Calvin's intentions are less noble than they first appear.
Siblings. Lots of us have 'em. Lots of us don't. The latter situation is often quite common in fiction, leading to a lot of only children running around.
But some fictional only kids (especially younger ones) are not happy with the situation. Maybe they're lonely because they have no one to play with. Maybe they're frustrated because they have no one to push around. Maybe they just see a lot of other kids with siblings in real life and are just envious. Whatever way, they know what they really want: A younger sibling, and they aren't afraid to ask their parents for one.
Their parents are generally less thrilled about this, because even if they also want another child, they're not keen on telling their kid where said baby is going to come from. Alternatively, if the parents are no longer able to conceive, they may decide to adopt to satisfy their child's request.
Most of the time, kids will express a desire for a sibling of the same gender as them (i.e., girls generally want sisters while boys generally want brothers), but the opposite isn't unknown: sometimes, boys want sisters in an attempt to purposefully invoke Big Brother Instinct while tomboyish girls may want brothers as adventurous as them...and not-so-tomboyish ones want brothers they can use as living dolls.
In works with a fantastic bent, this may be a cue for a younger sibling to suddenly come into the picture through supernatural or superscience-y means. In less-fantastic works, it's often up in the air whether the kid gets their sibling or not. Nor is there any guarantee that, should they get their wish, they and their new sibling will get along the way the older one dreamed.
Compare I Want Grandkids (for when it's the parents' parents doing the pushing), Resentful Outnumbered Sibling (who might want another sibling to balance out the gender ratio). This is also Truth in Television, which is probably why it shows up often enough.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Chocotto Sister is about a boy who always wanted to be an older brother, but who never got a younger sibling... until one day, in his college years, Santa Claus gives him a little sister for Christmas.
- Part of the reason why Kaguya tries to be a Cool Big Sis for Kei in Kaguya-sama: Love is War is out of her long standing desire for a little sister (that, and she thinks it would get her closer to Shirogane). This happens to be mutual, but she and Kei seldom have the opportunity to meet.
Comic Strips
- Calvin and Hobbes:
- In the 1992/10/07 strip, Calvin tells his mother he wishes he had a little brother. When she responds with "You want a new friend to play with?", Calvin's reaction is "No, I just want somebody small I could beat up." The next panel is Calvin's dad at work telling his wife they'll talk about that operation (implied to be a vasectomy) later.
- Subverted in an early story arc where Calvin's Mom gets sick—Hobbes points out that she might be pregnant again, which causes Calvin to panic instead of being happy. But then it later turns out that Calvin's parents aren't going to have another baby.
Fan Works
- In The Bestie That Stole My Heart
, based on The Casagrandes, Adelaide wants her older sister Sid to date her friend Ronnie Anne so that she can have "another big sister".
- The Blooming Lily: Clyde says that he wants a sister.
- In I Want a Brother, based on The Loud House, Lincoln is sick of being the only boy and wants to have a brother, despite the fact that this would make him one of twelve siblings.
- In the Discworld of A.A. Pessimal, Mariella Smith-Rhodes grew up as the youngest child of five and resigned herself to being a Little Sister in perpetuity. Meanwhile, her oldest sister starts a family. Her oldest daughter, Mariella's niece, has the opposite problem: Rebecka becomes Big Sister not just to her two younger siblings, but to younger girls who are drawn to her as a sort of big sister surrogate. When Bekki goes to live with an adult Aunt Mariella, both realise their unspoken needs are met. For the first time, Mariella has an opportunity to be a Big Sister, while Bekki has an opportunity to find out what it feels like to be a Little Sister. Aunt and niece bond in a new relationship that works for both.
- From Kill la Kill AU, Nui wanted another little sister and she got one, making that played straight. However, this is justifiably averted with Satsuki, having to live with Ryuuko and Nui.
