I Want Grandkids

TOO SUBTLE!

I will not attempt to pick our son's wife based on whether or not she can feel a pea through a stack of mattresses. Any woman dainty enough to feel a single dried pea through one mattress much less dozens of them, is far too dainty to ever give me grandchildren.

—When I Am the Benevolent Ruler....

So, you've grown up and flown the nest. When you look in the mirror, you see a confident, sassy young woman (usually) with a great career, and everything to be proud of.

Well. Not quite. See, your parents know that the only way you'll truly make them proud is to pop out a few kids of your own, allowing them to live their dream of being a Grandparent.

The reasons for this can differ from parent to parent. Maybe they really do think the only way for their child to be happy is to have children. Maybe they think the only reason you exist is to give them what they want. Maybe they just want some cute kids to dandle on their knee and show photos of to strangers. Maybe they need someone to carry on the family name. Or maybe they just want to watch you endure all the torture you gave them. Or if you want to go by evolutionary theory on this, the entire point of life (as much as life can be said to have a point) is to produce healthy—and fertile—grandkids, as it means that your genes have passed the test of natural selection and can be passed on.

Either way, you can bet they'll be taking every opportunity to remind their children that their biological clock is ticking, and they should hop to it and make some kids.

Expect things to be awkward if these parents get introduced to a new love interest, or even an opposite sex friend.

If the child is bereaved, this may be one reason why they urge them to seek out a new partner, telling them You Have Waited Long Enough.

Compare Siblings Wanted, where it's the characters' own children who demand from them to get busy (again) rather than their parents.

This can be Truth in Television, to a rather extreme extent, but No real life examples, please; we'd be here all day.

Examples of I Want Grandkids include:

Anime and Manga

• Present in Kage Kara Mamoru!. Since the line of Kagemori Ninja needs to continue, Mamoru's parents are very pushy when it comes to these matters. For example, when he was possibly going on a date with Hotaru, he comes home to find that his parents have already named his and Hotaru's child.
• In Maison Ikkoku one reason why Grandma Godai uses her funeral savings to pay for Godai and Kyoko's wedding is that she wants to see her great-grandkids. Given that the first kid came within a year of the wedding, I'd say she got her money's worth.
  • Kyoko's mother is an even better example of this trope, as she is constantly pushing Kyoko at Mitaka, but when she discovers that Kyoko is fighting with Godai she immediately begins asking about him, and encouraging Kyoko to forgive him for whatever it was that made her mad ( accidentally proposing to another woman) and hurry up and get married. It greatly annoys Kyoko.
• Used along with a subversion of Virgin Power in Devil Hunter Yohko: Yohko's grandmother impresses on her that a Devil Hunter must be a virgin to take on the power—but once they've acquired their powers they can go ahead and have sex! In fact, guess who wants great-grandkids...
  • Similarly, her Mother wanted her to go out and get laid as soon as possible, presumably to avoid the whole Virgin Power thing.
• Kei's mother in the manga Houou Gakuen Misoragumi is so worried about the possibility that her daughter won't end up giving her grandchildren that she tricked her into going to an All Boys School; while this would be a secret fantasy for most girls; its a nightmare for Kei due to a number of reasons, first, the Principal has threaten to erase her if she trys to expose herself as a girl thus runing the school's reputation, second, she is allergic to guys which makes her throw up a lot and lastly, she is a lesbian, it is this fact that the mother is trying to cure.
• The grandmother in Otome no Iroha came back to life due her concerns that her two grandchildren, Iroha, a masculine girl, and Hifumi, a feminine boy won't be able to get married and continue the family line due to their gender dissonance. Her solution: magically Gender Bend them.
• In the Mai-Otome Arashi manga, Lena Sayers hopes for this.
• Japan Inc: Ueda's mom comments that Miss Amamiya (his boss!) has the right shape to get many children, hint hint. When the latter can hear it.
• Lady Ramia expresses this desire in the Vampire Game epilogue.

"Vord! Baby! Now!"

• Mentioned in a Naruto flashback, when the Konoha children and tenagers are banned from joining the adults in fighting the Kyuubi on the loose. The one leading the operation is Kurenai's father, who tells the trope almost word by word to not just his daughter but to the boys he's taking to safety as well.
• In Rosario + Vampire, both Mizore and Kurumu's mothers tell them that they expect Tsukune to pop out some kids with them, much to his chagrin.

