What Do the 'Rugrats' Parents Do for Work?

May 2024 · 4 minute read

Nickelodeon‘s original Rugrats puts a spotlight on the babies’ adventures, which frequently sends the parents into an absolute panic. However, the series interweaves other aspects of their lives, incorporating other family and career stresses. They juggle multiple priorities at once, consistently leaving the babies alone to go on their adventures. Here’s a look at what each of the parents from Rugrats does for work.

Didi and Stu Pickles

Didi and Stu Pickles are the parents of the natural-born leader of Rugrats, Tommy. Didi is a part-time home economics teacher, as shown in the second segment of season 1 episode 4, called “Little Dude.” However, she becomes a child psychologist in All Grown Up! Meanwhile, the Rugrats revival series shows her becoming an online businesswoman.

Stu is an inventor. He’s constantly trying to make new inventions for the family throughout the series, whether they’re toys for Tommy or attempting to improve upon technology for Didi. However, they typically malfunction and spark adventures for the babies, as they misunderstand their purpose. Stu is also seen trying to sell some of his toy products, trying to stay ahead of an evolving market the best that he can.

Betty and Howard DeVille

Betty and Howard DeVille are the parents of the loveable twins Phil and Lillian on Rugrats. Over the course of the series, Betty frequents the Pickles household asking Didi if she would like to have a cup of coffee, which entirely makes sense with the career she has. Betty works as the operator of the Java Lava Coffee House, but it switches to Betty’s Beans in the 2021 revival.

Meanwhile, Howard is a stay-at-home dad, performing most of the chores around the house, including washing, cleaning, and cooking. Even so, he receives much less screen time than Betty over the course of the series.

Chas Finster and Kira Watanabe-Finster

Celebrating one of our favorite mother-daughter duos this #APAHM ! Kimi (voiced by Dionne Quan) and Kira Watanabe-Finster (voiced by @JuliaKato) first appeared in “Rugrats in Paris: The Movie” on Nov. 17th, 2000 before debuting on the series in Season 7! ? pic.twitter.com/9fY9EJGuRb

— Nickelodeon Animation (@NickAnimation) May 24, 2018

Chas Finster is the father to Chuckie and the stepfather to Kimi, while Kira Watanabe-Finster is her mother and Chuckie’s stepmother. Chas is a bureaucrat in the original Rugrats series, who clearly has anxiety at work. It’s casually mentioned during the show that he was called an “imbecile” on the intercom system at work in front of everyone, and he tells Chuckie that he feels like he’s about to get fired. Chas later works as a co-owner of the Java Lava Coffee House with Betty.

Kira originally worked as a secretary at the EuroReptarland theme park, but she lost her job before she married Chas and moved to America. Nevertheless, she primarily acted as a stay-at-home mom until she started to help as another owner of the Java Lava Coffee House with her husband and Betty.

Drew and Charlotte Pickles

Drew and Charlotte are the parents of Angelica Pickles, who is typically framed as the antagonist. Drew is an accountant, who takes his work quite seriously, but he still makes time for his family, both immediate and extended. He also brings Angelica to work, but she’s scolded and grounded for making a mess out of the office, resulting in her running away in the second segment of season 2 episode 23, titled “Runaway Angelica.”

Charlotte works even longer hours than her husband, which results in her presence not being quite as consistent. She’s the CEO of Mega Corp., often screaming at her assistant, Jonathan Kraskell, who later replaces her after she loses her job. Charlotte ultimately takes up the job of a politician in the 2021 revival series.

Randy and Lucy Carmichael

Randy and Lucy Carmichael are the parents of the sweet and caring Susie in Rugrats. The original iteration of Randy works as a TV show writer, who the neighbors put on a pedestal for his involvement in writing the Dummi Bears television show. In the 2021 revival, he works as a high school science teacher.

Lucy has a very different career path from her husband. She was a talented singer before she made the switch to become a physician and pediatrician. However, her impressive hobbies are seemingly endless, including piloting commercial jets and making gorgeous lamps.

The babies’ parents in Rugrats all keep themselves busy when they aren’t actively taking care of their darling children. However, their career paths changed over the course of the show, especially when skipping ahead to the 2021 revival series.

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