- Meet the Family, a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fic. Rainbow Dash and Soarin', recently engaged and having adopted Scootaloo, find she left a note on Rainbow Dash's door saying "Little brother please". Rainbow Dash has a talk with her and tells her it probably won't happen for at least a few years, explaining that having a foal would be hard on her body and make it more difficult for her to do her job for a while. Fortunately, Scootaloo understands (despite still not knowing exactly HOW foals are made).
- In The Smiling Family, Eri wants a sibling who she can play with after seeing a pregnant woman on TV, much to Izuku and Kyoka's embarrassment. She eventually gets her wish when the shy couple get married and Kyoka got pregnant with Izuka.
- Played with in TRON: Endgame Scenario: Flynn explains that Tron and Yori look like Jet's parents because they were created by them. Jet is delighted.
"This is the best birthday gift ever! Thank you!" He hugged his godfather.
Kevin laughed. "I know the action figures are cool, tyke."
"Not the action figures - a super-cool brother and sister. I'm not alone. And I'm gonna meet 'em someday. That's the best gift ever!"
Films — Animation
- In "Betty Boop for President", Betty says that if she's elected President, she can help a kid who has a sister and wants to have a brother as well.
- The Land Before Time: In at least one of the sequels, Littlefoot has shown interest in wanting a sibling. It doesn't help that he's one of the only main characters in the series (except for Chomper) to be an only child. He DID get a stepbrother when his long-absent father Bron returned in the tenth film, and at Littlefoot's urging, adopted Shorty, a Brachiosaurus who had come to view Bron as a father.
- In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st, it is revealed that Alicia Testarossa always wanted a little sister (which is exactly what Fate is to her), as Presea remembers while plummeting to her death.
Films — Live-Action
- In Amélie, the young Amélie's mother takes her daughter to church to pray for a baby brother. The boy never arrives, sadly, as a suicidal tourist jumping off of the roof lands on the mother, killing her instantly.
- In Go Toward the Light, one of the items on Ben's Bucket List is a baby brother. He already has two younger brothers, but he wants enough for a basketball team. His mom gives birth to a baby boy months before Ben's death.
- Home Alone has a scene where Kevin is watching Johnny Carson read kid's letters to Santa. One reads "Dear Santa, last year I asked for a baby brother and I got one. This year, I just want Play-Doh."
- In the film The Hunt for Red October, Jack Ryan tells his CIA boss that his daughter ("a very precocious five") asked him and his wife to "buy her a baby brother" and settled for them buying one for Stanley (her teddy bear) instead. At the close of the film, Ryan is shown sleeping on his flight home with a teddy bear in the next seat.
- At the end of the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, Susan remarks to her mother that her Christmas wishes were a house (instead of their trendy apartment), a dad, and a baby brother. Since her mother marries her longtime boyfriend on Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning finds them moving into Susan's dream home, it's heavily implied that the mother is pregnant.
- A World Record Christmas: Marissa's second husband Eric wants to have a child with her, but Marissa isn't sure it's a good idea. She eventually changes her mind, partly because she hears Charlie, her son from her first marriage, say that he wants a baby brother or sister for Christmas. The end of the movie shows that by next Christmas, Peter and Marissa have a new baby.
Literature
- One adventure of The Baby-Sitters Club has Mary Anne and Dawn wanting their parents to have a baby so they'll be able to baby-sit him. They come to their senses by the end of the book.
- In Baccano!, Isaac and Miria receive a letter from Ennis that mentions her sadness over her "brothers created before her, who [she] never got to meet." They assume she's asking them for a baby brother, and so they bring home Czeslaw.
- Book of Romans 8:29 says that Jesus Christ's sacrifice was motivated by both ineffable compassion for His creations and His desire to have siblings — that is, all of saved humanity — who will understand Him in a way that non-human creations do not.
[T]hose who He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren[.]
- Chakona Space: Chakat cubs asking their parents to get busy giving them a little sister.
- In one Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Greg talks about how he originally wanted a younger sibling so he could have someone he could beat up (similar to how his own older brother acts towards him). He got his wish, but the younger brother in question is so coddled by their parents that Greg gets punished whenever he so much as breathes wrong in his direction.