Comics

• In Circles, Marty's grandmother wants grandkids, even after she finds out her grandson is gay.
  • In Vinci and Arty, Vinci's mother seems to think the same. She's blunt about it, too.
• Even Wonder Woman gets this from her mother, Queen Hippolyta, when she introduces new love interest Tom Tresser. Is no-one safe? Granted, this was during a time when Diana and Hippolyta were the only two Amazons left which strongly influenced how they were thinking.
  • And of course, Hippolyta was so desperate for a daughter that she moved the gods into miraculously creating Diana. She just really seems to like kids.
    • She's not alone either. One Amazon lead the others into revolt mostly out of envy that Hippolyta got to be a mother and she didn't.
• In one Mad Magazine parody of Cathy, the titular character's mother decides to prevent her from getting an abortion by burning down the local abortion clinics and having two pro-lifers move in with her, even though she was date-raped. Even though she justifies it by saying that she doesn't want Cathy to violate God's laws, she admits after hanging up that "The need to be a grandmother overrides all else."
  • Not that Mad Magazine was exaggerating much. In the strip, her mother constantly nagged Cathy to marry so she can give her grandkids, to the point that she sent cards to Cathy's ex-boyfriends. The nagging only increased when Cathy did get married, to the point when Cathy and Irving even suggested the idea of kids at their age, she came storming in with material to help them out. When Cathy announced she was pregnant in the final strip, her mother fell to her knees in jubilation.
• This might be one of the reasons Galactus stops his estranged daughter Galacta's attempt to destroy the "Tapeworm Cosmic" (actually the larval form of Power Cosmic entities like Galactus and Galacta) near the end of her one-shot. He doesn't want her or his unborn grandkid to be destroyed.
• Ninjette's parents from Empowered had this plan for her—in the most horrifying way ever. Yes, even worse than the case in Drowtales at least Quain'tana let Mel keep her limbs.
• Vandal Savage wants his daughter Scandal now a former member of the Secret Six to have kids. This is not going to happen with Scandal's consent for a few reasons: 1) Scandal hates her father, 2) she is a lesbian with absolutely no interest in the opposite sex, and 3) she is convinced that the only reason Vandal wants grandchildren is so that he can harvest them for organs to sustain his immortality.
• A hilariously pragmatical example can be found in chapter ten of Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, where Beagle Boys conclude that four of them against Scrooge in not enough anymore, so Blackheart Beagle tells his sons that "You boys need to start raising families. We need more Beagle Boys", which prompts one of them to make an Aside Glance.
• In Empire State, the protagonist's mom sets him up on a blind date, and explains:

Mom: I'm fifty-five already. I just want to see the face of my grandson before I die.
Jimmy: Geez, Ma.

Fanfic

• Ranma ½ Fanon traditionally has this as a major motivation for Ranma's mother, Nodoka. This probably arose as a way to justify her concern with Ranma's "manliness" with the opposite sex, especially since he spent most of his life away from her during his training trip. Canonically, both of the fathers want Ranma to "carry on the School of Anything-Goes martial arts", which would involve grandchildren.
  • Taken Up to Eleven in What Do You Want? by Polenicus, where it's eventually revealed that she intends to use the seppuku contract Ranma "signed" as a toddler to force him and his future wife to be nothing more than a traveling baby factory, whose every child she intends to take and raise herself while they remain on the road far, far away. This is apparently as "payment" for the years of Ranma's childhood she missed.
• This pops in so many Dragonball Z fanfics, it's not even funny anymore. Chichi is the usual culprit, despite the fact that she's usually nagging her sixteen-year-old son while she still has a seven-year-old at home.
• In the Oneiroi Series, the only reason Redcloak's mother is willing to give Vaarsuvius, an elf, a chance with her son is because of this trope. That, and they already have a kid with each other and a second on the way.
• Nobody Dies: Lilith, progenator of humanity. Simply being in her presence compels humans (of opposite gender) to think of one thing and one thing only. BABIES!.
  • This carries over into ND's sister fic, Walking in the Shadow of Dreams, as Rei is more or less fixated on the BABIESBABIESBABIES drive.

