Batman and Robin are the most iconic duo of the comic world. Together the two are known as the Caped Crusaders and/or the Dynamic Duo. Batman has remained a constant, but many Robins have come and gone. The chief reason having to do with Robin's age, an aging Boy Wonder would be an oxymoron.
To have to shuffle between various Robins over the years, DC had to write their departure in ways that reflected Batman's failure (Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown). DC's canonical timeline holds some unacceptable things that Batman has done to his first Robin, Dick Grayson. Mistreatment, physical abuse, manipulation, lying, failure to protect him, are just a few examples. Here are the worst things Batman has done to Robin.
10 SPANKED DICK GRAYSON ON EACH BIRTHDAY
Batman spanked his first Boy Wonder, Dick Grayson on his birthday every year. It's one thing to discipline a child, but another to spank your adoptive ward in the middle of the night by sneaking into his room.
It so happens that every midnight on Dick Grayson's birthday, Batman would spank his derriere. He'd then sign off by saying, Happy Birthday. What's worse, Batman seemed to get a weird kick out of it.
9 ALMOST WENT SKINNY DIPPING WITH DICK
As bizarre as this sounds, it's true. In another incident of crossing limits, Batman and Superman are seen hanging at a pond where pre-pubescent boys are swimming. Dick is spotted with them too. Granted that Dick's a kid himself, so it'd be natural for him to jump in the pond with other kids and make a day out of it.
The story takes place in World's Finest #14. God knows what DC had in mind when they decided to make a cover page out of it. As Robin suggests they join the boys, Batman actually considers it, saying, "Hmm, that's not a bad idea."
8 SENT DICK BACK TO HIS ORPHANAGE
The image of Batman slapping Robin is something that all of you must have come across. It has a story behind it. In World's Finest #153 Batman is convinced that Superboy killed his father, Wayne Sr. So Batman is consumed in vengeance to take down Superman and his Superboy.
Although his Wonder Boy tells him to let it go, Batman not only slaps him but forces him to erase his memory. In the end, Batman sends Dick Grayson to an orphanage and starts to plot against Superman.
7 KIDNAPS GRAYSON
In All-Star Batman, the Caped Crusader heatedly kidnaps Dick Grayson. After this, Batman takes the two of them in a life-threatening car chase. Please remember that Dick's just entered the Bat-family. Batman does this in order to prepare Dick to be a part of the Bat-family. But think of the costs incurred, child abuse, child endangerment to mention a few. And if this wasn't enough, Batman takes Grayson to a cold Bat-cave and makes him eat rats. All of this just to ensure that Dick is ready to take on the mantle of Robin.
6 HAD DICK GRAYSON FAKE HIS OWN DEATH
During Forever Evil, the cross-over DC event, Batman forced Dick Grayson to fake his own death. This was done to get Dick recruited at the spy agency Spyral. The purpose of this undercover mission was to find out the secrets Spyral had obtained about the superheroes. To what effect you ask? Dick had a severe case of an identity crisis.
Not to mention the rest of the Bat-family who were convinced that Dick had died and were deeply mourning his loss. Once Dick's mission was over, he turned up alive and well, but-obviously Alfred and the Bat-girl could never forgive him.
5 FAILURE TO PROTECT TIM DRAKE
In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, it is retrospectively revealed that Batman couldn't prevent the joker from kidnapping Tim Drake. Not only he is poor lad kidnapped, but he is also tortured and drugged into becoming another Joker. Tim is then forced to kill Batman at a point-blank range. Instead, Tim shoots the Joker and breaks down.
Now, Batman couldn't have avoided Joker's act of cruelty. However, Tim was being held at Arkham Asylum. This should have been the first place Batman checked, but it didn't cross his mind.
4 NOT PROTECTING BARBARA GORDON
In 1988 comic The Killing Joke, ex-Bat Girl Barbara Gordon was shot in the spine by the Joker. At the time, the Clown Prince of Crime didn't know of Babs' career as a Batgirl, but he showed up at her home to take police commissioner James Gordon hostage. Naturally, to get to her father, the Joker had to go through her.
The shot rendered Barbara crippled, and the Caped Crusader arrived when significant damage had been done. Shouldn't Batman have arranged for her safety in the first place? Is it not legally and ethically sound to insure your employee against any harm in the future?
3 FORCED DICK GRAYSON TO DIG HIS OWN GRAVE
In World's Finest #195, Superman and Batman infiltrate the mafia and go undercover to bring it down. Superman is asked to kill Batman as a test of his loyalty. The plan is to kidnap Mafia's boss Lukaz and place Batman as his imposter. Halfway through the act of kidnapping Lukaz and digging Batman's grave, Batman bumps his head hard, which makes him think that he is actually the head of the mafia.
Not only does Batman rat out Superman, but he takes him along to kill Jimmy Olsen and Tim Drake. Jimmy and Tim Drake are forced to dig their own graves at Batman's orders while a helpless Superman goes along.
2 KNOCKED UP BARBARA GORDON
Not only did Batman wrong Dick Grayson, but his Batgirl, Barbara Gordon in Batman Beyond 2.0. The 'father of the year' slept with Grayson's girlfriend Barbara and got her pregnant. It gets worse.
The incident took place before Grayson and Babs got together, but he still engaged in a promiscuous relationship with a coworker. After Babs and Batman talk, the latter unilaterally decided to tell Grayson. As a result, an enraged Barbara Gordon took to streets, fought a thug, and lost her baby. Grayson could never bring himself to forgive Batman for this.
1 CREATING ROBIN IN THE FIRST PLACE
All of the incidents mentioned above reek of child abuse and crimes against humanity in general. Batman understandably needed help in his fight against crime, but he shouldn't have involved children in his mission. If anything, his vigilantism should have taken care of children and not hired them.
First, he created Robins, made them undergo arduous training. Then, he chose to part ways with them once they became older. Batman replaced Robin frequently and even sidelined them from time to time. He calls Jason Todd a failure and brushed aside Dick Grayson due to an injury from fighting Gorilla Hardy. Batman is probably the worst father and a patriarch to the Bat-family.