while that they were his adoptive siblings]].
* Ralph Werec in ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'' was promoted to parent of his much younger sister Sara after the death of their parents, James and Annie. This fostered an enormous sense of BigBrotherWorship in her, which makes it even more painful when he leaves to join the army and comes back as an OmnicidalManiac.
** Sara herself plays a similar role [[spoiler:to Emily]].
* Seto Kaiba of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', who promised himself when he was 10 that he would be a father to his brother, Mokuba, after their parents died. Aside from his NobleDemon personality and AgentScully views, Seto has been good to his word. Mokuba uses the highest, most respectful honorific toward him, "Nii-sama." The manga has them both be evil at first, with Mokuba trying to emulate his brother before both reform.
* Jun Manjyome's older brothers in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' are the closest thing to parents he appears to have, constantly putting pressure on him to uphold the family honor. Too bad they're CorruptCorporateExecutive jerks.
* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'':
** Brock in his debut episode. He was left in charge of a gym and his 9 siblings, when his parents left WanderingTheEarth. Arguably, he holds the same [[TeamDad position]] within Ash's group as well.
** It appears Clemont is this to his little sister Bonnie at first, but several episodes in [[AvertedTrope we're introduced to their father]].
* In the Gold/Silver arc of ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', we learn that Blue met Silver (age five and three, respectively) after they were kidnapped by the same giant bird to become the Masked Man's minions. The two of them were put together as a team. From then on, Blue acted as [[CoolBigSis a surrogate sister]] to the boy, and eventually escaped with him. In the Green Leaf/Fire Red arc, Silver only starts looking for his biological family after Blue has successfully found her own parents.
* Nori from ''Anime/RozenMaiden'' tries to be this to Jun, but she's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} not really cut out for it]]... [[BewareTheNiceOnes most of the time]].
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''
** Related: There is a discussion between the two children adopted by Fate Testarossa-Harlaown regarding adoption and how they view their guardians. Admiral Lindy Harlaown became Fate's adoptive mother, but Caro decides that after being adopted by Fate that she's like an older sister. When Erio is asked whether he considers Fate more like his mother or his sister, he can't decide. Strictly speaking Erio thinks of Fate as a mother from his reaction. He's just too embarrassed to say that to Caro. Especially given that she's his sister by adoption (due to Fate being too young at the time to adopt him officially) and he's attracted to her.
*** [[http://www.onemanga.com/Magical_Girl_Lyrical_Nanoha_StrikerS/4/06/ In the StrikerS manga]], he occasionally calls Fate "Fate-[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseSiblingTerminology nee-san]]," but exclusively refers to her as "Fate-[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics san]]" in the anime.
*** Most other characters refer to Fate as Erio and Caro's mother when talking with them. Vivio even believes that she should keep her distance when Erio and Caro spend time with Fate, because she has two mothers while they only have one, but they suggest that she does not need to do that.
*** Not to mention, there's MadScientist Jail Scaglietti referring to Fate as Erio and Caro's mother [[spoiler: during his horrifying HannibalLecture towards her, in which he accuses her of raising them as ChildSoldiers and being NotSoDifferent from her EvilMatriarch mom Presea. Luckily, Erio and Caro [[KirkSummation don't agree]] and tell Fate it's all right, which reassures Fate and lets her beat the shit out of Jail]].
** Furthermore, Nanoha ends up as Vivio's mother by virtue of being the only one that treats her like the scared little girl she is, with Vivio doing the promoting by clinging desperately to her almost all the time at first.
** And let's talk how [[WiseBeyondTheirYears Hayate Yagami]] "getting and adopting" her new "family" in ''A's''...
*** She even explicitly refers to them as her "children," and in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', Hayate, the Wolkenritter, Reinforce Zwei and [[spoiler:Agito]] are referred to as "the Yagami family."
** Perhaps the straightest example from this series would be Tiida Lanster, who took care of [[BigBrotherWorship his little sister Teana]] after their parents' deaths.