Films

• In Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, this is a great concern of the Mrs. Bennett equivalent. The original Mrs. Bennett was more concerned about impending homelessness.
• The last line of the adorable Chinese film Saving Face involves Wilhelmina's mother asking when she can expect grandkids from Wil and her girlfriend. This prompts a Spit Take. What makes it funnier is that Wil's mother has just had a kid with her boyfriend, so it's not like she needs a baby right then.
• This is apparently one of the reasons Eudora wants her daughter Tiana to settle down a little in The Princess and the Frog.
• The King from Cinderella has this bad, to the point where he takes the prince's comment about how he'd marry the girl Cinderella's slipper belongs to (not knowing her name) literally, and tries to find any girl that will fit the slipper, regardless of if it's the same one.
  • To be expected of a king, since producing heirs (and having his heirs produce heirs) is the only way a royal dynasty can survive.
  • This however averts Heir Club for Men when the King actually dreams about doing 'grandfatherly' things like playing horsie with a grandson and granddaugher
• Present in Toy Story 3 in sentiment though not literally (in light of the toys-as-parents metaphor) when Woody mentions, "Someday, if we're lucky, Andy may have kids of his own."
• Kevin Flynn's smile at his son Sam and Quorra's growing interest in each other in Tron: Legacy suggests this.
• Apocalypto: Poor Blunted is apparently impotent. His hunting buddies find ways to tease him about this when on a hunt, and he returns to find his mother-in-law completely uninterested in the meat he's caught, but hollering out this trope to no end. Mother in law grabs her daughter and all but pitches the two of them into the tent with orders to get busy. Poor, poor Blunted. This is the day the old huntmaster also chose to pull a practical joke on him regarding his ineffectual genitals. Think, son, why would Gramps be carrying Jungle Viagra on him during a hunt? No good reason. But Jungle Heat Rub?

Literature

• In Poppy Z. Brite's Liquor, Rickey's mother Brenda asks him when he's going to meet a nice girl and give her some grandbabies... despite knowing that he's gay.
• In Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, Thursday's father asks about the possbility of grandchildren,
• Honor Harrington's mother is obsessed with getting he daughter knocked up and drops hints about bring vials when she meets her boyfriend. Since they can raise the babies in tubes, it's not even a problem that she's an active duty navy officer. In some ways not having grandchildren actually creates huge problems when Honor is believed dead due to inheritance laws being complicated.
• In Agatha H and The Clockwork Princess, one Jager is a nuisance to his great-great-grandson owing to his wanting great-great-great-grandchildren. It is noted that many Jagers have hobbies trying to reconnect with the humanity they left behind him, and preoccupation with his family is his, and has nearly wiped out his descendents.

Live Action TV

• In Frasier, Daphne has a dream in which her mother shows up to do just this.
  • And when Gertrude moves to Seattle, that dream becomes a constant reality.
• Don and Charlie's father in Numb3rs isn't too pushy about it, but he does give his sons the occasional nudge.
  • At least he's actually helpful, giving them relationship advice.
  • He'll probably get his wish soon, now that Charlie has married Amita.
• Black Books: When Manny's parents believe he's dating Fran:

Manny's mother: People are leaving it too late these days, and I don't think that's wise.
Fran: Leaving what late?
Manny's mother: Babies.

• Both Ross and Emily's parents in Friends seem to be keen on the idea, since Ross threatens them with "No Grandkids!" when they are squabbling at his wedding.
  • Must be stressful on Ross's end since he already has a son prior to that event.
  • Yes, but his parents frequently forget about Ben, as well as about their own daughter Monica. Poor Ross has to remind them.
• In the CBC adaptation of Douglas Coupland's JPod, Carol is continually pressuring Ethan for grandchildren.
• In The Nanny, Fran's mother was very obsessed with having grandchildren from Fran, despite the fact that her other daughter has several children.
  • It's stated several times that Yetta nagged Sylvia about giving her grandchildren years ago.
• Discussed in an episode of Designing Women. Mary Jo tells the story of the first time she visited her parents after being married. They told her they weren't comfortable with her and her husband having sex under their roof, then spent the entire trip pestering them for grandchildren.
• In 30 Rock, this is a major source of tension in Liz Lemon's otherwise ideal relationship with her parents.
• Marie in Everybody Loves Raymond, to the point of making a "love nest" for her son Robert and his wife in their house complete with Barry White CDs. Robert moans "I can't breed in captivity!"
  • What makes this an interesting case is that she already has three grandchildren but because they are no longer excited to see her when she comes over (due to both growing out of it and, as Debora pointed out, simply by virtue of her spending more time at their house than her own) and simply wants new ones so she can "be grandma" again. Marie is generally considered one of, if not THE, most selfish, self centered character on the show because of actions like these.
• On an episode of Law and Order SVU', a woman wants grandchildren so much that she pays a man to rape and impregnate her comatose daughter.
• Variation occurs in the "Look at the Princess" trilogy of Farscape. A Sebacean princess can only become Empress if she marries a man who can provide her with viable offspring and thanks to DNA poisoning by her brother, only John can "put the sword IN the stone" as he puts it. For good measure, on their first meeting, the current Empress tells John "I expect sturdy grandchildren from you."
• A particularly obnoxious (and, thanks to the Imagine Spot inserts that were a motif of the programme, hilarious) incarnation of this kind of parent was added to the BBC's 2009 sitcom Reggie Perrin. This was a new addition for the remake- in the original, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Reg hated his mother-in-law and had two independent adult(ish) children. Possibly it was felt that, as the actors were very slightly younger and middle-class people like the Perrins now have children rather later, they would be unlikely to have children that old, and the dynamic would be different if their children were still young.
• Full House. Despite having three granddaughters, throughout the second season Jessie's parents pestered him to marry Becky so they could have more grandkids.

