Who knows what would have happened if young Henry
hadn't hated farm work? He's definitely a figure the future automobile industry couldn't afford to lose!
hadn't hated farm work? He's definitely a figure the future automobile industry couldn't afford to lose!"Don't worry. Both of you have the true spirits of warriors. I know you will succeed if you follow my pawsteps closely."
— Tigerstar, Warrior Cats
Parents often want the best for their children. It's only natural. Unfortunately, some parents take this to the conclusion that "whatever worked for me will work for my kids — end of discussion" — so the kid will find themselves being groomed and press-ganged into stepping into their parent's shoes, whether they particularly want to or not. This is particularly the case if the steps in question lead to the Family Business, and especially if the parent is a Self-Made Man (or woman).
Thing is, the kid usually has their own ideas about what they want to do with their lives, and following exactly in their parent's footsteps isn't (always) part of the plan. This can often lead to tension; the kid wants to live their own life, but at the same time, family loyalty is an extremely strong thing to overcome and they don't want to disappoint their folks, either. So a choice has to be made; will the kid let themselves be pushed into a life they don't want to lead, or will they attempt to break free and be themselves, and risk losing their parent's love?note
For extra irony points, the kid may have a sibling who wants nothing more than to take over the Family Business, but because they're younger than the protagonist (or female) they don't have a chance. Unfulfilment all around! In the case of the older (or just male) character being expected to take over the Family Business he's the Rebel Prince.
The result is usually one of two standard outcomes. In the happier ending, the parent — although disappointed — accepts their child's decision; you have to Be Yourself, after all, and it's ultimately their child's decision what to do with their life. Variably, in these endings the parent may also be astonished that their kid was so torn up about it — they aren't Control Freaks and it's not that big a deal to them, and ultimately their child's happiness is what concerns them most. They may even have been working under the assumption that the kid had their heart set on inheriting the business, which was why they were so enthusiastically pushing it on him. Often in this kind of ending when the kid decides to agree to take over, the family comes to an honorable compromise that allows the kid to pursue his own interests to a reasonable degree.
Less happily, if the parent is a Control Freak who has to micromanage their child's lives, they aren't going to take it so well. Cue Parental Issues. And frequently in these cases, you'll be hearing a cry of "I Have No Son!" before too long.
Owing to traditional family roles, the parent and child in these cases is usually (but not always) male.
May overlap with Honor Thy Parent, as the parent can leverage this belief to insist that imitating them is the Sincerest Form of Flattery.
See also Save You From Becoming Your Parent, Fantasy-Forbidding Father and Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps. Contrast with "Well Done, Son" Guy, where the child really wants to follow the footsteps to earn praise and approval from their parent, and Following in Relative's Footsteps, where it's the character's own choice to take up a relative's career simply because they want to. Also contrast Evil Parents Want Good Kids, where parents want kids not to turn out like them, often because they didn't succeed by being evil.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Dragon Ball Z: This is how Gohan ended up fighting Perfect Cell. Goku, having seen his son in action a few times, made the (flawed) assumption that Gohan must enjoy combat as much as he did, and chose this moment to put Gohan into his old role as Earth's hero, even going so far as to heal Cell first to make the fight more interesting. Unfortunately it turned out that fighting was not something Gohan enjoyed, just something he happened to be skilled at, and it was ironically left to Gohan's foster father Piccolo to point this out.
- In Girls und Panzer, the character Hana comes from a long line of artisans in the field of flower arrangement. When her mother finds out that her hands that had been used to create beautiful works were now stained with oil and rust, she literally passed out. However, Hana only half defies her mother in this: she does indeed want to continue her family's school, but she feels that she can only improve her art by stepping out and trying something new... like operating a tank. Her mother then kicks her out, only recognizing her after she demonstrates the fruits of her choice with a piece that she deems truly worthy.
- Saotome Alto from Macross Frontier was born into a Kabuki family and raised to be an actor from a young age. What he really wanted to be was a pilot; he rebels against his family before the start of the series and heads off on his own path. Whether his father eventually approves of his war hero son or not is never shown.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Inverted as Gendo sent Shinji away because he was afraid of bringing him to harm. But the psychological harm that Gendo caused by abandoning Shinji and repeatedly pushing him away makes this plan backfire horribly. By the end of the series, the horribly broken Shinji is not very different from his father after all.
- In the second season of New Game!, a new intern named Narumi is introduced whose parents run an inn. She desperately wants to be a programmer and make games together with her childhood friend, but her parents are adamant and eventually give her an ultimatum: if she fails to gain a full position at the central company she must come back and take over.
- One Piece:
- Marine Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp tries so very hard to make his grandson, Luffy, a Marine like himself. Unfortunately, he fails and Luffy instead becomes a highly-wanted pirate, making him not unlike his own father, who is the leader of a Revolutionary Army and the most wanted man in the world. Ironically, in the Water Seven Arc, Luffy and his crew proclaim war against the World Government, much like his father has. This is ultimately averted, however, in that Garp loves both his son and his grandson and is in fact quite proud of them. He just didn't want Luffy to be a pirate because it meant, as a Marine, he'd have to oppose his own grandson.
