Chris: (pulls the knife out) Don't fuck with the babysitter!
This trope concerns works that focus on the care of a child by people other than their parents or babysitting and the adventures or difficulties that accompany this task.
Taking care of children and supervising them either for a short or a long time can be difficult and exhausting, both mentally and physically. If they're a baby, you have to change their diapers a lot, feed them, put them to sleep, etc. If they're a kid, you have to prepare them for school, help them with homework, deal with their tantrums, and so on. A Slice of Life genre might show all these bittersweet moments of child care.
However, an interesting twist is to make the carer(s) the least suitable and least expected person ever to be burdened with the task of caring for a child. This character usually becomes a caregiver unexpectedly without prior experience. The carer in question could be an assassin, a mafia boss, or an alien who has no clue on how to deal with humans, let alone raise a child. Or maybe the carer is a minor themself who still needs to be taken care of but has to take care of someone else now. And to spice things up, this domestic genre and theme may be combined with Action, Adventure, and even Horror. If it's a work leaning more toward realism, the carer may have to balance their own job or schoolwork and caring for the child. On the other hand, if it leans more toward adventure, then the carer will be juggling their dangerous job and caring for the child while keeping the child from harm, especially if they're an Action-Hero Babysitter. This can often shape the character tasked with babysitting and taking care of a child into a more sympathetic, responsible person. The babysitter and the child's relationship might also evolve into a Babysitter Friendship. That said, the carer doesn't have to be unsuitable or unwilling to qualify.
As for the child, they may either be the epitome of an innocent, moe, cheerful child, or the spawn of the devil, always in mischief or playing pranks. They'll both tug at the carer's (and the audience's) heartstrings and drive the carer crazy with their endless schemes/brattiness at the same time. If they're a baby, they're more likely to be a straying baby who gives their guardians trouble. Regardless, the carer may get closer to the child(ren) and even grow fond of them in the process.
The main point is that the focus of the work is child care and/or babysitting; if it's a subplot, then it doesn't count. Explain how the plot centers on child care/babysitting, don't just list the work's name.
Usually a subgenre of Slice of Life, but not always. Many of these works are comedic in nature as well. If it's a single episode from a work that's not usually about child care/babysitting, then it's a Babysitting Episode. Compare Badass and Child Duo, where the focus isn't particularly on caring for the child, but on protecting the unrelated child.
Not to be confused with the Domestic Literary Fiction
, which tells stories about the daily lives of women written by and for women during the 19th century.
Examples:
- Kippei from Aishiteruze Baby is a typical high school playboy who finds his irresponsible life thrown into chaos when he's given the full-time task of caring for his 5-year-old cousin. With Kippei's lack of knowledge of child-rearing, he soon develops a responsible and caring side by taking care of his little cousin.
- Baby and Me: After 11-year-old Takuya loses his mom due to a car accident, he now lives only with his father, who's always busy with work, and his baby brother. Takuya is forced to assume the role of a mother to look after his brother at a young age and has to multitask between housework and caring for Minoru, which stresses him out, but he learns to love his role and his little brother.
- Buddy Daddies revolves around two hitmen who live under the same roof, Kazuki and Rei. The two somehow end up caring for Miri, the young daughter of one of their assassination targets who mistakes Kazuki for her biological father. The assassins have to balance their dangerous work and their new family life.
- Bunny Drop: Upon learning that his deceased grandpa left behind him an illegitimate 6-year-old daughter, Daikichi decides to raise her when no one from her relatives is willing to do so. The child, named Rin, becomes a part of Daikichi's life as he endures the hardships of being a single parent, and the two begin their unlikely relationship as "father" and "daughter."
- Chibi☆Devi! is about a lonely girl who ends up becoming the substitute mother to a baby devil.
- Gakuen Babysitters has the high school freshman Ryūichi whose parents died in a plane crash, and his preschooler brother, Kotarō. Left without a home, the Morinomiya Academy takes the boys into their care on the condition that Ryūichi helps out with the school's "babysitter's club." Ryūichi is now responsible for both his little brother and a bunch of toddlers with distinct personalities.
- Hinamatsuri begins when a Yakuza member has his life turned upside down when a girl literally drops on his head out of nowhere. He only knows two things about her: her name is Hina and she has psychokinetic powers. He's forced to be a responsible adult by becoming her de facto father.
- Hyakunichikan!!: Shuuto, a high school boy, finds himself left behind at home and has to take care of a grade school girl who's the daughter of his parents' friend for a period of 100 days, as both parents and their friend all work overseas. Despite not knowing how to care for children, Shuuto gradually develops a strong bond with the child over the next 100 days.
- It's My Life (Imomushi Narita) is about a former guard captain who ends up looking after a young elf girl after she accidentally crashes into his house.
- I Want Your Mother To Be With Me! is about the protagonist wooing a single mother while also helping to raise his own niece, whose parents are overseas. He becomes a surrogate father figure to her and his Love Interest's son.
- Only Serious About You: The main character is a single father trying to raise his young daughter, while also dealing with his growing feelings for another man who eventually helps raise her as well.
- Otaku no Musume-san is about an otaku who suddenly finds himself being tasked to look after a daughter he never knew he had.
- Pocos Udon World: Souta, a young web designer, discovers a strange, shapeshifting child in his family restaurant sleeping inside a cooking pot. Souta decides to adopt him and name him Poco. Each episode follows the heartwarming relationship between Souta and Poco.
- Sea Cat (1988) follows an orphaned kitten at sea adopted by an otter.
- Space Family Carlvinson, about a group of aliens who find a human child and decide to raise her.
- In SPY×FAMILY, Twilight, a master spy who goes by the alias Loid Forger, is assigned the task of starting a family for one of his missions. He adopts Anya and then recruits Yor Briar into becoming his wife, not knowing that Anya is a telepath and Yor is a skilled assassin. He must play the role of a loving husband and father for the sake of his mission.