Mythology

• In the story of Apollo and Daphne in Ovid's Metamorphoses (making this trope Older Than Feudalism): "Saepe pater dixit 'Generum mihi, filia, debes.' Saepe pater dixit 'Debes mihi, nata, nepotes.'"
  • ("Often [Daphne's] father said, 'You must [give] me a son-in law, daughter.' Often her father said, 'You must [give] me grandchildren, daughter.'")
• Arguably, The Bible has this in Genesis, as the first thing God tells his living creations is to "Go forth and multiply." And since the animals, and especially Adam who was "made in God's image" could be considered His children...

Newspaper Comics

• Now that Garfield's owner Jon is regularly dating Liz the veterinarian, his mother comes right out and says she wants to see grandchildren before she dies.

Garfield: Moms are not masters of subtlety.

• Shows up a lot in Cathy. It's to show the differences between the attitudes and aspirations of Cathy and her mother; Cathy wants to further her career; marriage and children were not high on her priority list. Although, much to her mother's delight, both eventually happened. Meanwhile, her mother was raised with the idea that a woman's purpose in life is to get married and produce Babies Ever After.

Video Games

• In Animal Crossing your parents will send you a letter asking if you've met anyone special. They claim they want grandchildren... even though you live in a village full of animals.
• Eli Vance in Half-Life doesn't take it to extremes, but he does tease his daughter Alyx about her affection for the hero because..."can you blame an old man for wanting grandkids?"
  • This comment was particularly significant because it was made shortly after the destruction of a device that the occupying alien force had set up the to make human reproduction impossible.
• Gender inverted in Ar tonelico, where Lyner's father encourages him to get married soon because he wants grandchildren. Lyner responds that he doesn't have anyone in mind, eliciting the groans of the three potential love interests.
• In Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, both John's mother and Jane's father are pressuring them to have children.
• If you marry Nera in Dragon Quest V, Nera's mother will pressure Nera to have grandchildren right after you're married. She eventually does, giving you twin children, a son and a daughter. Strangely, she doesn't say this to Debora, her other daughter. Though she gets the two grandkids either way.
• If you spared Teryn Loghain and married Anora (only possible as a male Human Noble) in Dragon Age Origins, Loghain will reappear in Awakening and remind you that you have a duty to produce an heir. Ostensibly it's because the Ferelden throne needs a clear line of succession, but this trope is probably in play as well.
• The opening of King's Quest VII opens with Valanice attempting to marry Rosella off and listing who she thinks are suitable candidates. Rosella is less than thrilled with the idea. Yes, it's justified by the fact that Alex took up ruling the Green Isles, leaving her as Daventry's only heir. Still, she's no more eager to be "up for auction" than her dad was in King's Quest II.
• Older Family-oriented parents in The Sims 2 will often have a want to get grandchildren sometimes as soon as their oldest child progresses to adulthood.
• If you get Fayt's ending with Adray in Star Ocean: Til The End of Time, Adray makes it clear that he intends for Fayt and his daughter Clair to get together for this purpose. Clair is not quite as supportive of this (she calls her father into the other room, then beats the crap out of him.)
  • It's a bit more subtle in his solo ending where he has Claire's subordinates in a push-up competition for the right to marry her.

