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1->''"I was working, sometimes two jobs, so I just wasn’t around much. I’m not making excuses—I should’ve been there, but I wasn’t... But now when my kids are with me, it’s just me. I’m the one who puts the band-aids on, I’m the one who rubs the tummies and shampoos the hair, holds them when they have a bad dream. Then they go back to their mother, and I realize what I'm missing."''
2-->-- '''Vic Damico''', ''Film/ByeByeLove''
3
4In a show where the main child character(s) is(are) mentioned to have divorced parents (or at least parents that aren't together anymore), it's usually the mom who has primary custody of the kid(s). However, more often than not, there will end up being an episode where the child's father visits or where the child pays a visit to their father (usually but not always as part of some custody arrangement).
5
6When the child visits his divorced father, MenCantKeepHouse, LonelyBachelorPad or DadsCantCook will often feature.
7
8This rarely works in the reverse--in fiction, dads and/or father figures usually aren't depicted as raising kids on their own unless the mother of the child (or children) is dead.
9
10This might cause tension among the family in a BlendedFamilyDrama if the parent with custody has already remarried.
11
12Compare WhenYouComingHomeDad and DisneylandDad.
13
14Contrast DaddyDidntShow.
15----
16!!Examples:
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18[[foldercontrol]]
19
20[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
21* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': A GenderFlipped example with Ran's mother Eri Kisaki. Ran (with or without her father Kogoro Mouri) either gets visited by Eri or she/they stumble(s) on her by accident or there's an meeting arrangement going on.
22* A variation happens in ''Manga/{{Kodocha}}'' -- In some episodes, Sana's (adoptive) mother's ex-husband shows up at their house a couple of times asking for money. Of course, due to the show's comedic nature, he's likely to be (harmlessly) blasted with some sort of large weapon, sending him flying away. However, Misako's ex-husband technically isn't Sana's dad (legally or biologically), as Misako had adopted/raised Sana as a single parent. To go into greater detail:
23** Shortly after she and her husband got divorced, Misako learned that she wouldn't be able to have children through biological means. Still wanting to be a mother, Misako looked into adopting a child--after finding Sana (who was abandoned as a baby by her biological mother, Keiko) and taking her to an orphanage, Misako was eventually able to legally adopt Sana as her daughter and ultimately raised her as a single parent.
24* In ''Anime/{{Noein}}: Mo Hitori no Kimi e'' (To Your Other Self), both Haruka and Yu both seem to be being raised by single mothers and Haruka brings up child support and running away to Tokyo to live with her dad in an early episode. It turns out Yu is just always at work, but Haruka's dad's monthly visits become a plot point when fellow quantum physicist Uchida plans to use it to catch him and get him to help her save the world from their mutual research. [[Literature/{{Discworld}} There's always bloody quantum.]]
25* Yuki's divorced father Kurou visits him in the hospital more than halfway through ''Manga/FutureDiary''. [[spoiler:However, a chance for father-son bonding isn't the real reason he's there...]]
26* In ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'', the Kawamoto sisters' deadbeat dad divorced their mother years ago, before the youngest sister Momo was even born. Since their mother's passing, they've lived with their grandfather. One day their father shows up again out of the blue, reopening painful wounds and trying to take advantage of the girls.
27* In ''Manga/TonariNoKashiwagiSan'' Sayaka arranges to meet with her father and brings Kazuki along for moral support. She only wants to know one thing: [[spoiler:[[WasItReallyWorthIt Was it worth marrying her mother]] despite how it ended up]]? The answer is quite simple: [[spoiler:Yes, because Sayaka was born.]]
28[[/folder]]
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30[[folder:Comic Books]]
31* Happens in ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'', and gets its own subplot. Will's dad, [[DisappearedDad Thomas Vandom]], threatens to take Will away from her mother if the latter doesn't give him the huge sum of money he wants.
