Kids Parenting Adults in Dramas

TV & Movies
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I am currently watching When My Love Blooms. They are trying hard to make the main characters likeable and pitiable, but I am getting angry because the kids in this drama are being really damaged by the “love” between their parents. It’s really tainting the loves story for me.

This happens a lot in life, but I hate watching the parentification of children. It’s cute and endearing to see an adult-like child in a drama, but quite heartbreaking when it is a result of lacking/self-centered parenting.

When I think about it, I cant recall love stories in dramaland that do justice to individuals who have children involved.

Who has seen When My Love Blooms? What were your thoughts on this and the drama? If you havent seen it, what are some dramas that handle children poorly in a way that stands out, or handles children well in a way that stands out?

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@sa11

As far as I’m concerned, I have never seen in any Asian dramas a mother/father in a normal loving relationship with their children. Even as adults they get abused by their already elderly parents. I don’t know if this is a culture thing, but what I do know that although it may not be normal to them, they should also write more loving parent to child scenes.

Abused children exist in every single part of the world, but is very annoying to see so much mental/physical abuse, when there is a child in Korean dramas. I don’t understand their logic. I saw that drama WMLB, but I didn’t get too annoyed bc the FL obviously was a bit mentally delayed, and that is why the poor child acted more as an adult than she ever did. In all honesty, I skip parts like that so I don’t get so annoyed that I’ll drop the drama.

The most repulsive scene to me is when several of this abusive mothers in a K-drama not only brings a child to suffer into the world, but blames the child for being the cause of that suffering, and tells him/her: Die…why don’t you die? Let’s die together, eh?‘’

In this one drama the mother tells that to her son, and gives him something in the drink, that if he had drink it, it would have killed him. In the drama she still continued the mental abuse as he grew into adulthood, and you never see a scene from that mother kneeling screaming and pleading to that daughter/son for forgiveness for the torment she put him/her through.

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All I can think is… I’m glad I’ve found dramas with nice parents!! Here, I’ll share them for both you and @sa11 with notes.
18 Again
This one will always be my favorite. Everyone was wonderfully human. The relationships were PRECIOUS. There are two generations of parents.
FL: she’s a wonderful mom who is trying to cope with suddenly becoming a “single mom” (because the husband she’s about to divorce is now in an 18 year old’s body). She’s also trying to balance her career while putting her children as first priority. I love how she asks her kids whether they’re okay with her joining a show before doing it(because she’s an announcer… anything she does, people will talk).
ML: He is a father through and through. He LOVES his babies. In the beginning, he comes off as a nagging drunkard of a dad, but the show slowly shows how and why he became like that. It’s very realistic. He’s a passionate father. Even though he’s struggling with a divorce and wants to start the career of his dreams, he can’t help but be involved in his kids’ lives. He can’t not be their father. He tries hard to win their friendship and I really loved his relationship with his son. He encourages them and tries to be there for them no matter what. He protects them as much as he can without them knowing he’s their dad. I cried over every single flashback scene.
Both of them are wonderful people. I loved how they slogged and slogged, trying to make ends meet, but the second their children take their first steps or say the word “Dad”, you can visibly see all their fatigue disappear and their happiness just overflows. I love the scene where the kids finally realize how much their parents love them.

ML’s father: The first time you see him, you think he’s bad and start to hate him. He slaps his son, who picks up his bags and walks out the door. I was surprised to see that the reason the father was angry was “You ruined a young girl’s future! What is she going to do?”. Usually, you see parents who think only about their own child. Here, he loves his daughter-in-law soooo much, I teared up watching him meet her without ML knowing, and trying to support the couple as much as he could. The reconcilation between ML and his dad had me BAWLING.