- Capone "Gang" Bege is grooming his infant son to follow him in the family business, and thus often exposes him to the violence it comes with, such as bringing him to an enemy's execution and pointing out, after pretending to surrender only to shoot the man taking his wife hostage right in the face, "that's how your daddy lives".
- In the Egghead Arc, it's revealed that Garp did manage to get his son Dragon, Luffy's father, to join him in the Marines, but Dragon left the Marines after finding "no true justice" in the organization.
- Pokémon the Series:
- In one episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, the heroes encounter a father and son. The father runs an academy for fighting-type Pokemon and wants his son to take over so he can retire, but the son just wants to run his noodle restaurant. After having Ash and May proxy battle for them, someone finally realizes that the father's skilled female student is a more obvious choice, and the father can go off to follow his dream - opening a noodle restaurant.
- Pokémon the Series: XY: Serena's mother, Grace, wants her to train to become a Rhyhorn racer, which Serena has no fun in doing. She immediately seizes the opportunity to leave the house (and Rhyhorn racing) and begin her Pokémon journey upon seeing her childhood friend, Ash, but has no idea on what goal she's willing to replace Rhyhorn racing for. Once Serena realizes she had a passion in performing, she eventually stands up to Grace.
- In Pokémon Journeys: The Series, Chloe's classmates expect she'd go into a Pokémon-related career like her father Prof. Cerise, but it took her a while to entertain the idea of even training Pokémon. Her mom is fine with her hesitation since she's still a kid, encouraging her to pursue whatever path she chooses. Ultimately, she choses to be a part-time Pokémon Professor's research assistant after Goh leaves the position vacant at the end of the series.
- Mr. Fujinami in Urusei Yatsura is determined to pass on his beachside cafe, despite largely running it into the ground, to his son, Ryuunosuke. In return, Ryuunosuke wants nothing to do with this dream, because a) she considers it a stupid, small-minded dream that saw her condemned to a life of poverty, and b) she's a girl and bitterly resents her father's efforts to literally beat her into manliness.
- Inverted in Vagabond. Sasaki Kojiro's foster parent Kanemaki Jisai refuses to teach him the way of the sword because his own dedication to the sword had gained him nothing and left him friendless and embittered.
- Inverted in The World God Only Knows with Sumire. Her father runs a ramen shop that has been in the family for generations, and she badly wants to follow in his footsteps. He, on the other hand, is convinced that she can do much better with her life than running a tiny noodle shop, and so refuses to consider it. They reconcile in the end, and he accepts her wish.
Comic Books
- Batgirl: Cassandra Cain had to deal with this twice. Her biological father David wanted her to become the ultimate assassin, and carry on his legacy. He essentially saw her as an extension of his own work. Even though her adopted father Bruce Wayne is a better parent than David in every way, he still often falls into this trope, projecting his own issues and motivations onto Cassandra, something which her surrogate mother Barbara Gordon confronts him on several times.
- Batman: Inverted when Batman often mentally notes how proud he is that the various Robins generally didn't end up like him, as his obsessive, miserable life is one he would wish on nobody, least of all his "sons." He particularly voices this in regards to Nightwing, whom he is extremely proud of due to Dick finding his own identity as a hero and a man—no matter how rocky the split was.him.
- Inverted as Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, was raised not to become a fighter like his Dad because his Dad wanted something better for him. This backfires spectacularly when his secret identity is outed: Matt goes into incredible painful sacrifices to maintain his identity as a lawyer, just because that was his father's dream for him.
- Disney Mouse and Duck Comics: This is common theme in stories about Li'l Bad Wolf, the son of Zeke Wolf from the Classic Disney Shorts. Zeke intends his son to become a Big Bad Wolf like himself who hunts down The Three Little Pigs while his son instead befriends them. Zeke isn't happy about it at all.
- Flashpoint: Thomas Wayne a.k.a. Flashpoint!Batman telling Martha about the timeline where it's their son and not them who survives the mugger.
Martha: Tell me about Bruce. What does he do, after we're dead?
Thomas: He... he follows in his father's footsteps.
Martha: He's a doctor?
Thomas: No.
Martha: Oh God... - In the DC Comics Elseworld The Kingdom (a followup to Kingdom Come), Wally West's son Barry has superspeed, and absolutely no interest in using it for anything in particular, much to Wally's despair. His concern with getting Barry to live up to his potential is one of the reasons Barry's sister, Iris "Kid Flash" West, feels unappreciated.
- In PS238, superheroes Ultima and Sovereign Powers really want the best for their son Tyler and insist that he will become a superhero when he grows up. The fact that Tyler has no superpowers whatsoever and is extremely skeptical towards the whole thing does not enter into it; from where they're standing the universe is merely biding its time until it can spontaneously give him superpowers of some sort.
- Laurie Juspezcyk/Silk Spectre of Watchmen, whose mother, Sally, was constantly pressuring her to succeed her as a superhero.
- Inverted with Wolverine towards to his daughter/Opposite-Sex Clone, X-23. Ever since they met he's been doing his best to help her overcome her conditioning and help her be a normal teenage girl, and objected strongly to Cyclops including her on X-Force. Logan knows from his own experience with Weapon X exactly what was done to her by the Facility, and wants her to find a life for herself beyond what those who created her wanted. Unfortunately, the comics being what they are, events continually conspire against him and Laura's body count keeps on rising...