- UFO Baby is about two high-school aged protagonists being forced to take care of an alien baby.
- The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting: Kirishima is the vicious right-hand man of the Sakuragi crime family, dubbed the "The Demon of Sakuragi." One day, his boss asks him to do a difficult job: taking care of his daughter, Yaeka. The two slowly grow closer, and Kirishima finds out that family isn't always bound by blood.
- Despicable Me: In order to steal a shrink ray from a fellow villain for a planned heist of the Moon itself, supervillain Gru adopts a trio of orphaned girls who have managed to sell cookies to the rival. While he initially tries to ditch the children after getting what he wants, he unexpectedly bonds with them and becomes a more loving father to them.
- Ice Age centers around three animals taking care of a human baby and looking for its father.
- Jack-Jack Attack has the responsible but ditzy Kari babysitting Jack-Jack. He decides to show off his various superpowers and gives her trouble throughout the short film.
- Tokyo Godfathers is about a homeless trio finding an abandoned baby and looking for its parents on Christmas Eve.
- The Willoughbys: When the Willoughby children sent their Abusive Parents on a dangerous vacation in the hopes of becoming orphans, they were looked after by a nice lady who claims to be their nanny. Tim, the eldest of the children, never liked her due to his distrust of adults. She became their adopted mother along with Camander Meleonhoff in the end.
- 3 Godfathers is about a bank-robbing trio taking care of a newly-orphaned baby after witnessing its mother dying after giving birth.
- After Chris gets stood up by her boyfriend in Adventures in Babysitting, she volunteers to babysit the Anderson kids. Having expected an uneventful night, she finds herself in a series of ridiculous escapades with the kids instead.
- Adventures in Babysitting (2016): It basically has the same plot as the 1987 movie, but now the protagonist has her best friend helping her out in her adventures with her charges.
- The Babysitter (2017) tells the story of 12-year-old Cole who has a beautiful babysitter called Bee. She protects him from bullying and they have a very nice friendship, albeit it's more of a Precocious Crush on his end.
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks: During early World War II, an English spinster who secretly trains as a witch takes three Blitz Evacuees under her care.
- Broker revolves around two child sellers who gets too attached to a baby they're selling. Unlike most examples, the child's biological mother did join the Road Trip Plot midway through the movie.
- Daddy Day Care revolves around Charlie and Phil, two hardworking fathers who got laid off. In need of money, the two decide to open up a daycare center called "Daddy Day Care." With the help of the kids, they get great ideas on how to make the center better and manage to keep the daycare center afloat despite hardships.
- The Goddess Of Fortune: The premise of the film revolves around a childless gay couple who take care of an old friend's two children when said friend has to check herself in the hospital for an extended period of time.
- The main conflict of Happythankyoumoreplease is when protagonist Sam Wexler meets a lost Foster Kid named Rasheen and takes the boy without going to the proper legal procedures. Unsurprisingly, Sam is briefly arrested for it and Rasheen is ultimately taken to a proper foster family, though Sam keeps in touch with him.
- Mary Poppins is about a Magical Nanny who spices up the lives of the kids she's taking care of.
- My Little Bossings: The plot is about the protagonist and his granddaughter taking care of his boss' son while keeping him safe from his mother's enemies.
- The Nanny Diaries is about a fresh university graduate being hired by a rich family after saving their son. She finds herself getting too attached to the boy, especially once she notices how the kid has been neglected by her employers.
- Nanny McPhee involves seven unruly siblings being babysat by the eponymous nanny, who gives them supernatural Cool and Unusual Punishments. For instance, when they are causing chaos in the kitchen, she makes it so that they physically can't stop until they say please.
- The Pacifier starts with Navy Lieutenant Shane being sent to protect the five Plummer kids from the enemies of their recently deceased dad. The kids are a handful at first as they dislike their new guardian, but they warm up to him eventually, and he becomes like a surrogate father to them.
- Three Men and a Baby: Three bachelors try to adapt their lives to fatherhood with the arrival of the love child of one of the guys. This is the American remake of the French film Three Men and a Cradle.
- Three Men and a Cradle: Three bachelors attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the love child of one of the men.
- The Babysitters Club concerns a group of 11- to 13-year-old girls who form a babysitters' collective club, share expenses, and publish a single contact number that can be used to hire any of them. The stories all feature the girls babysitting for children of varying ages and temperaments.
- In Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job, Darcy is a teenage girl who is hired to babysit three rich kids, but ends up being kidnapped along with them and has to outwit the kidnappers to escape with her charges.
- If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord revolves around an adventurer in a fantasy world who finds a young abandoned girl and decides to raise her as his own.
- Listen to me, girls. I am your father! is about a college student who suddenly finds himself looking after his older sister's biological daughter and two step-daughters after she dies in a plane crash.
- The Three Robbers is about three black-clad highwaymen who terrorize and rob coach travellers. Their life of crime changes the day they find a lone orphan little girl named Tiffany and decide to shelter her.
- Jessie: Is about an 18-years old girl who went to New York to become a star while unwittingly becoming the nanny of the rich Ross family.
- Secret Adventures, a 1993-95 Religious Edutainment series, has main character Drea Thomas frequently babysitting the children of her recently-widowed junior high principal, with the premise being a cross between Mary Poppins and McGee and Me! (the latter of which Secret Adventures was something of a successor series for) in that the two kids, Rebecca and Matt Long, can see (and interact) with what's going on in Drea's imagination.
- Esme & Roy is a series featuring a human girl named Esme and her monster partner, Roy, as they babysit the young monsters of Monsterville, coming up with creative solutions to problems when one of the young monsters suffers from a "Monster Meltdown."
