History PromotionToParent / RealLife

* 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 [[Series/NineteenKidsAndCounting 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 bedridden. 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.

* 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.]]

* 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 cross into this.

** One of the most notorious examples are [[Series/NineteenKidsAndCounting 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.

* 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.

* 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 was part of the background of the early Contemporary Christian Music group [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Chapter_of_Acts 2nd Chapter of Acts]], as Annie (Ward) Herring (having recently gotten married to her husband Buck, who eventually became the producer of the group's albums) ended up taking in younger siblings Nelly and Matthew Ward after their parents died within 2 years of each other.
* Another example as a result of tragedy was that of former [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons]] running back Warrick Dunn, who just days after his 18th birthday in 1993, found himself finishing high school while raising his younger siblings after his single mother - [[http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/16/Bucs/Confronting_his_pain.shtml who served as a cop]] - was [[CopKiller killed in the line of duty.]]

* Given that the [[Literature/CheaperByTheDozen Gil]][[Film/CheaperByTheDozen breths]] had twelve children (although one of them died very young), 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.

* [[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.

* Given that the [[Literature/CheaperByTheDozen Gil]][[Film/CheaperByTheDozen breths]] 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.

* 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.

* 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 [[Series/NineteenKidsAndCounting 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.

* 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.

One of the most notorious examples are [[Series/NineteenKidsAndCounting 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.

* 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".

* Another example as a result of tragedy was that of former [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons]] running back Warrick Dunn, who just days after his 18th birthday in 1993, found himself finishing high-school while raising his younger siblings after his single mother - [[http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/16/Bucs/Confronting_his_pain.shtml who served as a cop]] - was [[CopKiller killed in the line of duty.]]

** "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.

* Another example as a result of tragedy was that of former [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons]] running back Warrick Dunn; who just days after his 18th birthday in 1993 found himself finishing high-school while raising his younger siblings after his single mother - [[http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/16/Bucs/Confronting_his_pain.shtml who served as a cop]] - was [[CopKiller killed in the line of duty]].

* 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.

* 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 [[Series/NineteenKidsAndCounting 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 was part of the background of the early Contemporary Christian Music group [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Chapter_of_Acts 2nd Chapter of Acts]], as Annie (Ward) Herring (having recently gotten married to her husband Buck, who eventually became the producer of the group's albums) ended up taking in younger siblings Nelly and Matthew Ward after their parents died within 2 years of each other.

** 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.

* 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.

* 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.]]