Fan Works
- Auntie Tia's Matchmaking Service: Applejack and Rainbow Dash both wanted their son, Zap Apple, to follow in their respective hoof steps and stay on the farm and join the Wonderbolts respectively. He instead moved to Appoloosa and joined the local weather team.. Though by the time the story begins, enough time has passed for them to have moved past any drama this may have caused.
- Challenger: Rachel proudly follows in her dad's footsteps and loves every aspect of being a Pokemon Ranger.
- In Child of the Storm, doing this or not doing it is the source of much of the dysfunction in the Carter-Danvers-Rogers family:
- Alison followed in Peggy's and Steve's footsteps as a SHIELD Agent and Living Legend and pushed her children into doing the same. Her son, Jack O'Neill, Jumped at the Call, but her daughter, Marie, didn't (she wanted to "make good" rather than fight evil, something cemented by the Cold-Blooded Torture her brother suffered in the Gulf). This led to a significant rift after Alison pushed too hard, but they eventually reconciled...
- Then Marie's daughter, Carol, turned out as a "scrappy little warrior-maiden", following in her uncle and grandmother's (and great-grandparents') footsteps. Marie tried to push her daughter away from the Call to Adventure, creating another rift — though thankfully, she realised what she was doing sooner, and chose to accept Carol's choice and be proud of her.
- Common People:
- It's hinted Dick would very much like to become a career superhero. Bruce disapproves, as he would rather see his eldest finishing university or finding a normal job.
- When Jason vocally expresses complains about poor people suffering, Bruce introduces him to the team overseeing Wayne Enterprises' charities. He later proudly announces Clark that his son is going to take over his mother Martha's work, which Jason is embarrassed to learn about.
- The Crimson Garment: Ragyo's obsession with her family legacy means that Satsuki is expected to do this. The Seven also expect their children to do this to a lesser degree.
- Hellsister Trilogy: Superman had trained his cousin to be a hero who would protect Earth in his stead. However, the demands and pressures of hero life eventually wear Supergirl down, and she wants to be a normal woman again. Superman tries to accept her decision, but he also warns her quitting isn't easy because problems tend to follow them around.
- In Kara of Rokyn, Superman is disappointed when his cousin Supergirl chooses to retire and move to Rokyn after he trained her to be a hero who would continue his work. He tries to get over it, though.
- In Lilly Epilogue (Good Ending) Family Matters, Boss wants his son to take over his ramen shop, but is open-minded about his desire to become an artist.
- In More Than You Know, Bowser doesn't take it too well when Ludwig declares that he'd rather be a musician, not an evil overlord.
- In Necessary to Win, the Akiyama family averts this. Yukari's parents, both hairdressers, ended up taking on occupations that were different from their parents, and as such, are fairly open minded about whatever Yukari may choose to do.
- Origin of a Non-Hero: Izuku expects that Shikinori will want to follow his parents into the field of Pro Heroics. His son wants nothing to do with that after how much stress and agony their attempts to juggle their work and other responsibilities put all three of them through.
Film — Animated
- Elemental (2023): It's the main conflict of the movie as protagonist Ember Lumen is set up by her father to take over his shop. Over the course of the movie it becomes clear that dealing with costumers isn't really her cup of tea and that she has other dreams but doesn't want to hurt her father's feelings. In the end, they make amends with each other.
- Inverted in Sing; Buster Moon's father washed cars for a living in order to raise money so Buster could buy his theater. His father also wanted Buster not to go down the same path he did so Buster could have a much better life.
- Played straight with Johnny and his father. Johnny wants to be a singer while his father wants him to be part of his crime business. Johnny tries to hide his participation in the singing competition, but it results in his father and his gang being arrested because Johnny wasn’t there to drive their getaway car after a robbery. This leads to the father angrily rejecting Johnny, but after hearing him sing on TV, he’s so proud that he breaks out of prison to reconcile with him.
- Played With in Turning Red. The opening Photo Montage makes it clear that Mei is being raised as a carbon copy of her mother Ming. Mei is pressed to be a straight-A student and has little time for anything outside the life her mother has planned for her. However, Ming pictures her daughter as a "future UN Secretary-General", not just the next keeper/caretaker of the family temple, as Ming herself is. Mei doesn't seem to have any objection to her mother's plans for her, until puberty hits and she plunges headlong into her Teen Rebellion phase. On the other hand, Ming doesn't want Mei to face the same problems she did with the red panda curse, and does everything she can to keep that from happening.
Film — Live-Action
- In Almost Angels, Tony's father assumes that Tony will grow up to drive trains just like him. He is initially resistant when Tony wants to join the Vienna Boys Choir and study music because he thinks a musical education is A Degree in Useless.
- Blockers: Lisa is a single mother who got pregnant young and had to give up her dreams to raise her daughter Julie. When she finds out Julie is planning to have sex on prom night, she is terrified Julie will end up going down the same path.
- Descendants is about a bunch of children from classical Disney Villains that get the chance to the scchool of Auradon, where the good guys live. While their parents expect them to be villains like them and help them to take over Auradon, the children quickly decide that Good Feels Good and they genuinly want to reform. Some of the good guys' kids, like the daughter of the Fairy Godmother, also struggle with their parents' legacy.