32* ''ComicBook/{{Jonesy}}'': Inverted, the title character's mother is the one who's usually away while Jonesy lives with her father, and she eventually comes to visit in the 7th issue. Jonesy isn't too thrilled at this due to thinking that her mother left them and it comes to a head near the end of the issue. However, her mother reveals that this isn't the case: she and Jonesy's father separated due to marrying young and ultimately growing apart as they got older. Jonesy's father was the one who volunteered to look after her while her mother went to the city to study to be a lawyer. But Jonesy's mother makes it clear that she really does love her daughter (and always has), and comes to visit whenever she can. Jonesy's mom even goes out of her way to get an apartment with a spare room so Jonesy could have a place to sleep when she visited her in the city.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Film]]
36* In the movie ''Film/Armageddon1998'', one of the guys who has to go to space visits his son. The mom doesn't tell the boy that this is his father, but that he's a salesman; from what she says to her ex after their son goes into the house, it's implied that he's actually not ''allowed'' to visit, or at least not without advance notice (which is why his son doesn't recognize him). Later, after the father takes part in a plan that saves the planet, his family sees him on TV. When the boy says, "That salesman is on TV," the mom finally admits, "That's not a salesman. That's your dad." A similar thing happens at the end of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight''.
37* The ''Film/TheBabySittersClub'' movie has Kristy's DisappearedDad visit for the summer. He only reveals himself to his thirteen-year-old daughter (ignoring his fifteen-, seventeen-, and seven-year-old sons), forcing her to keep it secret and basically lie to her family and friends all summer, before he leaves unexpectedly because his job prospect didn't pan out.
38* The film ''Film/DriveMeCrazy'' has Melissa Joan Hart's father visit her and take her on a hot-air balloon ride to bond. While up in the air, he gives her the book ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' to better understand him. She replies, "This stupid book is supposed to explain why you're never around?" and flings it over the edge. Creator/RogerEbert wrote in his review of the film that he cheered at this part.
39* Prior to the events of ''Film/TheGuilty'', Michael lost his visitation rights due to his criminal record. His daughter Mathilde tells police dispatcher Asger that she isn't allowed to visit her father, but that she memorized his phone number with his help. The movie begins shortly after he's visited anyway.
40* Happens in ''Film/PayItForward'', when Trevor's estranged father suddenly shows up at the door. It doesn't work out between the two.
41* One that does not end well in ''Film/TheRebound''.
42* In ''Film/{{Somewhere}}'', Cleo comes to stay at the hotel suite of her divorced father for an extended visit.
43* ''Film/AYearAndChange'': Owen has historically been terrible at these with his son, and part of his plan to be a better person is to start taking them more seriously.
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder:Literature]]
47* Another kind of inversion happens in ''Literature/AmeliasNotebook'' where Amelia gets a letter from her divorced father, then she goes to visit ''him''. There still seems to be tension between her parents, though.
48* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' [[ActionGirl Rachel]] is visited occasionally by her father, who lives in another city. She actually seems closer to him than to her mom because they have a lot in common.
49* A rare reversal in ''Literature/SweetValleyHigh,'' as Lila lives with her single father and her mother lives in France. When Lila is nearly date raped and the therapy she receives isn't working, her dad reaches out to her mother. This leads to them eventually remarrying in Book #98: ''The Wedding''.
50* Seen a few times in ''Literature/TheBabysittersClub''. There's one book in which Dawn and Jeff's dad visits Stoneybrook briefly before a summer trip. He has breakfast with his ex-wife, her NewOldFlame husband, and her stepdaughter. It's just as awkward as it sounds.
51** The SpinOff series, ''Friends Forever'', has Kristy's dad get married again and finally remember that he has kids--because he wants the three oldest ones to be in the wedding. He doesn't even seem to remember that the youngest child (who was a baby when he left) exists, and is kind of a JerkAss throughout the whole thing.
52* ''Literature/{{Slugfest}}'' : Arabella's father visits near the end of the book and is proud of her being on a flag football team. This does nothing to dampen her constant stream of anger toward him for divorcing her mom after she helped him get through college and giving Arabella and her brother's college funds to his baby with his new wife.
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55[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
56%%* ''Series/DesperateHousewives''
57* ''Series/{{Monk}}'', who finally meets his dad, who is in trouble for a murder his boss committed.
58%%* ''Series/TheParkers'' (on more than one occasion)
59%%* ''Kate and Allie'' (many occasions for both divorced moms)
60%%* ''Series/{{One Day at a Time|1975}}''
61* ''Series/WhosTheBoss'' had a few episodes in which Angela's ex, Jonathan's father, came to town.
