7 Anime Series About Childcare

Ah, the innocence of youth. Whether you
are looking to capture some of that bright young exuberance or you
have recently become a parent yourself, anime about childcare can
make you feel young again. To see things through both the eyes of the
caretaker and the children can leave you with that nice warm, fuzzy
feeling.

Sweetness and Lightning

Though also an anime very much about
cooking, food, and the way that brings people together, Sweetness and
Lightning is also about a widower trying his best to raise his young
daughter. This not only entails things like making her good food, but
you see distinct moments in which he has to do hard to watch things
like punish her for reckless action.

Gakuen Babysitters

If you are looking for solid childcare anime, this is honestly your best bet. Not only is it a great comedy about young students having to take care of toddlers, but those toddlers are honestly adorable and much of the comedy in their own right.

Hanamaru Kindergarten

This series has a kind of Kodomo no Jikan element to it that I don’t love, but unlike Kodomo no Jikan it doesn’t ever wander past comedy into things that are more uncomfortable. That aside, this series is about a male teacher taking over a kindergarten class, and therein it becomes a moe comedy full of shenanigans.

T-Sensei

This relatively invisible series is
quite the gem. It follows a childcare worker in Tokyo on his many,
many adventures with the children he looks over. Based on a real
person’s tweets from earlier in 2012, apparently. It’s literal
children say/do the darnedest things.

Usagi Drop

There is no more recognizable series when it comes to caring for young children in anime. Usagi Drop takes a young girl and essentially pairs her up with a bachelor with no child experience. It is actually quite a sweet tale of watching them grow together. Daikichi as a parental figure and Rin as a person.

Mama Loves Poyopoyo-saurus

So anime really likes to kill off mothers for some reason. This is a story of a stay at home mother with two young kids who also has a husband who is alive and well. If only more series could be like this. That being said, this is a pure comedy show about the trials and tribulations of being a mother of two young kids.

Baby and Me

This is more of a tragic story than the other entries. Of course it starts off with the mother being killed and she leaves behind a husband, a fifth grade boy and a toddler. Of course the father has to work to support the family, and that leaves a very young boy essentially in the care-taking role of his younger brother. You watch him flip between caring and anger in a very realistic bout of frustration, but this does end up a nice and poignant tale.