* [[ChineseGirl Hwang Bu-ling]] aka Mew Pudding from ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', a victim of ParentalAbandonment--her mother is dead, her father left to practice martial arts, and she has ''five'' younger siblings to look after. The anime version at least introduced a kind kindergarten teacher who helps her to take care of her little sister. Top it with the fact that Bu-ling herself is only an elementary school student, and prior to the series beginning, she apparently supported her family entirely by doing tricks in a park. It must be even more exhausting since she's a waitress at a cafe and a superhero fighting aliens.
* Rika Noyamano of ''Manga/AirGear'' definitely qualifies for this, seeing as her parents are gone, as well as Ikki's, the only mention of either ones' parents being that Ikki was left in her care by his parents when she was only a child. Though considering she's gone for months at a time with her ProfessionalWrestling gig, she might also qualify as a case of ParentalAbandonment herself.
* MadScientist Komui Lee of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' is ''obsessively'' overprotective of his little sister Lenalee. As befitting the trope, their parents were killed by [[TheHeartless Akuma]] before the story.
* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' does this in a painfully realistic and tragic manner, largely because much of it is a true story--Setsuko was based on Nosaka's younger sister, and he wrote the original novel in part as a way to cope with his grief and self-recrimination [[CynicismCatalyst over her death]].
* Oda Eiichiro actualy [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this multiple times in ''Manga/OnePiece''.
** Nami's older sister Nojiko clearly did her best to provide moral support, but Nami was just away from the island and forced to grow up too fast to be given much parenting after their mother died. Nami doesn't hold it against Nojiko at all, however.
** Even though Ace became a lot more mature after [[spoiler: Sabo's 'death' (Sabo wasn't any older than Ace, but he was more cautious and levelheaded, and the three of them together could live largely independently)]], he was still ten years old and not even close to being emotionally stable or responsible enough to take care of Luffy, and left the bulk of that to Dadan and Makino.
** A very young [[spoiler: Donquixote Rocinante]] defied this when he ran away from his pre-teen older brother because said older brother was a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] SelfMadeOrphan, and soon he found a much better ParentalSubstitute in [[spoiler: the future Admiral Sengoku.]]
* ''{{Manga/Gantz}}'' has a rather tragic example of this trope; not only is Kato basically his young brother Ayumu's parental figure, [[spoiler:he ends up dying, thus leaving Ayumo without an adult to look after him.]]
* ''{{VisualNovel/AIR}}'' plenty of examples: Hijiri has to take care of her younger sister Kano and to some extent Haruko, who is Misuzu's aunt and Minagi who is more or less Michiru's sister also qualify.
* Touya from ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'' gets a partial one. Fujitaka actually ''is'' a good father, just a ''very'' busy one ([[ParentsAsPeople despite his own wishes]]) so Touya has to take care of Sakura many times.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': After their mother was murdered and their father abandoned them, Lelouch becomes the primary caretaker to his disabled little sister, Nunnally, to the point that making the world a better place for her is one of his main motivations for his rebellion against the Emperor.
* Kasumi of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' pretty much took the role of the mother in the Tendo-dojo.
** Tatewaki Kuno has also taken over in his family--and when his father returns they even fight about it, with Tatewaki refusing to surrender leadership of their family. Kodachi of course favors her father, and it's not like Tatewaki has done that great a job of "parenting" Kodachi, but considering the choices are Tatewaki or his father--[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome it's one of the few times Tatewaki comes off very favorably]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Sora Inoue, who is 15 years older than his baby sister Orihime, protects her from their AbusiveParents and runs away from home with her as soon as he reaches legal age, bringing in a paycheck and raising her until his death in a car accident three years before the main plot, at which point Orihime lives on her own with some relatives' financial support. He even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this by saying Orihime is "more like a daughter (to him) than a sister."