- In the poem "The Girl Who Doubled" by Allan Ahlberg, a girl named Allison suddenly wakes up with a double. Her mother's response is "You said you've always wanted a brother!".
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Harry visits his parents' gravesite and sees their house for the first time, he wonders what his life would have been like had they lived and the narration notes that he wished he could have had siblings. He voices this thought later on to Ron and Hermione when he finds out that Dumbledore went through a phase of resenting his brother and sister as a teenager.
- In The Horse and His Boy, it's implied that one reason Prince Corin is so happy to find his long-lost brother is that there's finally a boy his age around that he can do rowdy shenanigans with. Even before he knew Cor's identity, he marveled at the freedom their ability to Twin Switch allowed him...note
- In Julia's Kitchen, Cara's maternal grandfather, Zayde, tells her how her mom ran away once to protest being an only child.
- Moongobble and Me: Inverted in book 4 — Snelly, Princess of the Mischief Monsters, doesn't want a little brother, and gave his egg away to the Oggledy Nork so she'd stay an only child. Her mother, naturally, disagrees and has Moongobble and co. set out to rescue him. In the end, after realizing how cute her newly-hatched brother is, Snelly changes her mind about him.
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: In her previous life, Katarina was the youngest of three children and had always asked her parents for a younger brother or sister. As such she is incredibly happy when she meets her adoptive little brother Keith for the first time (with a hint of dread due to him being responsible for her death or exile in several routes). She stands in direct contrast to the original Katarina, who bullied Keith out of hatred for him taking away their father's attention.
- Sunny from Shine Shine Shine is pregnant with her second child, even though she doesn't know if she'll be able to handle two, partly because she didn't like growing up as an only child.
- In the Side Jobs short story "It's My Birthday, Too", Harry reveals that he wished for a brother when he was a child in the orphanage after his father's death. Ironically (and heartwarmingly), the person he's telling this story to is his long-lost and recently found older brother Thomas.
- In The Witch Family, Hannah, a six-year-old witch, wants a baby sister so badly that she tries to wish one into existence. She is too young to do magic that powerful, however, but Old Witch (her adoptive mother of sorts) takes pity on her and wishes up a baby girl (of about one year) named Beebee, who becomes Hannah's sister.
- Connie from You Have a Match has spent years begging her parents for a sister, especially since Abby's younger brothers were born.
Live-Action TV
- America's Funniest Home Videos: One clip shows a couple telling their 7-year-old son that he soon will have a little brother. The kid exclaims "Way to go, dad!" and gives his dad a high-five.
- In one episode of Girl Meets World, Auggie asks Cory and Topanga more than once to make a little brother for him.
- The Munsters: In the episode "Eddie's Brother", Eddie tells his parents he wants a little brother. Herman and Lily both faint.
- Sesame Street: When Baby Bear reveals to Telly that his mother has given birth to a girl named Curly, Telly wishes he had a younger sister of his own, despite Baby Bear's complaints that she cries a lot, gets all the attention, and overall changes things too much for his own liking.
Music
- The seventh edition of annual Dutch children's choir project Kinderen voor Kinderen included a song called "Ik ben toch zeker Sinterklaas niet" (roughly, "Do I look like Santa Claus?"). The lyrics kick off with little Sascha's wish list: a baby brother, and a pretty red bike, and a giant teddy bear, in that order.
- Tsukiuta: Yoru is an only child who wants siblings. This is part of why he dotes on the other Procellarum members as Team Mom.
Roleplay
- In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Michal has always wanted a big brother since his parents are lax and usually leave him to his own devices. This explains why he latched on to Ciro.
Theatre
- Hamilton: Little Philip tells his father in a poem he wrote "I have a little sister but I want a little brother." The real life Philip Hamilton would have 5 younger brothers, one who was born after he died in a duel and named after him.