62** The first visit actually revealed they hadn't been divorced yet. He came back from an extended trip after being served with papers. That led to the attempted reconciliation.
63* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'', though in this case, the parents were never married in the first place. Multiple visits; one brief reconciliation with mom. One attempted reconciliation with catastrophic effects.
64* Hank Summers appears in the first-season ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode, "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E10Nightmares Nightmares]]", and is supposed to meet Buffy, but cancels, a few other times over the series's run.
65** In "Nightmares" everyone's worst fears come true, so Hank tells Buffy that [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech it was all her fault her parents divorced]]. It wasn't really her father as it turned out, but Buffy never gets over her DisappearedDad, a fact that lampshaded in Season 7 "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E7ConversationsWithDeadPeople}} Conversations With Dead People]]".
66** Creator/JossWhedon was raised by a single mother. Coincidence?
67** It got to the point where, in the fifth season, after [[spoiler: Joyce dies and Hank doesn't even show up for the funeral]], Dawn going to live with their dad is listed as only a slightly preferable alternative to foster care if Buffy were to be deemed an unfit guardian.
68** PlayedWith and GenderFlipped in season six--when Buffy was temporarily dead, Willow and Tara became Dawn's [[ParentalSubstitute substitute]] mothers, but later they broke up and Tara moved out. In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E9Smashed}} Smashed]]", she and Dawn go out together in what seems intended to represent a sort of parental visitation.
69** Seems to be an example of CharacterizationMarchesOn, Hank's appearance in the season finale indicated that he genuinely cared for Buffy, and his divorce from Joyce came out of irreconcilable differences (if the second season finale offers any hint), not from some sort of parental neglect. It isn't until the third season that his incompetence as a parent truly becomes apparent.
70* ''Series/Charmed1998'': Victor Bennett, the father of three of the four Halliwell sisters, returns at least once per season (a total of 14 episodes across eight seasons, except for season 2). The first time he appeared he was played by Anthony Denison and was portrayed like a bit of a jerk, and he hadn't seen them for 20 years. Starting with his next appearance two seasons later, he's then portrayed by James Read and is depicted more fatherly, more sympathetic and more empathatic and becomes more and more involved with his daughters' family life. In the future, his two grandsons love their grandfather very much, and in the present, he would occasionally babysit his grandsons when the Halliwell sisters are away. The series also makes it clear that Victor was pushed away from the Halliwell family because of his ex-mother-in-law [[DoesNotLikeMen Penny]] who didn't let him being part of his daughters' life. Victor also treats Paige like one of his daughter despite her being the child of the man whom his ex-wife dumped him for, although the final episode shows that he has been long over that affair anyway.
71* ''Series/OceanGirl'': Jason and Brett's father becomes a regular cast member in the final season. While Brett is happy to see him, Jason openly resents him for abandoning them and their mother before the series began.
72* A few times in ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody''. The twins' father also comes to see them graduate from high school in ''On Deck''.
73* Interestingly ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' has an example of a child with divorced parents living with their father. This trope isn't used because Maria's Mum shows up so often that she's a DropInCharacter. It's later played straight when Clyde's father pays a visit for the first time in five years in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E7E8TheMarkOfTheBerserker The Mark of the Berserker]]".
74* ''Series/SportsNight'' has a Visit ''to'' Divorced Dad by Casey's son Charlie.
75* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' used it for a VerySpecialEpisode where Ben Vereen appears as Will's career-first father. Initially Will is excited, but when Uncle Phil tries to warn him against getting his hopes up, Will throws it back in his face. Of course, Mr. Smith plans on leaving without telling Will, triggering a PapaWolf rant from Philip, as well the end when Will's attempt to look strong in the face of this latest abandonment fails and, breaking down, asks Phil, "How come he don't want me, man?"
76* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' inverts this trope, since Rick Castle is raising his daughter Alexis (or in [[ManChild his case]], [[WiseBeyondTheirYears possibly the other way around]]) and they get the occasional visit from his even more irresponsible ex-wife. (Even one of his ''other'' ex-wives, who isn't Alexis's mother, occasionally turns up to spend time with her.)