** Also, Hisana, Rukia's older sister. This is unique in the fact that it was actually ''Hisana and Rukia'' who died together and wound up in the afterlife. Unfortunately, that afterlife turned out to be a CrapsackWorld and Hisana couldn't hack it. She thus abandoned Rukia years before the start of the series, and could never forgive herself for it--therefore [[spoiler: right before she died again, she begged her husband Byakuya to find Rukia and give her a normal life... [[SecretKeeper without telling her]]; it's because of her last wish, and she felt she didn't deserve to be called Rukia's older sister after abandoning her, asking Byakuya to be the family-and older sibling that she never was to Rukia]].
* In ''Manga/GetBackers'', Himiko Kudou is said to have been raised from infancy by her older brother, Yamato, and that he was the one who taught her to use her poisoned perfumes and to work as a thief alongside him from a young age. His murder when she was thirteen is what fuels her grudge against the main character, Ban Mido. [[spoiler: Who actually is her ''real'' brother. And not to mention, Yamato himself asked Ban to kill him.]]
* In ''Manga/MinamiKe'', [[OneeSama Haruka]] takes care of her two siblings Kana and Chiaki. While there is no mention about parental abandonment and their older cousin Takeru comes by once in a while, Haruka is the one who does all parental duties.
* Racine in ''Anime/GlassFleet'' accredits her tomboy personality and love of swordsmanship to having been raised by her brother, Michel. Even though their father was still alive, he didn't do anything for Racine except try to get her to StayInTheKitchen.
* Haruma from ''Anime/ChocottoSister'' gets plunged into this role after he gets his sister Choco as a Christmas present.
* In a weird example, inverted, Usagi and Chibi-Usa in ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' have a similar relationship. Chibi-Usa is sent to the past to live with Usagi, who is her mother in the future. However, since Usagi is a teenager, Chibi-Usa usually has a lack of respect for her as her future mother, and they get into arguments as if Usagi were the sibling substituting for the parent, instead of the future parent.
* Sara in ''Anime/PrincessSarah'' becomes Lottie's "little mother" for all intents and purposes, as in the [[Literature/ALittlePrincess original novel.]] It's stated in the anime that Lottie's mother died when she was very small, though she does have a father who appears briefly in one episode.
* Black of ''Anime/TekkonKinkreet'' takes care of the playful but [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} peculiar]] White much like a parent; he steals money to support them both and even helps White dress. (He doesn't know how to do so by himself yet.) Although it's never explicitly stated that they're related, the two are [[BloodBrothers so close that they might as well be siblings]].
* ''Manga/MaiHime'': Mai Tokiha inherited the responsibility of taking care of her sickly younger brother Takumi from first her mother and later her father. This responsibility weighs on her pretty heavily, but she [[StepfordSmiler tries not to let anyone know that]]. She also ends up considering her status as Takumi's caretaker a key part of her identity, so much so that she has conflicting feelings when he expresses a desire to become more independent, and this is part of the reason Yuuichi replaces Takumi as her Key.
* In ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' Koujiro Hyuga's widowed mother does ''not'' want her eldest son to "replace" the family's DisappearedDad (who died two years before the story started), but Hyuga himself insists in working part-time after school to help out the family. This partially stops when Hyuga becomes a ScholarshipStudent in Tokyo, but he keeps taking care of the family more indirectly once he becomes a soccer star: before going to Italy, he buys them a beautiful house in Saitama, and he sends them money regularly.
* Daiichi Yamura from ''{{Manga/Bokurano}}'' takes care of his three younger siblings since his father has been gone for a while. [[spoiler: Mr. Yamura is actually helping a friend in distress, not permanently gone. Daiichi dies after his battle, but the boss from his part-time job takes care of the other kids and then Mr. Yamura comes back for them.]]
