Tamas are really bad parents.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Tamagotchis ar really sucky parents! I'm not exactly sure how it goes on other versions, but for V4.5, it goes a little something like this.

The Matchmaker brings several partners for you to pick for your Tama. Once you've found one suitable for your virtual pet, the matchmaker introduces the two. They immediately fall in love and get married. They also immediately, decide to have a child. One of the two parents decides they didn't want a child, leaves it with their partner, and is never to be seen again. You're left to care for your Tama and it's new baby.

At first this isn't so bad. The parent that was left caring for the child is doing their job, and the most you've had to do for the baby is give it some medicine. Night approaches, you fall asleep, wake up on the morning only to find the baby all by itself, as orphaned as can be. You've spent DAYS keeping the parent alive and thriving, and this is the thanks you get? I love you too Mametchi...

I'm actually really happy that this happenes though. It saves you the heartbreak of letting your Tama die just to raise a new one. It's also pretty darn adorable. Yes, I know you can call the parents of the child on the cell phone but still, why'd they leave?

Oh, while we're on the topic of calling parents, if your Tama is on its first generation, try giving the parents a call. The number is AABA CCBB (for V4.5). Have you done it yet? No? Well if you can't for the many reasons there are, you'll be greeted by a very sad little Tama and beeps that sound as if nobody is answering a phone. Your Tama is sad because they know you're calling their parents and they know nobody is going to answer. Isn't that wonderful?

If I'm missing some explanation on to why this all happens the way it does, please tell me in the comments. I'm just a ignorant little child, so please enlighten me. Oh, don't think I'm complaining about anything, I absolutely love my Tamagotchi and I wouldn't change it in any way. I hope you enjoyed me ranting over nothing, and have a wonderful rest of your day. Or night. Whenever you're reading this.

Quite a few people have already commented on the parenting skills of Tamagotchis, in fact it is a rather amusing joke in the community. It actually gets worse with the colour models where the parent spends 2 minutes with the child and then takes off right after they take a nap. At least most connection models have the parent spending nearly two full days with the child before leaving in the middle of the night. From 12 p.m. to 12:03, there is a special animation on the connection models of the parent staring at the child, becoming very sad, and then flying off to Tama Planet. The V5 and V5.5 are a bit more forgiving in this area as the parents actually stay with the child. In the V5-.5, three tamagotchis are raised at once and when one gets married, there is a short animation of them tearfully leaving their siblings and parents, then turning happily to their spouse, and then 1-3 eggs hatching. The parents determine what the offspring will be - not quite so much as the M!X models - so it make sense the parents hang around. Additionally, the V5-.5 are called the Famitama/Familtchi because one raises a "family" of tamas.

Now there is some reasoning behind this. Firstly, despite their human qualities tamagotchis were always intended to be animals and not people. Thus, the actions of tamagotchis are supposed to be blunt because as an animal, they have no shame. Shame is a uniquely human emotion because to be ashamed implies that one believes in a right and a wrong, basically to have a conscience. Animals act simply upon the necessity to live or avoid pain. This is why tamagotchis go to the bathroom on the living room floor, seek a partner just to have children, and have little regret in ditching their offspring.

Now you have probably heard or seen how protective animals can be with their young. A good offhand example is the Bible's reference of a mother bear robbed of her cubs because the mother will brutally attack anyone she meets believing they have taken her offspring. Or when I witnessed two robins going berserk that their offspring was close to a group of people and they couldn't fly to retrieve him because they would be vulnerable. Yet there are also sea turtles that will swim ashore, lay their eggs in a hole in the sand, cover up the hole, and then swim back out to see to leave the young to fend for themselves - ultimately some being picked off by animals as they crawl to the sea. Animals have different natures and when it comes to their offspring some are more protective than others, and it all depends on their "programming", in a sense. In the case of sea turtles, the young do not need the parent to teach them how to live because they are born knowing how to live, unlike robins or bears which need to be taught by their parents. Thus one can reason an animal's care for their offspring is a simple matter of practically of whether their offspring can live on their own. Applying this to tamagotchis, as a species they leave their offspring behind because they are not needed for their well-being. After all, wont you who raised the parent so well take about the same care of the child?