- Inversion: In The Godfather, Don Corleone expresses his disappointment that Michael ends up entering (and eventually taking over) the family business; he had hoped that Michael would take the Corleone name legitimate (or into government, at least). Of course, here, the term 'family business' has different connotations.
- He states that he didn't want Michael to arrange for strings to be pulled, but to be the string-puller. Senator Corleone or something along those lines. The second movie, a flashback shows the sons discussing Vito's big plans for Michael, so it sounds like he only wanted someone he could trust high up to help the family business, rather than wanting Michael to escape crime.
- The driving conflict in the movie Hop is that E.B. doesn't want to inherit his father's job. And that job is being the Easter Bunny no less!
- The goal of the 'dream heist' in Inception is to plant the idea in Fisher's head that his father did not actually want this for him.
- Played for Laughs (much like everything else) in Not Another Teen Movie, where Jake's father wants his son to follow so closely in his footsteps that he introduces him to a really great gal to marry - his mother.
Jake: What is wrong with this family?!
- A major subplot in the Our Miss Brooks feature film. Gary Nolan is expected by his father to continue in his footsteps as editor of the Madison Express. Nolan is failing in English and has no interest in running the paper. Turns out he just resents his father's lack of attention - and falls in love with reporting once convinced to write an article for the school paper.
- Averted in Rocky. Rocky doesn't want his son to become a boxer and refuses to train him when the boy asks him, as Rocky tells him he spent a lifetime getting his head bashed in so his son wouldn't have to. This leads to a lot of friction later on, at first when Rocky becomes a mentor to Tommy Gunn who eventually betrays him, and again when his son is an adult and resents him for everyone still idolizing his father and treating him like he's nothing other than "Rocky Jr" (ironically the same complaint Gunn had).
- In Sky High (2005), Steve Stronghold a.k.a. the Commander was disappointed that his son Will didn't inherit his Super-Strength (or any other superpower for that matter) and therefore wouldn't be able to become a superhero like him. He even entertained the thought of dumping toxic waste on Will. Fortunately Will was just a late bloomer.
- This is essentially what happens with Darth Vader in Star Wars. After he learns he has a son and daughter, he wants to turn them to the Dark Side so they'll join him and We Can Rule Together.
- Carl Hardy from We Too Together is disappointed that his son Rob didn't join the military, like Carl and his father did. He derides Rob's career in martial arts as "play fighting." Rob eventually caves and starts training under Carl's old captain, Paul. Gabriela is horrified that he would be willing to fight in a war when most of her family was killed in one and dumps him. Rob realizes that doing what he loves is more important than pleasing his father, goes back to martial arts, and persuades Gabriela to take him back.
- In the movie While You Were Sleeping, the male romantic lead is in this situation with his father. Luckily, his father's an understanding sort, so when he finally plucks up the nerve to confess his feelings about the subject his father's biggest annoyance is that he didn't take up a chance to sell the business the previous year because he was under the impression his son had his heart set on taking it over.
- Young Frankenstein is something of an example; although Frederick "Fronkensteen"'s grandfather is long dead, there's still some pressure for Frederick to take over his experiments. Frederick, not being a Mad Scientist, is reluctant. At first.
Literature
- Most of the young competitors in The 39 Clues.
- In John Grisham's The Appeal, F. Clyde Hardin finds himself forced into this position after his father, an enthusiastic and highly skilled trial lawyer, died. The son is neither.
- This ends in tragedy in the novel Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (which was rumoured to be based partly on Mann's own family). The book is subtitled 'The Decline of a Family'.
- In The Chosen (1967) Rebbe Saunders wants his son, Danny to be a Rebbe. Danny wants to be a therapist. So he dumps the job on his perpetually sick little brother to save himself the trouble. He could do a little work on his Big Brother Instinct.
- Kate Blackwell wants her son Tony to take over Kruger-Brent, Ltd. in Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game, but he wants to become a painter. Her constant manipulations to get him on the path she wants him to take, or at least sire him a grandchild who will be more likely to follow it, eventually lead to his wife's Death by Childbirth, and he goes insane and tries to kill Kate. He is subsequently institutionalized and, as he is incapable of being brought back to normal, lobotomized. Of her two granddaughters, Alexandra doesn't want to run the business, and Eve does but proves unworthy. Thus the book ends with Kate planning to groom her great-grandson to take over, probably with similar manipulation.
- In Vampire Academy, Sydney Sage's father is an Alchemist who raised her to follow in his footsteps. By age eighteen she is forced into active service. She herself would rather be going to college. She is more interested in art and architecture than interactions with the supernatural, but he gave her no choice in the matter.
- In Warrior Cats, Tigerstar genuinely does want his children to become strong warriors. He also wants them to continue his goal of ruling the forest, however, and even after his death tries to groom them into following his plans.
Live-Action TV
- Doogie Howser, M.D.: Janine's mother is a lawyer who thinks Janine is obligated to go to law school and join her firm. She is livid at Doogie's mother for encouraging her to find her own path.
- Flashpoint:
- Played with. Jules' father was a cop but wasn't pleased that Jules became one too, much less SRU.
- Parker's son Dean decided he wanted to be a cop with no prompting from his father. Clark (Ed's son) promptly calls him crazy. Even Parker wants Dean to do something else with his life.
