Day-Care Couple

The Day-Care Couple (Japanese: て Day-Care Couple) are a pair of non-player characters who offer s the opportunity to raise the Trainer's Pokémon. They are known individually as the Day Care Man (Japanese: そだてや　じいさん Day Care Old Man) and the Day Care Lady (Japanese: そだてや　ばあさん Day Care Old Lady). Prior to, they were instead known as the Day-Care Man and the Day-Care Lady, respectively. Since the Day Care Man's debut in Generation I and their combined debut in Generation II, a different couple have appeared at every Pokémon Day Care in each region. In most games, they are an elderly couple; they are s and much younger instead in.

The Day-Care Couple have also appeared in several non-game media.

In the games
The Day-Care Couple (or one member thereof) appear in every core series Pokémon game. They will (for a small fee) take up to two of a Trainer's Pokémon and raise their levels for them. This effectively allows players to train up to eight Pokémon at one time. Pokémon under their care will not evolve, even if they meet the criteria. The couple offer the player the only method of Pokémon, which has been an important aspect of the games ever since Generation II. The Day Care Man will usually stand outside to alert the Trainer if an has been laid, while his wife will deal with all transactions indoors.

Kanto
The Day Care Man debuted in Generation I. He can be found in the single house on. He can only take in one Pokémon at a time. In the remakes,, this remains true, meaning the player cannot breed their Pokémon at this location. Instead, once they defeat the Elite Four, they can travel to Four Island of the Sevii Islands, where they'll find a proper Day Care Couple.

The Day Care Man of Kanto is absent in. In the house where he ran his business they can find a superstitious old woman who will give them a Cleanse Tag.

Johto
The Day Care Lady, and the Day Care Couple as a concept, debuted in Generation II. They are found on. In the international versions of, the Day-Care Man will give the player an Odd Egg that contains one of seven baby Pokémon; the hatched Pokémon has an increased 14% chance of being in international versions. In the original Japanese version of, the Day-Care Man instead gives out an Egg Ticket, which can be traded in at the Pokémon Communication Center for the Odd Egg; the hatched Pokémon has a 50% chance of being in the Japanese version. In both versions, the hatched Pokémon will know the special move.

In, the undefined's friend, /, is the Couple's grandchild. The Day-Care Man will also give his and the Day-Care Lady's number to the player. The player can call the Day-Care Lady to check their Pokémon's levels, while the Day-Care Man can tell whether two Pokémon like each other and whether they produced an Egg or not.

Hoenn
The Day Care Couple are found on. This Couple has four unnamed grandchildren. In, in addition to the original Day Care run by the couple on , there is also a Day Care Annex at the Battle Resort, run by the Day Care Lad and his older sister, where an additional two Pokémon can be dropped off.

Sinnoh
The Day Care Couple are found in Solaceon Town.

Unova
The Day Care Couple are found on. They have a daughter who helps with their business, and work next to a kindergarten. In, the Day Care will only accept one Pokémon initially. Two Pokémon may be left after the player has received the Bicycle in Nimbasa City. This makes breeding Pokémon impossible until the player has obtained the first three Badges. When the player's Pokémon have made an Egg and there is an available party slot to receive it, the Day-Care Man will yell at the player to come over in order to notify the player that an Egg has been made. They stay in the same location in, which makes breeding Pokémon impossible until after the end credits.

Kalos
The Day Care Couple are found on.

Alola
Because Alola has a Pokémon Nursery as opposed to a Daycare, the Day Care Couple do not appear in Pokémon Sun, Moon, Pokémon Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon. The women who work at the Nursery are referred to as Nursery helpers by the Status screen.

In the anime
Several characters based indirectly on the Day-Care Couple have appeared in the.

Mr. Shellby and his wife run a daycare center in the anime-exclusive town of Eggseter, Johto. While no mention of training others' Pokémon is made during the only episode they appeared in, they do care for and hatch Pokémon Eggs. was given one as a prize for winning the Extreme Pokémon Race.

Angie's parents run a daycare center in Solaceon Town. While they are not as aged as the Day-Care Couple, they do raise other Trainers' Pokémon. Unlike the couple in the games, Pokémon in their care have been known to evolve.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
The Day-Care Couple from appear as recurring characters in the Pokémon Adventures manga. When they were young, they were good friends with, Agatha, Kurt, and Pryce. The Day-Care Lady was also a great singer, and she sang the song "Boy and his Lapras" to try and make Pryce happy again after the loss of his two.

They debuted in Gligar Glide, where met them after helping recapture some runaway baby Pokémon. The Day-Care Lady tricked Gold into helping out around the place by claiming to train him so that he could get stronger than. The training worked, allowing Gold to get stronger and his Exbo evolved into a after fighting numerous Pokémon being kept there. When an earthquake damaged Ecruteak City, the couple sent Gold to find Jasmine, who had been traveling to the Day Care to see the child of her two.

and Wilton were taken to the Day Care after an incident with  left them washed up on a shore. The Day-Care Lady forced the two of them to do chores as compensation for letting them rest at the Day Care. Later, the Day Care is attacked by the Masked Man's mind-controlled s, who attempt to steal the Rainbow and Silver Wings disguised as the feathers in Yellow's straw hat. After escaping, they met up with Gold again after his battle with the Masked Man. After Gold discovers his talent in hatching Pokémon Eggs, he leaves to face the Masked Man one last time.

After realizing the Masked Man's true identity is Pryce, the Day-Care Couple reveal that they were friends with Pryce in their youth. Due to a traumatic accident that cost the lives of his two beloved Lapras, the couple and their other friends wrote a song to try and lift his spirits. The song failed to work and Pryce eventually ended up a bitter old man trying to turn back time with 's power. After Gold managed to defeat Pryce, Celebi used its powers to make Pryce hear the song his friends made for him. This time, the song managed to help Pryce realize the errors of his ways. At the end of the, the Day-Care Couple were seen raising more Pokémon Eggs as Wilton is forced to continue to help around.

In the, it is revealed that the Day-Care Couple have moved to Sinnoh. They are seen at the end of the eighth chapter at Solaceon Town, where they help and  raise a  Egg and discuss with  about its relation to. When Platinum notes how mysterious Eggs are, the Day-Care Man tells her about a case when was known affecting his Pokémon's personality before hatching.

In the, Gold is asked by them to help hatch an Egg laid by 's and 's Snorlax before they move to Sinnoh.

Raised
These are the Pokémon raised by the Day-Care Couple, save for the ones with known Trainers.

In the Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys manga
In Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys, the Day-Care Couple are young, as opposed to the usual older couple. In Let's Use Fighting Type Pokémon!!, they invite 🇬🇼 to a tournament run by the Day-Care Center, and in A Huge Mysterious Tree!!, they give him a Pokémon Egg.

In the TCG
The Day-Care Couple are featured on two cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. However, both had them named as Pokémon Breeders in the English translation. The following is a listing of cards featuring the Day-Care Couple.

Trivia

 * The Day Care Lad's sister is only given a unique name in the Italian version. In Japanese, English, and Korean, she is left unnamed, while in German, French, and Spanish, she shares her name with the Day Care Lady.
 * Similarly, the Day Care Lad himself is only given a unique name in the English and Italian versions.

In other languages
Coppia della Pensione 培育屋夫妇