FL’s mother: She’s a wonderful mom. I love how she takes her daughter’s side when her granddaughter and daughter fight. She’s her daughter’s pillar of support. I also love how much ML loves his mom-in law. He lost his mother when he was young and his mom-in-law just covers him with her love and tells him she’ll be his mother. I cried, I cried, I cried.
https://www.viki.com/tv/37395c-18-again

Go Back Couple FL’s mom(played by the same 18 Again mom :joy:) was another wonderful, supportive mother. ML’s mom is also very sweet.
https://www.viki.com/tv/35637c-go-back-couple

Healer FL’s dad is amazing.
https://www.viki.com/tv/23730c-healer
Marriage, Not Dating
It starts out with everyone’s parents as the typical irritating people. FL’s mom-in-law stays true to the demanding, rich mom-in-law character. For this time, the grandmother character is one who kept me watching because she was nice. However, the drama explores the mother-in-law’s character nicely and shows how much she’s dealing with, especially her a******* of a husband. I love how strong she is and how she slowly develops a good relationship with her daughter-in-law. She also stands up to her husband. I LOVE how the two generations of mother-in-laws band together and kick the son/husband OUT.
https://www.viki.com/tv/23905c-marriage-not-dating

Terrius Behind Me
It’s all about how the kids thaw out the ML and they’re basically the biggest driving force here. It’s just ADORABLE to see these children turn an ex-NIS agent’s life upside down. FL is also a pretty good mom. I like how she doesn’t always give in to whatever her kids demand.

Police University
I’ve only watched the first ep, but there’s a lot of father-son stuff going on. This dad has one son and has adopted another. I love how he handles both. The adopted son is the typical adopted son— feels like he isn’t part of the family, calls his adopted dad “ahjussi” and tries to act like the real son sometimes. I love it when the father tells the adopted son this:
“When I think of him(other son), my head aches. But when I think of you, my heart aches. How can I treat you both the same when I think of you differently?”
He loves his sons equally and is proud of their achievements. The two brothers’ relationship is also very sweet to watch.

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I recently completed ‘Racket Boys’ on ■■■■■. There were a few different parent-child relationships in this one, and all of them were portrayed as pretty positive with only the normal, run-of-the-mill tensions one would expect to find in any parent-child relationship anywhere. First, there were the married parents of young children (a teen and about a 6-year-old) who also then took in several other teenagers whom they were also coaching in their school badminton team. The parents are not shown as overly affectionate to each other, but they have a healthy relationship and treat ALL of the kids wonderfully. They make such a lovely family, both the ones who are actually related and the ones they have taken in as ‘found family’. There is also an elderly lady who has lost the ability to speak and who lives with and is taken care of by her middle-aged daughter. They have some normal tensions but there is no mistreatment at all. Finally, this drama takes place in the countryside - a tiny little hamlet where everyone essentially becomes family. So all the ahjumma/ahjussi/halmeoni/harabeoji (did I get that right?) in the village become adopted family for all the kids, and there is no abuse to be found anywhere - either mental or physical. There are some instances of bullying and whatnot, but it all comes from outside sources - nothing within the families themselves. It was really such a lovely drama, and I loved the family atmosphere that developed in their little village.

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awww you’re making me want to jump and watch it!! :heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

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Given what you’ve been interested in lately, I think you’d probably like it, as far as the family dynamic goes. It does center around the badminton team, and there is a fair bit of actual game-play action, but it’s also about building teamwork and trust in each other. I don’t know how you feel about sports related content, so just be forewarned.

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From my viewing experience, this theme is so common. Parents taking their lives along with their children. It’s a heartbreaking storyline (which is probably the purpose of its use). I wonder what the stats of this actually are in SK. Does this really happen as much as it is depicted? Maybe the dramas just make this overblown, but the theme is so common, I’m not sure.

From firsthand experience, as someone who grew up in a collectivist culture while living in an individualist society, the parentification of children is very common, but hard very to deal with for the child. Perhaps my experience with it is what makes seeing it so anger-inducing.

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@vivi_1485
Thank you for the suggestions!! Ive seen a few of these and really enjoyed them. Im still waiting for 18 Again to be available in my region :expressionless:

I plan on watching Police University, probably when it finishes airing.

@my_happy_place

I absolutely adored Racket Boys!! So well done and definitely was a feel-good, wholesome watch. Great parental relationships. And coaching relationships as well.

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Didn’t this happen a little in Mouse so far when Bo Yi - pretty much seems to have to be strong for her grandmother - well we know her backstory now! She grew up WAY too fast! @my_happy_place

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