- Both Sam and his father were in the army, Sam as a former special forces operative and his father is a general. Sam deviated from this when he left military service to join the civilian police force.
- Double subverted in the Hulu series Harlots. Lucy doesn't want to become a whore like her mother and sister did, and to be fair, her mother Margaret didn't want her daughters to become whores either. It's just cruel fate that she has no choice but to become a whore.
- In the first season of Heroes, Hiro's father wants him to take over the family business. Hiro convinces his father to give the job to his sister instead by purposefully suggesting bad ideas knowing his sister would correct him, even if they were directly in front of their imposing father, showing her courage and business skills.
- In Kim's Convenience, Mr. Kim believes that his daughter and youngest child Janet should take over their titular convenience store when he retires. Janet, who is a photography student, is not keen on this idea.
- Chief Dodds of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit wants his son Mike to not only follow in his footsteps but ultimately surpass him. It becomes a point of contention because it turns out that Mike doesn't share his father's ambition; he would just as soon stay in a place that feels right, even if it means sacrificing some upward mobility.
- Jack on Lost tells Rose he became a doctor because it was "the family business." Season 6 implies (if you accept that Jack's son in the flash-sideways is a reflection of Jack himself) that Jack would rather have played the piano.
- In Mad About You, Paul's father averts the trope entirely and gives the family sporting goods business to Ira (Paul's cousin) because Paul is busy being a documentary filmmaker. Paul's father didn't ask Paul because he knew his son had his own life. Paul is nonplussed - he didn't want to go into sporting goods, but he assumed he would be asked, and maybe even guilt-tripped into it.
- Parodied in a sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus. A son with a home counties accent arrives home to see his Northern parents, and it's clear that the father isn't pleased to see him. It turns out that the son left Hampstead after refusing to become an author like his father, and moved to Barnsley to become a miner instead. Yes, that way round.
- Power Rangers:
- In Power Rangers Jungle Fury, Finn is disappointed that his son RJ didn't follow family tradition and become a Shark-style kung-fu master. He eventually grows to respect the path RJ did take - being a Wolf-style kung-fu master.
- Inverted in Power Rangers Ninja Storm as Cam, son of a ninja sensei, wants to become a ninja himself or at least contribute to the fight on the battlefield somehow instead of just from Mission Control. His father admits that Cam could be an excellent ninja, but when his mother passed away she had him promise not to train Cam as a ninja due to the danger. They reach a compromise later after Cam learns some family secrets; he discovered his mother was a samurai, and he'll follow in her footsteps.
- In Power Rangers Wild Force, Alyssa's father was disappointed she didn't want to take over the dojo until he learned she's a Ranger.
- Shawn and Henry's relationship in Psych is something like this; Henry wanted Shawn to grow up to be a cop and follow in his footsteps. Shawn had other plans, eventually growing up to be a complete slacker. Unfortunately, Henry is a "Well Done, Son" Guy and didn't take this well, to the extent that their relationship is strained at best (and is implied to have been estranged at some point). Of course, Henry's ambitions weren't helped by the fact that he was a bit of a Control Freak who subjected Shawn to a junior version of the Training from Hell at an early age to ensure his goals, to the point where Shawn's grandfather, also a cop, disapproved. Despite the hellish training, Shawn was perfectly happy to become a cop and make his dad proud...until his parents split up and he blamed his dad for it.
- In play on SEAL Team. Clay hates his father Ash but has become a Navy SEAL just like Ash was. When Ash calls him out on how eager Clay seems to follow in his footsteps, Clay informs him he's not following in Ash's footsteps, he's erasing them.
- Star Trek:
- The Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Journey to Babel" reveals that Spock and his father Sarek went through this.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Data's creator Dr. Soong is a touch disappointed his greatest creation went into Starfleet instead of cybernetics like himself.
- Wesley Crusher entered Starfleet Academy, inspired by both his father and Captain Picard. Subverted in his final appearance on the show, "Journey's End"; when Wesley has a vision of his father saying "Do not follow me," he sees this as a sign that his future is not in Starfleet and announces that he is quitting the Academy.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
- There are several hints that this is what happened with Garak's upbringing. One of the strongest occurs when Garak tells Bashir that he allowed his father to mould him into a mirror image of his father. Something went wrong, however, and the pair had a major falling out which caused Garak's exile. What that something was is never revealed,note leaving the reader to guess whether of not Garak ended up like his father or not.
- Ben Sisko assumed Jake would want to follow him into Starfleet, creating some awkwardness between him and Jake as Jake tried to figure out how to tell him he wanted to be a writer. When he actually does tell him, though, it turns out it was more of an assumption than an expectation; Sisko isn't upset and tells Jake he can be whatever he wants to be.
- Averted with Nog. His uncle Quark isn't impressed that Nog wants to enter Starfleet, but Rom, standing up to Quark for possibly the first time ever, supports his son's decision to defy family (and cultural) tradition. Later inverted as well: seeing his son going to become something more than a money-loving Ferengi, Rom is inspired to leave the bar himself, taking a job as an engineer for the Bajoran Militia on the station.
- Tom Paris in Star Trek: Voyager actually did follow his father into Starfleet, only to find the pressure of living up to this was too much, until he eventually screwed up and was expelled.
