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Tough Love characters are tricky to write and can cross from loving but strict to abusive pretty quickly. Consider the family in Malcolm in the Middle, where Tough Love seems to drive the family more than anything (especially with Lois at the wheel). It's of course played as the ultimate dysfunctional family for humor, but there are some very sincere moments where the behavior is understood for the love motivating it (One of my favorites is "Family Behavior" where the full fury of the clan is unleashed on paternal extended family after their out right abuse of Lois. It even ends with Lois acting as a better person when she realizes she was starting to morph into her in-laws. And multiple episodes show that despite Francis' and Lois' open contempt for each other actually did help Francis mature and become a decent human being.).
Here the key dynamic was that the series took every opportunity to make it very apparent this wasn't motivated out of malice but because they knew exactly where the line was AND it was all internal to the immediate household. Most of the best moments are shown to occur when one member is attacked by an outsider who is plain abusive.
For a softer "version" we have Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond, where he is now the mentor to the new Batman, Terry and also a very crotchety old man who can still kick ass, even if he needs a cane to walk. In this case, it's pretty clear that Bruce does care for Terry's well being and wants to help as much as possible, and Terry is clearly taking the mentor-ship seriously, but they were both stubborn and butted heads. One of the most praised episodes, which sees the return of Mr. Freeze, draws much of the conflict between the two from their opinions on the villain's supposed reformation, and comes to the conclusion that both were correct. It's also shown that the two are different in style, with Terry being less of the detective than Bruce but was more charismatic and able to get into peoples heads without fear, most notably realizing that while Bruce didn't listen to the Joker, something which Terry is less able to do, the Joker always wanted Batman to laugh with him... but not at him.
Some other things that are common in this trope is that the Tough Love mentor doesn't teach by giving you answers for you to regurgitate but instead teaches to find the solution on your own. They often tend to be older and realize their own mortality. They tend to favor creativity in their student's solutions and are best paired with students who do not recognize this quality in themselves. Consider the Sword Master from the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Sokka's Master". Contrasting the sadistic nature of the family in Malcolm and the gruff exterior of Bruce, here the Master is rather calm and more eccentric. He is vague on what the lessons are supposed to teach Sokka about Sword Fighting and why painting, rock gardening, and calligraphy are on the list of things to know when learning sword fighting. And he openly admits that Sokka wasn't the best student in these tasks... but the point was that in every task, Sokka to a very unique approach and thought outside of the box... The only time he comes off as abusive was when Sokka admits he's from an enemy nation to the master's but even here, where he lays in with an actual sword fight, its still a lesson and the Master, upon winning, admits he knew the entire time, and this was more a final test to see how Sokka would handle himself in an actual combat scenario. One of the key features here, is that the characteristics that he's praising Sokka with are not unknown qualities to them at this point... Sokka was long known to the audience to be honest, creative, and able to see angles others were not able to see. What the Master's lessons did help him to see the advantage of these qualities in combat.
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