Of course, this all becomes funny once one looks at it a little closer because tamagotchis are becoming more and more human-like that any sign they are still an animal seems so bizarre.

From the purely programming side of it, something needs to leave in order for everything to fit on the screen due to the limited space. Additionally, there needs to be some way to raise another tamagotchi otherwise the Tamagotchi experience is not the same. The Tamagotchi formula thrives on novelty, so naturally there has to be some way for the owner to raise another, whether it be by passing away or the tears from a new generation.

Knighttchi said:

Quite a few people have already commented on the parenting skills of Tamagotchis, in fact it is a rather amusing joke in the community. It actually gets worse with the colour models where the parent spends 2 minutes with the child and then takes off right after they take a nap. At least most connection models have the parent spending nearly two full days with the child before leaving in the middle of the night. From 12 p.m. to 12:03, there is a special animation on the connection models of the parent staring at the child, becoming very sad, and then flying off to Tama Planet. The V5 and V5.5 are a bit more forgiving in this area as the parents actually stay with the child. In the V5-.5, three tamagotchis are raised at once and when one gets married, there is a short animation of them tearfully leaving their siblings and parents, then turning happily to their spouse, and then 1-3 eggs hatching. The parents determine what the offspring will be - not quite so much as the M!X models - so it make sense the parents hang around. Additionally, the V5-.5 are called the Famitama/Familtchi because one raises a "family" of tamas.
Now there is some reasoning behind this. Firstly, despite their human qualities tamagotchis were always intended to be animals and not people. Thus, the actions of tamagotchis are supposed to be blunt because as an animal, they have no shame. Shame is a uniquely human emotion because to be ashamed implies that one believes in a right and a wrong, basically to have a conscience. Animals act simply upon the necessity to live or avoid pain. This is why tamagotchis go to the bathroom on the living room floor, seek a partner just to have children, and have little regret in ditching their offspring.

Now you have probably heard or seen how protective animals can be with their young. A good offhand example is the Bible's reference of a mother bear robbed of her cubs because the mother will brutally attack anyone she meets believing they have taken her offspring. Or when I witnessed two robins going berserk that their offspring was close to a group of people and they couldn't fly to retrieve him because they would be vulnerable. Yet there are also sea turtles that will swim ashore, lay their eggs in a hole in the sand, cover up the hole, and then swim back out to see to leave the young to fend for themselves - ultimately some being picked off by animals as they crawl to the sea. Animals have different natures and when it comes to their offspring some are more protective than others, and it all depends on their "programming", in a sense. In the case of sea turtles, the young do not need the parent to teach them how to live because they are born knowing how to live, unlike robins or bears which need to be taught by their parents. Thus one can reason an animal's care for their offspring is a simple matter of practically of whether their offspring can live on their own. Applying this to tamagotchis, as a species they leave their offspring behind because they are not needed for their well-being. After all, wont you who raised the parent so well take about the same care of the child?

Of course, this all becomes funny once one looks at it a little closer because tamagotchis are becoming more and more human-like that any sign they are still an animal seems so bizarre.

From the purely programming side of it, something needs to leave in order for everything to fit on the screen due to the limited space. Additionally, there needs to be some way to raise another tamagotchi otherwise the Tamagotchi experience is not the same. The Tamagotchi formula thrives on novelty, so naturally there has to be some way for the owner to raise another, whether it be by passing away or the tears from a new generation.

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You're right, I guess Tamagotchis are more animal-like then they are human. I guess that makes a little more sense on to why they leave. I've always viewed them as more of human-like beings but now that you mention it, they definitely are animals.

I understand that there is a technical aspect to them leaving, and again, I'm glad they did it this way. Getting your Tama's child feels like they trusted you enough to handle them, and it's like having a small part of your original Tama with you. I had no idea about the leaving animation, probably because I've been asleep when it happens and I've never looked any further into the subject. That does make me feel a little bit better, at least they showed some emotion towards their child.

