The Master said, "Respect the young. How do you know that they will not one day be all that you are now?"
— Confucius, The Analects
Entries concerning children. See Adult Tropes and Elders for the opposite.
Compare Tiny Tropes, School Tropes, and Teenage Tropes. See also Children's Show Tropes. Make sure they're accompanied with The Parent Trope.
Characters:
Subcategories:
- Abandoned War Child: A child who was fathered by a soldier that was killed or missing in wartime circumstances.
- Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: A character unintentionally killed a child and now lives with the guilt.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Child character is seen as cute for trying to act mature for their age.
- Adult Hater: A child who despises adults.
- Affection-Hating Kid: A child who hates expressing, and/or seeing people express, affection.
- Annoyingly Repetitive Child: Someone is annoyed by a kid saying or doing something over and over.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: A younger sibling who's seen as annoying to their older one.
- The Artful Dodger: Crafty, street-wise homeless child.
- Artistic License – Child Labor Laws: Kids are shown working despite being too young to work in real life.
- Baby as Payment: A child is given away in exchange for something else.
- The Baby of the Bunch: A child member of The Team who is often treated as such by their peers.
- Babysitter Friendship: A special friendship between a child, and their caregiver.
- Babysitter from Hell: A sociopathic babysitter who's absolutely feared by a kid.
- Babysitter's Nightmare: A bratty child drives away anyone hired to babysit them.
- Baker Street Regular: Kid assists a police officer.
- Big Brother Bully: Older sibling bullies their younger sibling.
- A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: A family consisting of a son, a daughter, and a baby.
- Boyish Shorts: Shorts on young male characters to convey their youth and/or immaturity around adults.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Immature and whiny little kid.
- Breath-Holding Brat: A child holds their breath to get what they want.
- The Bully: A schoolyard big kid who immaturely expresses their insecurities by teasing the less fortunate.
- Bully and Wimp Pairing: The Bully is paired with an Extreme Doormat.
- The Cabin Boy: Child member of the pirate crew.
- Censored Child Death: The death of a child is censored.
- Changeling Fantasy: Your real parents are much more exciting than your other ones.
- Changeling Tale: Babies who are abducted by fairies and replaced.
- Cheerful Child: Child who is very energetic and enthusiastic.
- Chickenpox Episode: A character, almost always a child, comes down with chickenpox.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: A child leads adult society.
- Childhood Friends: They've been friends since they were little.
- Childhood Friend Romance: A couple has known each other since they were children.
- Child Mage: A preteen wizard.
- Child of Forbidden Love: A child born from a forbidden romantic reunion.
- Child Popstar: A child who's famous in the pop music industry.
- Child Prodigy: A child who is academically proficient.
- Child Soldiers: Children in the military.
- Children Are Tender-Hearted: A child who has a soft heart.
- Children as Pawns: Using children as part of a plan.
- Children Do the Housework: Children do the household chores in place of their parents.
- Children Forced to Kill: Children are required to commit murder.
- Children's Covert Coterie: A genuine secret society of children.
- Chuunibyou: A young character tries too hard to convince others they're "cool".
- Circus Brat: A child who grew up in the circus.
- Class Clown: The kid in class who gets the most attention from students and teachers alike due to their eccentricity, typically not taking school seriously.
- Clingy Child: A child who loves to cling to older people because they are shy, scared, or affectionate.
- Clung on Tight: When a character (hostile or not), clings on and won't let go of another for whatever reason. Can overlap with the above immediately above trope.
- Constantly Curious: Curiosity is a major nature of childhood.
- Cousin Oliver: A child character is introduced mid-series.
- Creepy Child: A child with disturbing intentions.
- Curious as a Monkey: A child's constant curiosity about subjects they are naive to.
- Dead Guy Junior: A child is named after a dead person.
- Death of a Child: Story deals with a child's death.
- Deliberately Cute Child: A child uses their cuteness as a manipulation tactic.
- Dirty Kid: A child with perverted interests.
- Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Adult tells a small child that their pet/relative has gone somewhere when they've actually died.
- Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: A child physically harms an adult, but this is treated non-seriously and would have been treated seriously if the roles were reversed.
- Dreaded Kids' Table: The kids' table becomes insufferable once adolescence approaches.
- The Dreaded Pretend Tea-Party: Someone hates being part of a child's (usually a girl's) pretend tea party.
- Early Personality Signs: A child shows signs of their older personality, usually as a gag.
- Ear-Piercing Plot: A young character wants their ears pierced, but is either too scared to do it or is forbidden from doing so by their parents.
- Easily Embarrassed Youngster: A child who's easily embarrassed.
- Embarrassed by a Child: A child points out that someone is doing something unusual, which embarrasses the person.
- Enfant Terrible: A child who is evil.
- Entertainment Above Their Age: A child watches/reads/etc fiction that's meant for someone older.
- Evil Orphan: A child without parents who is evil.
- Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: A child has an innocent crush on a family member, oblivious to the incestuous context.