* Kaori from ''Anime/BestStudentCouncil''. Hinted at in the early episodes, near the end we see that she is the oldest of four children, left caring for her siblings after their parents death. She is the only council member not to live at the dorm, preferring to live with her younger siblings in a house in the city, delivering newspapers to make ends meet. She keeps this a secret from the others because she doesn't want to them to feel sorry for her, and gets torn into by Rino for this once it comes out.
* In ''Manga/BinbouShimaiMonogatari'', Kyou takes care of her younger sister Asu after their mother died and their father ran off. It's not always easy for her, since she is still only 15 herself and has to juggle school with work. Still, her [[{{Squee}} love for her sister]] makes her pull it off.
* Michael Garret of ''Anime/GunXSword'' was promoted to parent years before the series began. Up until he is kidnapped by the Claw, he did a good job of caring for his younger sister, Wendy.
* Go Katou from ''Manga/AishiteNight'' is a college student and aspiring singer who has been taking care of his kindergarten-aged brother Hashizou ever since their father's death. [[spoiler: In a subversion, Go's mother Yoko is still alive... but Hashizo's MissingMom was actually the ''lover'' of their DisappearedDad, making little Hashizou a pint-sized HeroicBastard. Despite Yoko's conflicted feelings on the deal, Go still took the little kid in.]]
* Yukishiro Tomoe from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' took over the motherly duties for her younger brother Enishi after their [[DeathByChildbirth mother died during Enishi's birth]].
* In ''Anime/EdenOfTheEast'', Saki's older sister took responsibility for raising her after their parents' deaths. Saki is grateful for her assistance and that of her husband, but is hoping to get a job so as not to rely too much on her kindness.
* Kanba Takakura from ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum'' became this to Shoma and Himari when he was around 13 years old. [[spoiler: As a child, he promised his father Kenzan that he'd protect his siblings if something ever happened to him and their mother Chiemi. Then it turned out that the parents were members of a terrorist organisation and had to run away from home...]]
* Sakanoue Gammon of ''Anime/PhiBrainPuzzleOfGod'' has a younger sister, who he supports by submitting puzzles to magazines. He also tries to butt into every one of the Kenja Puzzles set up by the P.O.G. in an attempt to get the prize money [[spoiler: and later joins them, though in that case it's not just for the money]].
* Kurumi from ''Manga/HaouAiren'' is both the eldest daughter ''and'' the main breadwinner of the Akino family, since the father died when she was 14 years old and the mother is a very frail IllGirl.
* ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'', Raquell is the eldest of the Cassull siblings and doubles as [[TeamMom the mother figure]] to Shannon and Pacifica, ever since their parents were killed [[YouShallNotPass while protecting Pacifica]] from Inquisitors from [[CrystalDragonJesus The Church of Mauser.]]
* ''Anime/VariableGeo'': At 16, [[{{deuteragonist}} Satomi's]] had to struggle to [[MinorLivingAlone support herself]] and her [[IllGirl kid brother, Daisuke]], since they have no other living relatives. She holds two jobs[[note]]she part-times as a waitress[[/note]], while continuing to finish highschool. But her brother's medical treatments are so costly, that she [[PerpetualPoverty barely earns enough for them to live on.]]
* Sixteen-year-old Kodaka Hasegawa of ''LightNovel/BokuWaTomodachiGaSukunai'' is this for thirteen-year-old Kobato. With their mother Airi dead a few years after Kobato was born, and their father Hayato working in America as an archaeologist, the boy had to raise Kobato by himself, cook her meals, and put up with her vampire-lolita fantasies. Fortunately, at least Hayato was generous enough to send them to study in St. Chronica Academy, run by his best friend, Tenma Kashiwazaki, whose teenage daughter Sena would develop an comically unhealthy obsession for the little girl.
* In ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'', Akari Kawamoto more-or-less serves as the parental figure for her two younger sisters, caring for them and even arguing with them as a mother would, as noted when she realizes she had a similar argument with their mother as she did with Hina.