I usually tend to get way too attached to virtual pets or characters in video games then I should be, especially if I've been given the "responsibility" of their well being. I know that they aren't actually So if you felt like I was overreacting at all that's why.

Thanks so much for the helpful comment, and have a nice day.

I have never thought Tamas as remotely close to human despite the more modern designs anthropomorphizing these weird alien animals. And when I run my connections I always say it as I spent X days helping this alien creature grow up and it's time for them to find a mate and (by the magic of fireworks) they had a baby. Then in two days they are ready to go back to tamagotchi planet (they came they saw and they must return in my child brain it was they were old Earth time was much faster than Tama planet time) so I always thought that since their mission to learn about human life and make a human friend and they were older that they didn't want to leave me with nothing so they leave the baby to continue on their mission (to learn about human life) with the human they have grown a bond with knowing that their human would take care of the baby just as they took care of them.

And I like that story, it gives tamagotchis depth and it works for the most part in my head. The colours I enjoy them but the more human looking characters just bug me proabably because I don't explain these alien creatures to undergo similar evolutionary pressures to lead them to be bipedal and have clothes and worry about accessories and so on. And no I don't like the idea of them changing themselves to look more like their human friends.

So I never really thought of them as parents.... seeing as they poop on the floor and wait for you to clean it up... Anyways it makes sense that they are not the idea parents that humans expect seeing as humans are a very weird animal (parents take care of their offspring for 18+ years most animals its max of 2 ish at most. because after that they are all grown up and can feed themselves )

Rorys_Tamas said:

I have never thought Tamas as remotely close to human despite the more modern designs anthropomorphizing these weird alien animals. And when I run my connections I always say it as I spent X days helping this alien creature grow up and it's time for them to find a mate and (by the magic of fireworks) they had a baby. Then in two days they are ready to go back to tamagotchi planet (they came they saw and they must return in my child brain it was they were old Earth time was much faster than Tama planet time) so I always thought that since their mission to learn about human life and make a human friend and they were older that they didn't want to leave me with nothing so they leave the baby to continue on their mission (to learn about human life) with the human they have grown a bond with knowing that their human would take care of the baby just as they took care of them.
And I like that story, it gives tamagotchis depth and it works for the most part in my head. The colours I enjoy them but the more human looking characters just bug me proabably because I don't explain these alien creatures to undergo similar evolutionary pressures to lead them to be bipedal and have clothes and worry about accessories and so on. And no I don't like the idea of them changing themselves to look more like their human friends.

So I never really thought of them as parents.... seeing as they poop on the floor and wait for you to clean it up... Anyways it makes sense that they are not the idea parents that humans expect seeing as humans are a very weird animal (parents take care of their offspring for 18+ years most animals its max of 2 ish at most. because after that they are all grown up and can feed themselves )

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That's an interesting way of thinking about the whole thing. I really like it, and it makes sense too. That also explains why you can still call the parents on the cell phone.

I just don't understand why the Connection models stay for a day, only to leave. It's like they're not sure I'm a good enough caretaker. I've been taking care of you your whole life... do you seriously question my ability to take care of your child?

AnniChu said:

You're right, I guess Tamagotchis are more animal-like then they are human. I guess that makes a little more sense on to why they leave. I've always viewed them as more of human-like beings but now that you mention it, they definitely are animals.

I understand that there is a technical aspect to them leaving, and again, I'm glad they did it this way. Getting your Tama's child feels like they trusted you enough to handle them, and it's like having a small part of your original Tama with you. I had no idea about the leaving animation, probably because I've been asleep when it happens and I've never looked any further into the subject. That does make me feel a little bit better, at least they showed some emotion towards their child.

I usually tend to get way too attached to virtual pets or characters in video games then I should be, especially if I've been given the "responsibility" of their well being. I know that they aren't actually So if you felt like I was overreacting at all that's why.

Thanks so much for the helpful comment, and have a nice day.

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The anime probably didn't help with painting them as human-like aliens instead of cute animals.

E: got the two switched up xD