- Fille Fatale: A prepubescent girl who's sexually promiscuous.
- First Period Panic: A pre-teen girl treats her first menstrual episode as the end of the world.
- Forced Bath: Someone, usually a child, is forced by several people to take a bath.
- Foster Kid: A child is put under foster care as a result of their tragic home life.
- Free-Range Children: Children who venture around town without adult supervision.
- Friend to All Children: A character who is very good with little kids.
- Goo-Goo-Godlike: An all-powerful child who doesn't know any better.
- Grade-School C.E.O.: A minor who holds a high-ranking position in a company.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Orphans are portrayed as likable.
- Hide-and-Seek Horror: A game of hide-and-seek is played for horror.
- Homeschooled Kids: Children who don't attend public school.
- Homework Slave: A kid bullies another kid into doing their homework for them.
- Hotel Hellion: Bratty little kids terrorizes a hotel.
- Human Jungle Gym: Involves children climbing up large characters like a playground.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: A child is jealous of their newborn sibling.
- Innocent Awkward Question: A child asks an adult a question that inadvertently makes the adults feel awkward.
- Innocent Inaccurate: A naive or misinformed young character tells what they think is the truth.
- Innocent Prodigy: A child whose intelligence comes with large doses of naivete.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Non-humans kidnapping babies.
- Kid Amid the Chaos: A kid left crying and scared in the middle of chaos gives the hero an opportunity to show their condolences.
- KidAnova: A young boy who's gotten all the girls.
- Kid-Appeal Character: A character whose very existence relies on appealing to children.
- Kid Detective: A child solves mysteries.
- Kid from the Future: Kids travel back in time and meet their parents before they were born.
- Kid Hero: Children are portrayed as heroes.
- Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Until they become adults.
- Kiddie Kid: A child character behaves younger than their stated age.
- Kiddy Coveralls: Kids wear overalls to show they're messy and troublemaking.
- Kid Samurai: A child whose occupation is a samurai.
- Kids Are Cruel: Kids are portrayed as mean, spiteful, and downright malicious.
- Kids Driving Cars: Children are able to drive.
- Kids Hate Chores: Children are averse to household chores.
- Kids Hate Vegetables: Children have a distaste for vegetables.
- Kids Love Dinosaurs: Children will be excited over anything dinosaur related.
- Kids Raiding the Wine Cabinet: Kids being precocious and trying the grown-up's loopy-juice.
- Kid Sidekick: The sidekick is a child.
- Kids Prefer Boxes: Children love playing in boxes.
- Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films: Horror films are portrayed as having damaging effects on little kids.
- Kid with the Leash: A kid holds back their Sealed Evil in a Can from doing evil.
- The Kid with the Remote Control: Kid has control over their hulking monstrosity.
- Kung-Fu Kid: A child is skilled in the art of kung-fu.
- Little Girls Kick Shins: A little girl kicks someone in the shin.
- Little Jimmy: A young character whose only distinguishable feature is their unawareness of the subject at hand.
- Little Miss Almighty: The supreme rule of the universe is a girl.
- Little Miss Badass: A little girl who can kick ass.
- Little Miss Con Artist: This little girl knows how to scam.
- Little Miss Snarker: A little girl who delivers sarcasm.
- Little Sister Heroine: A little sister (or figure of such) who is a love interest, fetishizes cute things, and is rather clingy.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: A little kid who's suffering from the effects of a terminal, or possibly-terminal, disease (not necessarily actual cancer, but it can be).
- Lonely Doll Girl: A little girl plays with dolls to compensate for her lack of a social life.
- Lonely Rich Kid: The rich kid is portrayed as having no friends.
- Mature Younger Sibling: A younger sibling is mature compared to their older one(s).
- Mature Work, Child Protagonists: A work aimed at adults has children as protagonists.
- Menace Decay: A troubled child becomes less of a menace as the series progresses.
- Military Brat: Child of a military parent. Unlike most tropes in this list, this status lasts throughout life.
- Minor with Fake I.D.: A minor presents a fake ID to be granted permission into an adult-only place.
- Miss Conception: A child receives inaccurate information as to where babies come from.
- Missing Child: A child whose parents are worried sick about their absence at home.
- Mouthy Kid: Snarky but reasonable kid.
- Never a Runaway: Not always a youngster, but generally targeted at young people who are believed to have run away but did not.
- Never Grew Up: A character never emotionally grows up despite chronologically and/or physically aging.
- New Kid Stigma: The new pupil at school is disliked by classmates.
- Ninja Brat: A child tries to imitate a ninja but fails miserably, to their brattiness.
- Nobody Likes a Tattletale: Children won't tell adults about their problems because they're scared of being labeled tattletales.
- Not Growing Up Sucks: Characters are upset over their physical or mental age not advancing with their chronological age.
- Ode to Youth: A song praising the irresponsibility of childhood or adolescence.
- Ordinary High-School Student: High school student appears normal at the start of the series before becoming the hero in some fantastical plot.