* [[CanonForeigner Touka Takanashi]] of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'' anime becames as she started to take after her younger sister Rikka. This is a {{deconstruction}}, as Touka is clearly not a very good parent--especially in dealing with Rikka's [[BreakTheCutie emotional trauma]] arising from ParentalAbandonment.
* ''Anime/VividredOperation'': Momo takes care of the domestic chores, because her mom is in the hospital, grandpa is busy with research, and Akane is busy making some extra money to support the family.
* Ian gets this in ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' after his father, Greg, and stepmother, Sandra, die. Although his aunt Natasha is around to help, she runs away due to a guilty conscience for not telling anyone that [[spoiler: she knew Greg was sexually abusing Jeremy]].
* ''Manga/BinboGamiGa'' has the Tsuwabuki family where the eldest brother, Keita, cares for his four younger siblings as breadwinner (while still a high school student) and the eldest sister, Rika, does a lot of the household chores and cooking. Their parents are nowhere to be seen.
* Taishi in ''Manga/ServantXService'' towards his little sister Touko, out of ParentalAbandonment. This is the cause of the latter brother's BigBrotherWorship.
* Kodaka to Kobato in ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}''--their mother passed away, and their father had a work transfer to the US. Sena's father (who was friends with Mr. Hasegawa) makes fun of the ParentalAbandonment, which Kodaka [[BerserkButton does not take well to]].
* In ''Manga/PandoraHearts'', poor [[TheChewToy Gilbert]] got promoted to parent before his age reached the double digits: his parents sold him and his little brother Vincent to a freak show because of the latter's [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eye]] (a sign of being a [[ApocalypseMaiden Child of Misfortune]]). The two children grew up on the streets, and Gilbert took it upon himself to feed his brother (by stealing) and protect him--[[ThickerThanWater even though he was tempted to abandon him and fend for himself]] many times. [[PsychopathicManchild Vincent]] developed [[{{Yandere}} a twisted obsession]] with Gilbert as a result.
* In ''Manga/CastleTownDandelion'', Satsuki was this during high school, looking after her 4 siblings while her parents were out to work.
* Happens in ''Manga/KyouKaraYonshimai'' when the father of the girls abandons them after their mother's death. It's up to the oldest sister to take care of her sisters. [[spoiler:She ends up running off as an adult though.]]
* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' gives a partial one to the pre-teen Tomoka Osakada in the anime, since both of her parents work and often leave her in charge of her barely toddler-aged twin brothers.
* ''Manga/HimoutoUmaruChan'' has Taihei, a blue-collar worker who takes care of his younger sister Umaru. [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter It's... hilariously hard.]]
* ''Manga/ShinshunkiMimanOkotowari'':
** The junior high student Manato Sudou has pretty much raised his little sister Kazusa since their mom died and their dad, aside of sending them money, isn't present in their lives.
** When Kazusa and Manato's older half-sister Asuka arrives to the Sudou household, she decides to invoke the trope and take care of ''them'' and their home from then on, hoping that the three will become a family - which she badly needs, since ''her'' mom died too and she wants to [[WellDoneSonGuy prove herself to their father, Mr. Sudou]].
* In ''Anime/CuteHighEarthDefenseClubLove'', Yumoto Hakone's parents are never seen and he's been pretty much raised by his older brother Gora. Gora makes Yumoto's school lunches and is shown to be extremely protective of him, while [[BigBrotherWorship Yumoto quotes his advice often and dreams of being a man like him someday]].
* Implied in some episodes of ''Anime/GrimmsFairyTaleClassics'':
** In "Bluebeard", two of Josephine's three brothers look ''notoriously'' older than her and the youngest one, and their parents aren't mentioned. This means the two eldest almost surely raised the two youngest, and it'd certainly explain why [[BigBrotherInstinct the three are super protective of her]].
