Basic Trope: A fictional family consists of a son, a daughter, and a baby.
- Straight: Alice and Bob's three children, 12-year-old Christopher, 10-year-old Daphne, and baby Ellie, go on adventures.
- Exaggerated:
- Every family on Alice and Bob's block has a son, a daughter, and a baby.
- Each family in the entire town has a son, a daughter, and a baby.
- Alice and Bob have 12 children, 4 boys, 4 girls, and the quadruplets babies.
- Downplayed: Christopher is 22, Daphne is 20, and Ellie is 10, but in flashback sequences where Ellie is a baby this trope is played straight.
- Justified:
- Alice and Bob both come from a culture where it is tradition for families to have at least 3 children, but they decide to stop at that number for financial reasons. Quite possibly, they already had financial troubles with two children, explaining the age gap between the two older siblings and the younger one.
- It’s just how things turned out, you can’t pick your genes.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob's family consists of themselves plus Alice's father Christopher, aunt Daphne and elderly aunt Ellie.
- Alice and Bob’s children consist of 11-year-old Ellie with twin babies Christopher and Daphne.
- Subverted:
- When Christopher grows up and leaves the family, Ellie is aged up and Franklin is born, leaving the show with two girls and a baby.
- Daphne comes out as a transgender boy named Danny later in the show, leaving the family with two boys and a baby.
- Double Subverted:
- Daphne leaves, Franklin is aged up, and baby Gretchen is born, restoring trope balance.
- Then Christopher comes out as a transgender girl named Christina, leaving the family with a girl, a boy, and a baby again.
- Parodied: When Alice and Bob find out that their second child is male as well, they abandon him in an orphanage and try for a girl again.
- Or they raise him as a daughter instead.
- Zig Zagged: Baby Ellie, being a baby, can't always go on Christopher and Daphne's adventures.
- Averted: Harold and Inez's 12-year-old triplet girls Josie, Katharine, and Louise have a show.
- Enforced:
- As with most of these examples, executives want to reach a wide range of audiences, and fear children won't watch a show starring a character of the opposite gender.
- Write What You Know can be in effect if the author's family was like this, and the story is based on their experiences.
- Lampshaded: "Mom will be overjoyed: in nine months, there'll be a proper boy, girl, and a baby family!"
- Invoked: Older sister Mattie is pushed to the side in favor of Christopher, Daphne, and Ellie.
- Exploited: Christopher, Daphne, and Ellie use their family dynamic to their advantage. For example, they manipulate their parents into granting them special privileges or attention because they fulfill the traditional family structure.
- Defied:
- Harold and Inez's triplets have a wildly successful show.
- Norma and Oscar have Payton, and are about to have the next kids, but they decide on an abortion.
- Discussed: A character who is a sitcom writer laments that it feels to him that his show has to have this particular family structure for the show to be picked up.
- Conversed: "When they have kids, I'm betting for a son, a daughter, and a baby – the proper setting for fluffness".
- Implied: A family with a boy and a girl is never seen with a baby, but is seen buying diapers.
- Played For Laughs: You can only immigrate into the country if you have a son, a daughter, and a baby.
- Played for Drama:
- A writer trying to create a biographical series about her early life has trouble getting a positive reception due to her family only having two girls. She has to struggle with deciding between accuracy and having a better chance of getting the show made.
- The story is set in a patriarchal country and is about a boy in the family who receives better conditions and treatment than his sisters, causing some level of insecurity or even the Sibling Rivalry tension that tears them apart.
- Deconstructed: The trope is deconstructed to explore the potential challenges and dynamics within a family consisting of a son, a daughter, and a baby. It delves into the individual personalities, conflicts, and complexities that arise within such a family structure. The story may explore how societal expectations and stereotypes affect each family member and their relationships.
- Reconstructed: After deconstructing the trope and examining its flaws, the story then reconstructs it in a way that highlights the positive aspects or finds a new way to embrace the traditional family dynamic. The characters may learn to appreciate and support each other despite their differences, and the narrative may emphasize the unique strengths that arise from having a son, a daughter, and a baby in the family.
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