- Tomorrow, the World! by James Gow and Arnaud d'Usseau:
Michael: Pat worships you. She comes home from school every day telling me you're the only teacher who has any sense. What's more, she's asked me to get married. To almost anybody! She wants me to have more children. Three of them, to quote precisely.
Leona: Mike!
Michael: As soon as we're married, I'm sure she'll take it up with you.
Video Games
- In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, Desco and Des X were created by Mad Scientist Genjuro Kazamatsuri to fulfill his daughter Fuka's wish for a little sister...with advanced functionality to help her Take Over the World. The results were somewhat mixed — while Desco quickly grows to adore Fuka and wants to help her take over the world Des X grew violently jealous of her sisters and murdered them so she could have their father's full attention. This is how Fuka and Desco ended up in the Netherworld.
- Fire Emblem
- In Fire Emblem: Awakening, if Yarne is paired up with his father and steps on an event tile, the latter will ask if the former wants something. Yarne asks for "lots of bunny-eared brothers and sisters". This is completely justified, as Yarne's greatest fear (having come from a Bad Future where his mother died) is the extinction of his kind.
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade: Lilina is an only child, as she has no known siblings. A C-Rank support conversation with Ogier reveals that she always wanted to have a younger sister.
Ogier: ...I have one sister who’s a little younger than me.Lilina: Really? What’s she like? Is she cute? Does she look like you?Ogier: I... I was still young, so I don’t really remember. But I still remember holding her hand. Her hand...it was so small and delicate.Lilina: That’s so sweet... I always wanted a younger sister, too.
- Many of the "rival children" in Harvest Moon: Animal Parade express a desire for younger siblings, but the two who fit the trope most closely are Lucy and Dakota. Lucy asked her parents, and they agreed, but never have any luck having a second because Status Quo Is God. Dakota, meanwhile, went all the way to the Harvest King to ask for a little sister, but he told her there was nothing he could do unless her parents started getting along first.
- A running joke in the Neptunia series is Vert wanting a little sister of her own. This usually takes the form of trying to sweet-talk Nepgear into the role. She's also been known to make an offer to other girls who catch her eye. In Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online, It's even revealed she's effectively adopted an NPC within her favourite game!
- Roots of Pacha:
- Jukk is jealous of Ibon and Mana each having older brothers. According to him, they may complain about them, but as an only child, he wishes for a sibling.
- Era wishes for a sibling who's funny with her like Nokk is towards Mana.
- Garrek wonders what it's like to have a sibling since he sees Brah and Vor get along well as brothers.
- In The Roottrees are Dead, this is implied with Gwynn as she is lonely because of her only child status. Lauren tried discouraging her from wanting siblings by telling her how hard it is to watch over three younger brothers, but Gwynn didn't listen.
- Stella Glow has Queen Anastasia befriend Marie after she accompanies her to Veronica's laboratory. The two instantly got along to the point where Anastasia compares her to the little sister she never had, to the point of actually considering adopting her as one. Alto tries to talk her out of it because such a suggestion could threaten her position as Queen. Whatever comes of this is ultimately rendered moot when the queen is murdered by her trusted captain of the royal guard, Klaus.
Webcomics
- In Drowtales, it's considered good luck to have twins or a similar - age sibling. As a result, the Sharen clan has the practice of a "protector twin" (adopting - or buying - a child, usually from a servant family) to give their own children a chance to have a same - age sibling. Unfortunately, this often results in sibling rivalry, ending with the death of the protector twin at the hands of the former child, or (less often) vice versa.
- In Something*Positive, Rory decides he wants a little sister; his mom doesn't seem interested, but when his Parental Substitute Davan gets engaged he immediately starts suggesting he get his fiancée, Vanessa, pregnant. Vanessa, who doesn't want kids, agrees as long as Rory is present at all her births—then shows him a video of what the birthing process looks like.
Western Animation
- One episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius involves the title character asking his parents for a little brother. Since they politely decline, he uses his mad science to make a robotic little brother named Brobot. Brobot doesn't stick around on Earth, but does become a minor recurring character.