** In "Brother and Sister", Rudolf/Brother and Rose/Sister had been looking out for one another ever since the beginning due to having a WickedStepmother, but after they escape from her and Rudolf [[BalefulPolymorph gets turned into a stag]], Rose takes care of him more openly. She even takes him to live with her, despite him still being a stag, when she marries the local King.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' Ward did this to himself, even though his parents were alive. With an abusive father, and a mother who'd rather take drugs than oppose her abusive husband, Ward as the big brother had to take over. His younger brother Tosten [[spoiler: whom Ward took to a nearby town to apprentice him to a cooper after a failed suicide attempt]] lampshades this by saying that their mother had it easy, as her duty of protecting the children was taken over by Ward. Young Ciarra has a lady in waiting who looks after her, but Ward also parents her to some extent.There is also Garranon, who was promoted to parent when his parents were killed. He's very protective towards his younger brother, even though they're both adults.

* Happens in ''Kyou Kara Yonshimai'' when the father of the girls abandons them after their mother's death. It's up to the oldest sister to take care of her sisters. [[spoiler:She ends up running off as an adult though.]]

* The ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series has Chris Redfield to his little sister Claire, as it's stated in the Japanese companion novel that their parents died in a car crash years ago.

* Marc Vilaseca, original prankster/good guy of Catalonia based series '' Series/Merli'' gets promoted to parent his younger brother Pau because their mother works at night. Problems occured.

* Nancy in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances'' looks after a bunch of homeless Blitz orphans and failed BlitzEvacuees. [[spoiler:Except one of them really is her son.]]

* This happens with Satsuki and Nui (mostly the former) in ''Cellar Secrets''. In light of Rei's suicide, their mother being committed and living in the care of a mental hospital before later on dying of a terminal illness, and the fact that their father died years ago, the sisters have to play a caregiving/parental role to their [[spoiler: WildChild little sister Ryuuko]]. Unlike some examples, they do have some help in the form of Aikurou on the side.

* Bunny has been this to [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=sweetheart#/d5gr949 Sweetheart and Speckles]], [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=eglantine#/d58h76y Eglantine]], and, of course, [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=Madgie+#/d4la3jj Madgie]]. Needless to say, understandably so, she was rather unwilling to take on these responsibilities but, with her younger cousins, she seems not to mind.
* ''Literature/HeroesSaveTheWorld'': Hannah Johnson was not just promoted to parent in her original home but, after being put in the foster care system, has apparently promoted herself again. It's not yet clear if it was necessary every time or if she's just unable to believe that other people can actually take care of her siblings.

* This is basically the entire premise of the novel ''Homecoming.'' Dicey Tillerman and her three younger siblings are abandoned in a car in a supermarket parking lot by their mentally unstable (and, as it turns out, [[spoiler:terminally ill]]) mother Liza. When Dicey, who is all of thirteen, realizes that Momma's not coming back for them, she very calmly and rationally hikes the kids to their distant cousin's house in New England, which is where they'd been headed in the first place. From there, they then travel--again, by themselves--down to Maryland, where they find and move in with their grandmother. The sequel, ''Dicey's Song,'' deals with Dicey learning to give up the Promotion To Parent she'd been forced to shoulder when Gram legally adopts the four of them and the fate of their mother is learned.

* Happens in Creator/KAApplegate's ''Literature/{{Remnants}}'' series, especially to Jobs, who takes the role for both his own little brother and Billy, who is oddly vulnerable despite being about Jobs' age. Also more literally with Mark, who raised his little brother D-Caf after their parents' deaths. He didn't do a very great job, being moody and mercurial, but was [[PapaWolf willing to kill]] [[spoiler:and die]] to get him and D-Caf to survive [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Earth's destruction]].
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has a variant early on, when the "[[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive death]]" of Marco's mom puts his dad into such a depression that Marco becomes the more parental one for the next two years. His dad eventually gets his act together.

* In ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'', with his dad missing, his mom working, and his grandma's dementia, Gregor starts out with a lot of weight on his shoulders. Things don't get much better when he has the Underland to think about as well.