At its core, Gilmore Girls was about parent-child relationships. Lorelai Gilmore and Rory Gilmore were the “friends first” mother-daughter duo, while Lorelai and Emily Gilmore had a strained parent-child relationship. Mrs. Kim wanted what was best for her child, but opted to rule with authority. While there were both positive and negative aspects to each of their parenting styles, they were far from the worst parents featured on Gilmore Girls. That distinction goes to these three parents.

Paris Geller’s parents barely acknowledged her existence

Janet Billings, Rory and Paris Geller’s Yale roommate, once said she felt bad for Paris because she couldn’t imagine what she had been through to end up the way she had. Janet was being snarky, but she wasn’t terribly off the mark. While Paris grew up in a wealthy family, she didn’t have a warm and fuzzy upbringing. Her parents were pretty awful.

The Gellers prioritized their marriage and their social standing over their daughter, leaving her to the care of a nanny more often than not. When shady business dealings caught up with them, they absconded and left their only child behind. The only good things the Gellers did for Paris were hiring a nanny she actually loved and paying for a good prep school. Otherwise, they were terrible.

Dean Forrester’s  parents parentified him and offered no guidance

Paris Geller was largely ignored by her parents, but at least she wasn’t parentified, too. Dean Forrester, Rory Gilmore’s first boyfriend, had parents who were largely absent, too. The only difference is that they also seemed to leave him in charge of his much younger sister, Clara.

While Dean spoke lovingly about his parents, Gilmore Girls fans couldn’t help but notice that they never seemed to advise him or guide him. They were hands-off regarding the depths of his feelings for a high school sweetheart. They didn’t step in when he built her a car, didn’t seem to have an issue with the town bullying him when they broke up, nor did they discourage him from marrying as a teen. Dean appeared to basically raise himself. The only time we saw May Forrester, Dean’s mother, was when she was judging her son after his extramarital affair embarrassed the family.

Jess Mariano’s father abandoned him completely

Jess Mariano showed up in Stars Hollow in season 2 of Gilmore Girls and cycled in and out of the series for the next several seasons. He caused trouble in the small Connecticut town and made no attempts to fit in with the rest of the residents. He was angry and acted out, but he had a good reason. The teen had terrible parents.

While his mother, Liz Danes, was flighty and irresponsible, she wasn’t nearly as bad as his father, Jimmy Mariano. Jimmy abandoned his child when he was still an infant, and then showed up in Stars Hollow to see how he turned out 16 years later. When Jess later sought him out in California, he turned him away. The early abandonment alone made him a bad father, but the later rejection makes him one of the worst parents ever.