- In Star Trek: Enterprise, the Reed family have a strong tradition of entering the Royal Navy. Malcolm Reed's father does not approve of him joining this new space thing instead, despite the fact Malcom is a severe aquaphobe.
- Supernatural. Oh, so much Supernatural. John expects both his sons to follow in the family business, and Sam really doesn't want to. It doesn't end well. Interestingly, it turns out that their mother hated the thought of them following the family business; sucks to be dead and not have a say in it.
Radio
- Part of Martin's backstory in Cabin Pressure. His father was an electrician who, it is heavily implied, was skeptical of Martin's ability to become a pilot. When he died, he left the bulk of his estate to Martin's older brother and sister, with Martin getting his dad's vannote and electrical tools. At one point, Martin wonders aloud why he didn't just leave a note along with it saying "give it up son, and become an electrician".
- Referenced in one of Frank Muir's monologues in My Word!, in which, describing his lack of ambition as a small boy, he comments that this is true of most small boys, except the sons of vicars, soldiers and doctors, who know from an early age either that they will be entering those professions, or that will they do everything they can not to.
Roleplay
- In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Rhys' parents wanted and expected him to become a defense lawyer like his father. He instead discovered a passion for writing in middle school, which led to a rift with his parents and helped contribute to his general misanthropy.
Theatre
- Young Frankenstein: Although Frederick's grandfather is dead, there's still some pressure for Frederick to take over his experiments. In the number "Join the Family Business", the ghosts of his grandfather and other ancestors come out of the woodwork to express their wishes directly. Frederick, not being a Mad Scientist, is reluctant. At first.
Video Games
- Assassin's Creed: William Miles was adamant about his son, Desmond, becoming an Assassin like himself. Desmond disagreed and ran away from home. The Templars eventually got their hands on him, stuff happened, and Desmond realized the importance of his father's war, thereby becoming an Assassin anyway.
- Fire Emblem:
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
- Niime and Hugh have this dynamic, even though they're grandmother and son (both of Hugh's parents being dead). Niime is incredibly upset on learning that Hugh became a mage, referring to the "stench" of anima magic, and would like nothing more for him to become a shaman despite that being impossible. In the prequel, his father, Canas, muses that baby Hugh doesn't seem to have the talent and wonders if the family tradition of being a shaman will end with him. However, he's still clearly fond of Hugh and doesn't resent him for it.
- Fire Emblem: Awakening:
- It's specifically noted that Kjelle and Noire's mothers inverted this, as Kjelle didn't have the prowess in horse riding she'd need to be a Cavalier like Sully, and Tharja knows Dark Is Evil and doesn't want Noire to be corrupted by it like she had. Severa deliberately averts it too because she has issues with her mother Cordelia.
- Gameplay-wise, many of the second generation characters (aside from the above) share the same starting class as their mother, the exceptions being Brady (Troubador is gender-exclusive), Inigo (his mother is a special class), and Owain (too Hot-Blooded to make an effective Priest). Oddly, Morgan, despite his/her intense desire to follow in his/her parent the Avatar's footsteps and become a Tactician, only starts as this if his father is Chrom or Walhart or her mother is Olivia or Lucina, otherwise starting as the starting class of the other parent.
- Fire Emblem Fates:
- Averted with Ophelia. Ophelia is very eager to follow in her father Odin's steps and become a 'Chosen One' and Odin is so happy that she wants to.
- Asugi plays this straight. He has little desire to become the next head of the Saizo clan, to the point that he changed his name to Asugi (he was initially named Saizo), as he felt that he and his father have nothing in common. Saizo eventually accepts that Asugi has his own sense of honor and own way of doing things and releases him from the pressure of becoming the next Saizo. However, if he achieves an A-Support with Asugi, Asugi will decide to take up the Saizo name after all. Sure enough, all his endings note that while Asugi disappears from historical record, the Saizo name continues to live on for 100 generations.
- Nina inverts this: she wants to be a thief like her father Niles, and is hostile toward her father because he doesn't want her to go down that path. She's a lot more understanding when she finds out he became a thief because he had to in order to survive, and in all her endings gives up her thievery for philanthropy. Fittingly enough, Asugi and Nina can marry in the Revelations path.
- Gameplay-wise, much like Awakening, many of the second generation characters share the same starting class as their father (or mother, in a Male Kana's case), with the exceptions of Midori (prefers medicine), Forrest (because Real Men Wear Pink) and Percy (canonically given a pet dragon that he learned to ride). Shigure is a special exception as he inherits his mother's secondary class, as no matter what Azura will be his mother, but her class is a special class so can't be inherited. Shiro is an odd case. In the main story, he's a Spear Fighter instead of a Samurai like his father (presumably) was, however, in the Heirs of Fate DLC he's a Swordmaster like his father was. No explanation is given on why he was a Spear Fighter (the DLC reclass can be explained by him inheriting his father's sword Raijinto).
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
- God of War (2018): Inverted as Kratos has long since come to regret his Villain Protagonist actions in the previous games, and is trying to raise his son Atreus to not repeat the mistakes that put him on that path; unfortunately, Kratos' unwillingness to tell his son any of this (brought on by guilt and self-loathing) causes major dissonance with Atreus, who believes that the reason his father is so distant is because Atreus isn't enough like Kratos, when it's actually because Kratos sees too much of himself in his son: namely his anger issues and Pride.
