History Main / TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes

* ''Franchise/DoctorWho'': Dying In The Sun'': Charles Wallis is captain of the LAPD and the adopted father of notorious drug dealer Robert Chate. Naturally, this is a great source of shame for him.

* Leonard's mother on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' is a brilliant and world-renowned psychologist and parenting expert who treats her family very, very badly. He confesses to Penny in one episode that he built a hugging machine when he was a child just so he could feel like somebody loved him. Her other children also suffered from the lack of affection/birthday celebrations/Christmas celebrations, etc. and whenever one of their accomplishments, personal or professional, is brought up, she doesn't express any pride or joy because they aren't her accomplishments. Then there is her husband, who borrowed the aforementioned hugging machine. She mentioned that the only times in the marriage that they had sex was to consummate it and for reproduction. His having an affair would indicate that this arrangement was largely her choice, and then the likely lack of affection that plagued the rest of the family. It is all played for laughs, but all evidence indicates that she was/is EXTREMELY emotionally abusive and/or neglectful to her entire family despite being a world-renowned psychologist and parenting expert. As far as the latter, her parenting philosophy seems to revolve around justifying neglecting one's children, which likely makes her books popular among parents who are feeling overwhelmed.
** Keep in mind, there are enough hints to suggest that [[GuineaPigFamily Leonard is actually the subject of a long-running experiment]], detailing the psychological impact of depriving a child of any and all maternal affection. She mentions having written several books on their relationship already, such as ''Needy Baby, Greedy Baby''. Mind you, this would be extremely unethical behavior for a scientist. Either way is appalling in its own right.
** At one point, she tries diagnosing Leonard, but wildly misses the mark, thinking he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which he super doesn't. She came to this conclusion talking about him behind his back with ''Sheldon'', who displays every single sign in the DSM-5. Leonard's mother herself displays some symptoms, most obviously {{lack of empathy}}.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', the titular character's parents are ghost hunters who spend the whole series not being able to figure out that their own son is half-ghost, up to including failing to notice that Danny's ghost self has the ''same freakin' first name'' as their son. Lampshaded in "The Ultimate Enemy" by Danny's evil future self when he taunts them for this.