77* Inverted in ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager''. Amy and Ashley live with their dad George ([[spoiler:or did until Amy moved in with Ricky and Ashley went on a road trip with Toby]]). Their mom Anne and their baby brother Robbie live in another town near Anne's ailing mother. The girls (and occasionally George) sporadically visit Anne and Robbie. Anne keeps up semi-regular phone communication, but never really physically visits them, except when she's dropping Robbie off for his time with George.
78* ''Series/GossipGirl'' has done this with both parents. Blair's father (who comes to visit once or twice per season) and Dan and Jenny's mother (who appeared in a minor arc in season one).
79* ''Series/ModernFamily'', with Gloria's ex-husband (Manny's father).
80** Also reversed, when Jay's ex-wife visits (though both of her children are now adults).
81* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' does the GenderFlipped version when Zoe's mom shows up. In a twist, she's showing up because it's her turn to get custody, and Carter needs to convince her not to [[PutOnABus put Zoe on a bus]] back to Los Angeles.
82* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' has a two-episode arc in which Caroline's dad shows up. Of course, then he proceeds to torture her.
83* In the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' episode "Return of an Old Friend", the parents of the Rangers are kidnapped and used as hostages. This includes Kimberly's divorced parents, with the dad being in the middle of this.
84* Several episodes of ''Series/NewYorkUndercover'' focus on this trope between Det. Williams and his son, G.
85* Happens pretty regularly on ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''. One episode involved Earl discussing his list for Dodge's class [[spoiler: and it's revealed that he is Dodge's biological father.]] Another episode involved signing the kids out of camp to take them to Mystery Fun Land... only to find that the amusement park has been torn down. Dodge and Earl Jr. forgive "Old Daddy" and cross "Never took the kids to Mystery Fun Land" off the list.
86* ''Series/{{Blossom}}'' is the living-with-father variety. On a couple of occasions, the mother (who just walked out on the family one day) comes back for a visit. The last time this happens, Blossom's dad tells her not to come back.
87* ''Series/FakingIt'': Unfortunately, the first time we see Amy's dad, it's immediately after she and Lauren discover that her mom is having an affair with him behind her new husband's back.
88* ''Series/LifeWithDerek'' had an episode in which Casey was particularly excited to be getting a visit from her absent father, only to be upset when he bonds with her annoying stepbrother more than her.
89* ''Series/VeranoAzul'' has the local BespectacledCutie's father dropping by during summer vacation. As it's a Spanish series from TheEighties, coming right after the very conservative Franco dictatorship, merely speaking onscreen about divorce was ''revolutionary'' back then.
90* ''Series/StrangerThings'': Lonnie Byers was an AbusiveParent who [[DisappearedDad walked out on his family]], ignores his wife and older son's attempts to contact him after his younger son Will's disappearance, and only comes back to town when Will is reported dead. Even then, he proves to be a CoattailRidingRelative who only hopes to profit from a wrongful death lawsuit, so they kick him out.
91* The main conflict of ''Series/MadAboutAlice'' - although Doug and Alice are divorced, Doug still has visitation rights, and he regularly sees his son much to the annoyance of Alice.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Music]]
95* Music/FrancoDeVita: The theme of "Como cada domingo" (Like Every Sunday). Franco roleplays as a man who divorced his wife, and the custody fell largely onto her. The song is aimed at his son, advising him to be careful when crossing the street and always obeying his mother as well as his teacher. In the chorus, he promises him to visit him every Sunday (hence the song's name) so they go to a park and play together.
96* Music/RebaMcEntire's "Every Other Weekend" (a duet with Music/KennyChesney) is about AmicableExes who share custody of their children, with Dad getting them [[TitleDrop every other weekend.]] The song briefly touches on the visits, but is much more about how they each regret their divorce and still love each other--feelings they can't express, because they think the other is over them.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Roleplay]]
100* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Nadine's parents separated after her mother discovered that she was just a side thing for her father. Said father has recently come back into Nadine's life, trying to atone for his past mistakes, which is only straining things between Nadine and her mom.
101[[/folder]]
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103[[folder:Video Games]]
104* Presumably occurs at the beginning of ''VideoGame/AmongTheSleep'', judging by the sound effects when Mom goes to answer the door in the first cutscene and via clues revealed throughout the game. Said 'visit', unfortunately, is nothing more than an entirely offscreen argument between Mom and Dad, ending with Mom shouting 'NO' loudly and clearly and apparently slamming the door in his face before giving you the present he had for you. By the way, you're a two-year-old. [[spoiler:Dad returns at the very end after Mom has been revealed as alcoholic, and you open the door and let him in. It's assumed this visit was actually to take you away after winning custody.]]
