The Best Parenting & Childhood Documentaries

Society & Culture - 139 free documentaries about parenting & childhood.

Start with Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! Five Days Without Parents (49 min, Real Stories), then Elite Nannies For The Rich and Famous (46 min, Real Stories). All 139 documentaries here are free to watch from their makers' official uploads. To read deeper, the top-rated book on parenting & childhood is Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon.

• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! Five Days Without Parents (49 min, Real Stories)
• Elite Nannies For The Rich and Famous (46 min, Real Stories)
• Children, no thanks! Why women don’t want kids (26 min, DW Documentary)
• Angel of Death: The Nurse Who Murdered Children (45 min, Real Stories)
• My Kid Can't Stop Eating (48 min, Real Stories)
• America's Poorest Kids (59 min, Real Stories)
• Losing My Kids for Smoking Pot | WEEDIQUETTE (23 min, VICE)
• Not Just A Phase: Raising A Transgender Kid (42 min, Real Stories)
• Street children in the Philippines (42 min, DW Documentary)
• How Postpartum Psychosis Transformed a Loving Mother into a Killer (78 min, Real Stories)
• Am I Spoiling My Child Rotten? (58 min, Real Stories)
• Young Stars in the Making I Mini Me Me Me (Celebrity Children Documentary) I Real Stories (47 min, Real Stories)
• Children Of Romania (46 min, Real Stories)
• Pakistan: Pashtun kids fight for their education (31 min, DW Documentary)
• Murder in the Water: Mother Found in Her Bathtub (46 min, Real Stories)
• Children With Body Dysmorphia: Skinny Kids (48 min, Real Stories)
• Better Late Than Never? (68 min, Real Stories)
• ADHD: Out of Control Kids (43 min, Real Stories)
• The Adoption Picnic: Kids on Display (50 min, Real Stories)
• Why Are Young Children Turning To Bullying? | Talking Point (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Fathers Who Kill: The Horrible Jersey Slayings (45 min, Real Stories)
• Troublesome Children: How British Teachers Cope | The Nurture Room (90 min, Real Stories)
• My Husband Snatched Our Two Daughters: A Mother's Fight (49 min, Real Stories)
• Your Parents Posted Your Entire Life Online | The Cost of Sharenting (56 min, ENDEVR)
• Kidnapped By My Father (59 min, Real Stories)
• Bulgaria's Abandoned Children Find Hope (59 min, Real Stories)
• Teenagers From Hell (46 min, Real Stories)
• Choosing Between Childhood MMA Or Pakistan Prison | Kids Fight Episode 3 (19 min, VICE)
• Kids In Rental Flats: How Does Living In Small Spaces Really Affect Children? | Talking Point (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Life With Our Undiagnosed Special Needs Children | On The Red Dot | Undiagnosed - Part 1 (23 min, CNA Insider)
• My Son, My Daughter’s Killer: Can Parents Stop Loving Their Child? (95 min, ENDEVR)
• Childhood USA: Kids Behind Bars (107 min, ENDEVR)
• Growing Up Poor: Hidden Homeless Kids (46 min, ENDEVR)
• Paper Children: Fear and Hope in America's Asylum System | YOUTUBE ORIGINAL (64 min, Real Stories)
• Young Carers: The Children Sacrificed to Care for Others (59 min, Real Stories)
• James Bulger's Mother Speaks Out: Turning Tragedy To Hope (47 min, Real Stories)
• Britain's Biggest Brood: Life in a Large Family (48 min, Real Stories)
• Babies At 50 (50 min, Real Stories)
• China's Stolen Children (84 min, Real Stories)
• The One Subject You Really Need to Study: Your Own Childhood (9 min, The School of Life)
• Parents Experience Teenage Stress With Their Kids: My Parent, My Classmate - Part 4 | On The Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Ireland’s stolen children fight for justice (28 min, DW Documentary)
• Collecting Dolls: From Childhood Toy To Adult Private Obsession (52 min, Real Stories)