- Roots of Pacha:
- Jelrod reveals in his first Hangout Event that his father Croll, a proud builder whose job was passed down through generations, used to shove a hammer into his hands when he was a baby. Jelrod would cry until Croll took it away, and when he got older, he got into racing and enjoyed it. Jelrod wishes that his father would understand that he has his own dreams, and he hopes that he'll make racing his full-time job someday. Ironically, Croll himself didn't want to be a builder growing up because he wanted to be a dancer instead.
- Since Gin chose Mana to be the tribe's next leader, he pressures Nokk to go hunting with him when he'd rather stay in the kitchen instead because Gin believes that it's time for Nokk to be independent and contribute to the clan as an "adult". As a result, Tare is worried that Nokk is putting too much pressure on himself.
- Todu is disappointed that Dag doesn't want to be a fisher like he and three of his older brothers are, but on the other hand, Todu himself was reluctant to carry on the tradition because he didn't get his dream job as Keeper.
- In The Roottrees are Dead, Carl was sent off to a private school by his father, who was likewise pressured by his own father (Carl's grandfather) to do so, so he wouldn't "end up on the streets" like the other Free Spirits, to quote Lauren.
- A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky: The Alluvian University class on economics has a student talking about taking over his family's business:
My dad sent me here so I can have a diploma before I take over the family business.
Visual Novels
- Averted in Daughter for Dessert. When Amanda is thinking about leaving the diner and striking out on her own, the protagonist would be perfectly fine with her doing so. He doesn’t want to saddle her with running the diner if that’s not what she wants; he’s only upset that she has the wrong impression about his relationship with Lainie.
- Because Kanesaki Ikuko of The Devil on G-String resented her loss at the Olympics figure-skating competition, she took it upon herself to shape her daughter Azai Kanon into the figure-skater she always wanted to be.
- In Dream Daddy, Brian became a contractor like his father and finished building the cul-de-sac for him, and while he wasn't enthusiastic about it at first, he still enjoys the handiwork.
Brian: It's weird how you spend your whole life trying not to become your father, then you wake up one day and there you are. But I get to work with my hands and it pays more than enough to take care of my daughter, so it's an absolute dream job. For me, at least.
- Kengo of Little Busters! is the son of the owner of a kendo dojo, and as such has been practicing it ever since he was a kid, even though he doesn't particularly care for it and would much rather just be hanging out with his friends. Though in this case, it seems to be self-inflicted - when he first met Kyousuke, he was given a chance to give up on kendo but kept at it to please his father. Unfortunately, we never get to see exactly what his dad thinks about all of this.
- In Spirit Hunter: NG, if Kaoru's around for the Demon Tsukuyomi case, then she'll reveal that her reason for becoming an idol was because she was raised to be one by her ex-idol mother. Which is not to say that she dislikes being one, just that she regards it as an occupation instead of a passion.
Webcomics
- The Director of Darkness from Apricot Cookie(s)! wants his daughter to become the next leader of the Dark Dimension. Too bad she really wants to be a Magical Girl.
- This is Quain'tana's strategy with her granddaughter and heir Ariel in Drowtales, with mixed results. Quain'tana was born on the street with nothing to her name and built her way up to one of the most power leaders in the world, and wants Ariel to do the same, starting her at the rank of a grunt. After a 15 timeskip this has been semi-successful, but Quain had previously gone through at least three heirs (one who hates her, one who seemed alright before got possessed, and one who was a failure all around) meaning that she's so far only been halfway successful at this strategy, and her other parenting skills or lack thereof put her far into Abusive Parents territory.
- In the webcomic Everyday Heroes, Summer seems to resent being stuck with superpowers and having no choice as to what her future will be.
- One of the sources of estrangement between Roy Greenhilt and his father Eugene in The Order of the Stick is that Eugene expected Roy to become a wizard like him, but Roy chose to become a fighter like his grandfather Horace and take up the ancestral sword. This is also why Eugene shows Parental Favoritism for Roy's sister Julia; she's also studying magic, so Eugene (According to Roy) doesn't use the phrase "crushing depression" when talking about her.
- Tripping Over You: Liam's father Eli pushes him to follow him into law, to Liam's increasing dismay. After Liam drops out of law school, Eli admits that he had hoped for them to work together, not least because he could have bolstered Liam's career and wants Liam to be happy.
Web Original
- The Life of Baldwin, a story on Scratch which encouraged the audience to suggest what will happen next, is about a boy, Baldwin, who, against his parents' wishes of him becoming a stenographer, wants to be a button collector. One day, after a pigaphant broke in and stole all of his buttons except for the Big Red Button, Baldwin pressed the button and was warped into an Alternate Universe where buttons live. After going on a freaky adventure, meeting his dad who challenged him to follow in his footsteps, and even becoming a button, he learns that he should really follow in his parents' footsteps and after entering a time vortex, everything returns to normal.
- Whateley Universe:
- Up until recently, Gizmatic was insistent that his son Jobe follow in his footsteps. This included being a mad scientist and heir to the throne of Karedonia. Until this winter, dad's biggest problem with the son was that Jobe was more into mad biological sciences instead of mad engineering sciences.