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Web Comics]]
108* ''Webcomic/RedString'' inverts this. Reika decides to visit her father while she's in Tokyo. Upon entering, she discovers that her father has not only remarried, but he already has a son that was born around the time of the divorce (plus another one on the way). [[spoiler:Then her father reveals that Reika was an unplanned pregnancy.]]
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Western Animation]]
112* Happens to Buster in ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', though sans melodrama on his part. It eventually culminates with Buster leaving for an extended period to travel with his father, later to be used as fodder for a spin-off series.
113* An interesting subversion of this trope occurs in the Emmy-nominated episode of ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'', "Hello Stranger", where Ginger invites him to see her read a poem. However, [[DaddyDidntShow he never shows up]]. Dad would, however, later visit Ginger in "An Even Steven Holiday Special" and "Losing Nana Bishop".
114%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Braceface}}''
115* After [[DaddyDidntShow not coming to a family picnic]] in the Nick run of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', we finally meet Roger's father in the Disney-run episode "Doug's Movie Madness." Despite what's implied about him before, he proves to be a good father, and possibly even a better parent than others. When all the children want to see an R-rated movie, Doug's parents use trailers and reviews [[NeverTrustATrailer (which can lie to a viewer)]] to make their choice to not let Doug see it. When Roger asks his dad if he can see it, his father says he'll have to watch it first to judge it fully; he ends up walking out halfway since in this case, the trailers actually kept out a lot of the bloodier parts. He tells Roger, who still doesn't understand. Later, all the kids told no go to see it anyway and Roger's father is the only parent who catches their kid in the act, physically takes Roger from the movie, and has a firm but gentle talk with him about it. Doug's parents don't find out until afterward, and while Roger learned that sometimes parents do know what they're talking about and a better understanding of his dad, all Doug learned was that he got nightmares, and grounded without fully understanding why his parents did it in the first place. The other kids never even get caught.
116* In one of those rare reversals, [[WesternAnimation/DrKatzProfessionalTherapist Dr. Katz]] actually has custody of his son, and is visited by his ex-wife only once for Thanksgiving.
117* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' did this on multiple occasions; the divorced dad eventually evolved into a {{Recurrer}}.
118* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' had a few episodes sort of like this, when [[DumbBlonde Luanne]], a WomanChild who lives with her aunt and uncle, got visits from both of her parents. The mom had previously been in jail, while her dad [[spoiler:[[RetCon had been as well]]]].
119* ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'' had a recurring sketch in the first series based around this. In each sketch a divorced dad has a custody visit with his young son Timmy; only to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself in various horrible ways]] when Timmy talks about how great the mother's new boyfriend is. The divorced dad eventually discovers that his ex's boyfriend is Timmy's real father, but on this occasion decides not to kill himself and just be there for Timmy. However, in the last sketch featuring the characters, the dad commits suicide yet again on discovering that a now-teenage Timmy has become a juvenile delinquent.
120* ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'': her father visits fairly often, though as a blimp pilot he's usually away.
121* {{Inverted}} on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb,'' where main character [[MadScientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] occasionally goes through with his evil plans while his [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter daughter]], Vanessa, is visiting; most of the time she's with Doofenshmirtz' ex-wife, but unlike most of the men on this page he keeps regular contact. Even if she sometimes [[BumblingDad wishes he wouldn't]].
122* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' with Sam's workaholic father.
123* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' had Tino's dad show up for one episode, causing a temporary awkward moment as his dad and mother's boyfriend initially have no idea what to say to one another; however, [[CommonalityConnection the two men end up becoming friends after bonding over]] [[LethalChef Tino's mother's terrible cooking]].
124* ''WesternAnimation/WheelSquad'' had an episode where Jessica's father visited her.
125** It's unclear if Emilie might have a similar experience since it's not known if her birth father died or simply divorced her mother.
126* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' features this a couple times with Will's dad, especially in the episode "Q for Quarry".
127** It happened in the original comics, too. However, Will's dad there isn't so nice...
128[[/folder]]

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