• One Man, Six Wives & 29 Children (Polygamy Story) (50 min, Real Stories)
• Orphans of Nkandla (48 min, Real Stories)
• Bare Knuckle Mother: Love and Violence (20 min, VICE)
• Singapore Parents Attend Secondary School With Their Kids: My Parent, My Classmate | On The Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• 15-Year-Old Girl Murders Her Own Father | Shocking True Crime Story (43 min, Real Stories)
• Breaking the Cycle: Jasmine Harman's Emotional Hoarding Journey (49 min, Real Stories)
• Fighting Childhood Cancer (46 min, Real Stories)
• Unbreakable Bonds: Raising Quadruplets (50 min, Real Stories)
• What Is an Emotionally-healthy Childhood? (9 min, The School of Life)
• What Pamela Lee Nur Shuhadah Never Forgot About Growing Up With Her Single Mum | Meet Me There (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Can This Boarding School Help Lift Disadvantaged Children Out Of Poverty? - Part 1 | Dare To Dream (47 min, CNA Insider)
• The Story Of Our Childhood In 1930s Singapore | Let Me Tell You A Story - Part 1/2 (47 min, CNA Insider)
• Help for single parents - Can work and family life work better? (26 min, DW Documentary)
• Children of ISIS: What Happens to Them After the Caliphate? (26 min, ENDEVR)
• Venezuela’s Lost Children | Surviving a Country in Collapse (52 min, Free Documentary)
• 30 Inches Tall & Proud: Meet England's Smallest Teenager (45 min, Real Stories)
• Council Estates' Forgotten Sons: Disadvantaged Teenagers' Battle for Brighter Futures (56 min, Real Stories)
• Brought Up By Booze (58 min, Real Stories)
• The Deal & City of Lost Children (VICE on HBO: Season 4, Episode 11) (30 min, VICE)
• Why Absent Fathers Harm Children and Ruin Society (13 min, Academy of Ideas)
• Infant Care Centres Have Vacancies. So Why Are Parents Waitlisted? | Talking Point (23 min, CNA Insider)
• My son was killed - A mother's journey through grief (26 min, DW Documentary)
• The World's Biggest Fat Camp For Teenagers (52 min, ENDEVR)
• Our Father, The Manic Cult Leader (86 min, Real Stories)
• No Place for a Child: The Hidden Truth of Foster Care in America (80 min, Real Stories)
• Teenager Taken: What Happened to Tina Fontaine? (23 min, Real Stories)
• What Happens When A Sole Caregiver Dies First? | On The Red Dot: Left To Care - Part 4 (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Can Sole Caregivers Have A Life Of Their Own? | On The Red Dot: Left To Care - Part 3 (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Life, Unexpected: How Caregivers Of Sick Children Find Rest And Support – Part 4/4 (47 min, CNA Insider)
• Gen Z Circus Trainee Performs To Get His Mother Out Of Cambodia's Minefields | Limitless (47 min, CNA Insider)
• How We Run An English Tuition Centre While Raising Four (Very Loud) Boys At Home | On The Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• My Mum’s Lost Thai Laksa: "Even During Her Last Days, She Cooked This For Me" | On the Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Life, Unexpected: Caring For Children With Serious Illnesses - Part 1/4 (47 min, CNA Insider)
• Mum Joins Band Practice, Trains Under Her Son: My Parent, My Classmate - Part 2 | On The Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Designer Babies: Danger For Humanity Or The Future? | Risk vs Rewards (52 min, ENDEVR)
• Why Some Animals Abandon Their Kids | Parents in the Wild 102 (52 min, Love Nature)
• Sid Vicious: Was His Own Mother Behind His Death? (52 min, Real Stories)

Top-Rated Books About Parenting & Childhood

1. Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon - View on Amazon
2. The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel (4.4/5) - View on Amazon
3. NurtureShock by Po Bronson - View on Amazon
4. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber - View on Amazon