- The Goodkinds are the richest family on the planet. CEO Bruce Goodkind groomed his oldest kid Greg for years to step into his shoes, but Greg took off. Bruce then groomed the rest of the family: son Paul (the next oldest) is stepping up, as is youngest son David. Next-to-youngest son Trevor was doing his best, but ended up being thrown out of the family and disinherited when he turned into a mutant.
Western Animation
- Bob's Burgers reveals that one of the reasons for the strained relationship between Bob and his father was that his father wanted Bob to take over his diner (he even added "And Son" to the sign as a Christmas surprise), while Bob wanted to make unique and interesting burgers which his father never approved of, his diner being focused on bland, traditional deli fare. Bob's insistence on making every new burger name a pun probably didn't help.
- Planned inversion: Micah Wright once made a pilot for an action-adventure series for Nickelodeon titled Constant Payne, eventually shelved because of September 11th, among other things. According to the man himself, the series' premise (which doesn't feature in the pilot) would have been that the Payne father was planning to not pass down the long-running Family Business to his daughter, even though she wanted to inherit it.
- Darkwing Duck: Inverted. Darkwing's daughter develops a costume and theme, much to her father's dismay.
- Jem: In the late episode "Riot's Hope", we learn the backstory of Rory Llewellyn (AKA: Riot of The Stingers): his father hated having his son learn music, and constantly pushed him to join the Army, like he did. Riot did join, but was dishonorably discharged after he went AWOL, and the tension finally exploded when the father declared that he had no son, and banished him from the household. It finally took Jerrica Benton (as Jem) to convince them to make up, and for the father to at least try to understand his son. note Eventually, Riot's father shows up at one of The Stingers' concerts, pretty much accepting the path that his son decided to follow. This episode notably features a Dark Reprise of "Take It Or Leave It", one of The Stingers' songs, which had been used in a previous episode to establish them as selfish and uncaring. A later (new) song, "Let Me Be" basically sums up Riot's feelings about wanting to "follow [his] own star".
- On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Lucius wants Beezy to inherit the Family Business from him, but Beezy's more interested in doing... well, nothing.
- Averted/played with in Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures. One of the main villains, Jeremiah Surd, tries to trick Jonny using this argument in "Thoughtscape." He creates an illusion where Dr. Quest (Jonny's dad) tells Jonny how disappointed he is in him, and how Jessie (one of Jonny's best friends) is much more attuned to his own interests (namely science) than him. Jonny breaks down accordingly. Fortunately for everybody (except Surd), Dr. Quest really doesn't care what his son does so long as he's happy, and will always be proud of him, so the illusion is eventually broken.
- Hank is like this with Bobby in King of the Hill. Hank sells propane and propane accessories. Bobby wants to be a comedian. This is resolved in the finale when Bobby displays a talent AND fondness for spotting choice cuts of meat, giving him something over which he and his father can finally bond.
- As the sole airbending child of Avatar Aang, Tenzin from The Legend of Korra was the last airbender after his father died. Tenzin was happy to take up being an airbending master, but strain starts to show in Book Two - he's not spiritual the way Aang was and trying to be Aang just sets him up for failure.
- In The Simpsons, Krusty was for years estranged from his father because he became an entertainer instead of following the family tradition of being a rabbi. Which leads us to this great quote.
Homer: Boy, you don't have to follow in my footsteps if you don't want too.
Bart: That's okay. I don't even like using the bathroom after you. - Skull Island (2023): The series premiere establishes that Charlie wants to be an ordinary young man and go to college, whereas his cryptozoologist father Cap who he's been helping at sea up to now would rather Charlie takes up the business with him.
- In ThunderCats (2011) Claudus is the stern father to Lion-O who can't understand why his youngest son so different from his older adoptive brother Tygra and himself.
- Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? took the title of the trope for "Follow My Footprints"
- Inversion from Winx Club: Season 2 sees an ep in which, despite being a former musician himself (who even married one to boot), Musa's father doesn't want her to become a musician, because of, shall we say, personal issues. note
- Young Justice (2010):
- Subverted in the season one episode "Agendas". When the Justice League is deciding whether to let Captain Marvel remain a member after they find out he's really a 10-year-old, Batman defends him, which causes Wonder Woman to call him out for training Robin to be a crimefighter like him at the age of nine. Batman counters that he trained Robin so that he wouldn't end up like him.
Batman: Robin needed to help bring the men who murdered his parents to justice.
Wonder Woman: So he could turn out like you?
Batman: So that he wouldn't. - Inverted in the season four episode "I Know Why the Caged Cat Sings," Jade/Cheshire reveals that one of the reasons she doesn't want to be involved in the upbringing of her daughter is because she fears Lian turning out like her. Adding to this, she admits that she feels she is too much like her father, Sportsmaster, who was abusive towards both of his daughters by forcibly putting them through Training from Hell in order to make them criminal supervillains like him and their mother the former Huntress.
- Subverted in the season one episode "Agendas". When the Justice League is deciding whether to let Captain Marvel remain a member after they find out he's really a 10-year-old, Batman defends him, which causes Wonder Woman to call him out for training Robin to be a crimefighter like him at the age of nine. Batman counters that he trained Robin so that he wouldn't end up like him.