Web Comics

• Joyce's mother in It's Walky!. Big time.
• Blue's grandmother (father's side) in CRFH.
• In The Order of the Stick, when Roy leaves the Heavenly Mountain, his mother Sara instructs him to marry his girlfriend and get her pregnant. Celia isn't the same species or even from the same plane of existence as Roy, although the strip takes place in a RPG Mechanics Verse where Half Human Hybrids of every sort are possible.
  • Apparently, Roy's mother would get along well with Celia's.
  • In the prequel Start of Darkness, Redcloak's mom shows some of this.
• Oggie of Girl Genius, despite not being human anymore, is very concerned about the continuation of his family line. His great-great-grandson is currently in hiding to avoid being pestered about when he'll settle down and father some great-great-great grandchildren.
  • Oggie's great-great-grandson also made the mistake of telling his ancestor he'd "get married when you find a Heterodyne!" As he shortly discovers, that's not as far-fetched as he'd thought. Oggie's response? "Iz going to be great-great-GREAT grandpapa!"
  • And don't forget the castle. In this comic from 2009, it is pretty clear about it.
• Fa'lina of Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures: "Hey, hey! Get back here! Do not run in fear from me when I'm plotting my grandbabies' futures!"
  • Becomes kind of sad when you look into the backstory here. Fa'lina adopted Pyroduck after Pyro was taken as a hostage in the Dragon-Cubi war, during which Fa'lina's entire clan (which she founded) was killed.
    • Cyra (Dan's grandmother) does this to Dan as well.
• In Schlock Mercenary Kaff Tagon's father berates him about his life in general, and not producing grandchildren.
• Crest's mother in Flipside indicates this in this strip.
• Yuko's mom in the slice-of-life webcomic Johnny Wander.
• Drowtales contains one of the most horrific instances of his trope in fiction with the relationship between Quain'tana and her daughter Mel'arnach. Basically, she couldn't have children anymore but needed an heir, so she wanted to get one from her daughter -- by force. And to rub salt in the wound once the child (Ariel) was born, she was taken away from her real mother and raised without knowing her true lineage or even seeing her real mother for 10 years, did not know their real relationship for over 30 chapters. Minus a single, non-canon and very spoilerific chibi page (which indulge in Black Comedy anyway) this is not played for laughs at all, and many fans consider it a Moral Event Horizon crossing for Quain'tana.
• In Kevin and Kell, Desdemona Fuscus is seen asking Kell which of them should be the first to bring the topic of grandchildren up to the recently married Fenton and Lindesfarne.
• Taken to terrifying extremes in this Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. When Mom said she wanted grandkids, that was not a request.
• In Route 148 this trope is used to hint at one of the main characters homosexuality when Frank, on the same page he is introduced, jabs at Linton about probably never pruducing any great-grandkids.
• In Something*Positive, Faye once became depressed that Davan didn't seem like he would ever settle down and Dahlia was on the record that she didn't want kids. She briefly considered finding a way to trick Davan and his girlfriend Branwen into getting pregnant (to Fred's surprise, since she's usually the sane one in the family).

Web Original

• Mnemosyne to Thalia and the rest of the Muses in Thalia's Musings.
• Tobuscus does a spoof of a deodorant commercial in which his mom tells him 'Now go make me some grandchildren!' He later jokes that she wasn't acting when she said that.

Western Animation

• Amy Wong's parents in Futurama are an extreme example.

Amy's Mom: We met a nice boy in the cabin next to ours.
Amy's Dad: He's not very ugly.
Amy's Mom: You should marry him. Or at least use him to conceive a grandchild for us.
Amy: I already have a boyfriend.
Amy's mom: Really? Then where is he?
Amy's dad: And why isn't he here right now, fathering our grandchild?

• • When Kif Bizarre Alien Biology gets pregnant, Amy struggles to explain to her parents. Their response?

Amy: Mom, Dad, I know this is weird but--
Mrs. Wong: Yeah, yeah. We don't care how squishy alien get pregnant. All we care is that we have grandchild now!
Kif: You're very open-minded, Mrs. Wong.
Mr. Wong: Hey! You call her "Grandma" now!
Mrs. Wong: Call me Grandma like crazy! All the time!

• • Interestingly, in a later episode, they bug her again. Possibly they were disappointed that their grandkids are tadpoles who have about a decade or two until they metamorph into children.
  • There's also the episode where the crew (including Amy) are all reverted to their early teenage years:

Mrs. Wong: referring to Amy being a child again This is like a mother's dream! [beat] Bad dream that is - at this rate I'm never going to get a grandchild!

• Used in The Fairly OddParents, of all places, where, when the writer of the Crimson Chin comic book gets kidnapped by one of his fictional villains, his mother (who he lives with) doesn't notice, and simply shouts "And don't come back unless you bring grandchildren!" at him as he's being dragged out.
• On The Simpsons, in a later episode, Marge makes the comment that her greatest fear is "dying without being a grandmother."
  • It was a little less trite than that. She really did think she was about to be executed, and was despairing that she wouldn't see her children grow up, start their own families, etc.
    • In the episode "The Burns and the Bees", Marge makes the comment about dying without grandchildren.
• In King of the Hill when Bobby has joined a cult of geeks—after he got sent to the Principal's office for what they think is witchcraft --, when Hank and Peggy are called over; Bobby does this dance to provide a positive vibe. Peggy says:

"I may be a mother, but I am also a woman, and I know a girl repellent when I see it. I. Want. Grandchildren, will you fix this!?"

• On Daria, the title character writes about the ideal future for her family, with Helen performing this trope (despite already having several grandchildren through Quinn).