Basic Trope: An immature slacker raises a young relative. Both learn lessons.
- Straight:
- Bob is the very definition of One of the Kids — he's very much The Slacker. When he inherits his younger brother Timmy after his parents die, he learns a lot about himself through the act of being a parent.
- Bob is considered a rather lazy and immature man, to the point where he's The Slacker. When he gets his girlfriend pregnant and she dies in childbirth, Bob has to raise their son Timmy and learns how to become more mature while raising him.
- Exaggerated: Bob is an absolute loser with nothing to offer society. When he inherits Timmy, he goes from being a slacker to an ideal member of society overnight.
- Downplayed:
- Bob cleans up his act a little while raising Timmy, but is still not that good a role model.
- Bob becomes a Big Brother Mentor for Timmy and starts setting a better example.
- Justified: Raising a kid forced Bob to grow up himself; he can't really expect the kid to respect him unless he acts like an adult.
- Inverted:
- Bob is a model citizen who is incredibly mature, but raising Timmy places such a strain on him that the other facets of his life start to slip up and he reverts to a childlike state.
- Timmy is a problem child to his own parents; when they die, Bob proves much more capable at handling him and he whips him into shape.
- Subverted: It seems that raising Timmy has no effect on Bob...
- Double Subverted: ...until he has to discipline the boy, after which he decides to start growing up.
- Parodied:
- Timmy literally raises Bob: cooking his meals, making sure he's ready for work, driving him there, et cetera.
- It's revealed that the whole story took place in Soviet Russia.
- Zig Zagged: After taking custody of Timmy, Bob bounces back and forth on cleaning up his act depending on what the script requires each scene.
- Averted:
- Timmy has no effect on Bob's maturity.
- Bob never has to care for Timmy.
- Enforced: "I know we may want to teach Bob some life lessons, but we've got to consider Timmy's well-being. This is the perfect chance to include An Aesop about personal responsibility and coming of age."
- Lampshaded: "I'd say I'm raising him, but I think it's the other way around."
- Invoked: Bob's parents, realizing that Bob needs some motivation to stop being such a slacker, make sure that he gets the boy in case of an accident so that he'll learn how to function in society.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob finds someone else to give Timmy to.
- Discussed: "This kid who I'm about to patron is probably going to whip me into shape."
- Conversed: "Why did caring for Timmy make Bob more mature? That doesn't seem logical to me."
- Deconstructed:
- After a while, it becomes evident that while Bob means well, he lacks what it takes to be an effective father figure to Timmy. He loses custody of the boy, who's subsequently bounced around to foster homes.
- Bob eventually breaks down from the overwhelming responsibility that comes with taking care of a child.
- Reconstructed:
- However, this spurs Bob on to dig truly deep and improve his life to the point where he can earn custody of the boy for real.
- In the long run, taking care of Timmy teaches Bob how to nurture a family of his own one day.
- Implied: Bob is a side character who was a Lazy Bum in his last appearance, but now he's a responsible man and has an unexplained Tagalong Kid with him.
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