- One episode of Arthur sees Sue Ellen expressing a desire for a sibling after she realizes she's the only one out of her friends who's an only child. She tries pretending her friends are siblings, but gives up after an attempt to babysit DW goes horribly wrong. Her parents later cheer her up by signing up to sponsor a Tibetan boy, who Sue Ellen can view as a little brother.
- Zig-zagged in the Family Guy episode "Emission Impossible". First, it's inverted when Stewie hears his parents decide that they want to have another kid, and tries sabotaging any and all attempts to conceive another child. But after meeting Bertram, one of his possible future siblings inside Peter's testicles (long story), Stewie starts embracing the idea of having a younger sibling. But at the very end of the episode, he changes his mind again. Eventually, thanks to a mishap at the sperm bank and a lesbian couple, Bertram is born. Guess how that goes.
- Franklin: This is a trait of the titular turtle throughout the first four seasons of the animated series. At times he has a couple of sibling surrogates, first in his best friend Bear's little sister, Beatrice, and also in a guest-star youngster character named Squirrel. The Franklin and the Green Knight movie deals with him at first being excited about finally getting a sibling, then becoming worried when he learns that babies get a lot of attention, even before they're born. Franklin's Magic Christmas sees him dealing with jealousy issues with his new sister, Harriet, who is now toddler/early-preschooler age thanks to a combination of Comic-Book Time and Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome. The fifth and sixth seasons of the program, as well further specials and the spin-off series Franklin and Friends have him, in general, settled comfortably in the role of caring big brother. The Franklin picture books do hint at this trait, but it's much more prominent in the animated series.
- Little Princess: In "Sister", the Princess sees how close the Queen is with her little sister, the Princess's aunt, and decides she wants a little sister of her own. However, she just thinks a "little sister" is essentially just a best friend by another name, which shows when she starts asking adults (two of whom are men, and one of whom is an old man) and Algie (who is indeed younger than her, but a boy) to be her "little sister". The Queen eventually assures the Princess that she doesn't need a sister because she has friends.
- Martha Speaks: In "Truman's Brother", Truman wishes he had a sibling because most of his friends have them, so T.D. decides to live with Truman and become his honorary brother. Helen and Alice, however, bet the boys that they can't live together without arguing. The boys end up losing the bet, but they don't argue; Truman just gets sick of living with T.D. and gives up.
- Oh Yeah! Cartoons: The short "Zoey's Zoo" involves a little girl who keeps tons of animals in her own personal "zoo", because her parents (or at least her mother, whom we only ever see) never caved in to her desire for a little brother. Doesn't stop her from asking about it incessantly, though.
- Rugrats:
- "The Stork" involves Tommy really wanting a little brother. He then thinks that a bird's egg is his little brother Milton. The egg is just a baby bird, but he does end up gaining a younger brother named Dil after the first movie.
- Angelica's the only main child character in the series to stay an only child throughout it — most of the time, she was thankful for her status as an only child (like the episode where Charlotte thought she and Drew were going to have another baby but later turned out to be a false alarm), but there were some episodes where she expressed a desire for a younger sibling (like the episode where she and the other kids think human babies come from eggs). There was also an episode where Angelica, realizing that she's the only one of the kids to be an only child, is genuinely saddened about not having any siblings — but Tommy helps her to feel better by pointing out that since she occasionally picks on them, but still cares, she's really like a big sister to all of them.
- The Simpsons: In one episode, Bart (the oldest and only son of three kids) is upset about being the only boy, and tries tricking his parents into having another baby. Eventually, Marge confronts him about what's going on and, while certainly sympathetic to how her son feels, explains that she and Homer are fine with just three kids. Marge also points out that even if she and Homer do ever have a fourth child, said child might end up being another girl instead of a boy (which leads to Bart having a fantasy about having three sisters). Bart winds up going to the orphanage and temporarily adopting a brother instead.