- Otherworldly Visits Youngest First: The youngest in the group is the first to see something otherworldly.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest: Male and female love interests have been on each other's side since childhood.
- Pint-Sized Kid: A child who's short by the standards of most kids their age.
- Platonic Boy/Girl Heroes: A duo consisting of a young boy and girl who are required to work together.
- Playing Doctor: Two kids play a game that involves seeing the opposite sex naked, out of curiosity.
- Plucky Girl: A little girl who never gives up.
- Plucky Middie: The nickname of a child sailor.
- Preacher's Kid: The child of a pastor who is either a sweet angel or an immoral devil.
- Precocious Crush: A child's innocent crush on an older person.
- Psychic Children: Children with psychic powers.
- Really 700 Years Old: An extraordinarily ancient character looks like a child.
- Robot Kid: A robot who's programmed with the mannerisms of a child.
- Royal Brat: Royal children are spoiled brats.
- The Runaway: Child runs away from home.
- Self-Made Orphan: A child kills their own parents.
- Snooping Little Kid: A child who eavesdrops on villainous sights.
- Spoiled Brat: An egocentric child who becomes bratty if not doted on.
- Spoiled Sweet: A pampered child who is always outwardly nice and sweet-tempered.
- Staring Kid: Camera pans out to show a kid staring at something.
- Street Urchin: A not-necessarily homeless child who spends most of their time on the streets doing what they can to get by.
- Superior Successor: A younger generation proves to be more competent than the previous one.
- Team Kids
- Tiny Tim Template: A character based on the innocent child Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol.
- Tiny Tyrannical Girl: A short bossy girl.
- Token Mini-Moe: The only child member of the group, a cute one at that.
- Token Rich Student: The only rich student of the class.
- Tyke Bomb: Child was born and bred to kill.
- Undead Child: A child who's an undead creature, or an undead creature masquerading as a child.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: On-screen pregnancy produces opposite-sex fraternal twins.
- Wild Child: A feral child with the mannerisms of an animal.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: A child who is smart and responsible for their age, in a positive way.
- Wonder Child: A childless older person or couple receives a baby through natural means.
- Young Conqueror: A young character striving to Take Over the World.
- Young Entrepreneur: Child who is good at getting other people's money.
- Young Gun: Gun-toting kid.
Devices:
- Age-Appropriate Angst: A character's age determines what is appropriate for them to worry about.
- Age-Down Romance: An older character turned back into a kid gets romantically involved with someone who is actually that age.
- Babysitting Episode: An episode that centers around a kid being babysat.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: A babysitter never gets her way.
- Before My Time: Someone's education leaves them with knowledge of subjects that precede their birth.
- Best Years of Your Life: A lie told by parents or other adults about youth being the best time of a person's life even when the kid is facing serious problems.
- Bittersweet 17: A 17-year-old who is in their coming-of-age.
- Blanket Fort: A fort made out of blankets.
- Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: A pubescent child's braces are depicted as gawky and over-exaggerated.
- Brats with Slingshots: Immature children in fiction are given slingshots as weapons.
- Child Hater: A character who hates children.
- Childhood Brain Damage: A character who suffered a head injury during their childhood.
- Childish Bangs: Little girls have bangs with otherwise-longer hair.
- Childish Tooth Gap: A gap in between a child's teeth to portray them as being immature.
- Childless Dystopia: Life becomes miserable without children.
- Children Are Innocent: Children are devoid of malicious intentions.
- Children Are Special: Feats that are exclusive to children.
- Coming of Age Story: Child character matures into adolescence or adulthood over the course of the story.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Adults prevent children from witnessing an occurring tragedy.
- Cowboys and Indians (and variants): Children play war.
- Dawson Casting (sort of); adults are cast as child characters.
- Entertainment Above Their Age: Children enjoying grown-up fiction.
- Entertainment Below Their Age: Although fully capable of extending to adults, children can also enjoy fiction intended for much younger kids.
- First Snow: Kid witnesses the first event of snowing outside.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: A duo of siblings respectively consisting of a doofus and a mature person.
- Fountain of Youth: Characters regress to an earlier age.
- For Your Own Good: Something bad happens to a child with good intentions.
- Former Child Star: Celebrity who achieved fame as a child.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Small children say malicious things.
- Girlish Pigtails: Little girl wears pigtails to portray her youth.
- Girls Have Cooties: Young boys think girls and romance are icky.
- Glasses Curiosity: Wanting to wear other people's glasses is common behavior among children.
- Gotta Pass the Class: A kid needing to get a good grade or else risk failing and losing privileges.
- Growing Up Sucks: Children who believe that growing older is no fun because of the things they could do as kids that they won't be allowed to do anymore.
- Hide Your Children: Stories (usually video games) artificially exclude children from situations in which they might come to harm.
- Imaginary Friend: A child treats a figment of their imagination as their best friend to compensate for their loner reputation.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Children are immune to death.
- Innocence Lost: A child's innocence fades away as a result of a tragedy.
- Is That Cute Kid Yours?: A character or pair of is seen with a child and is asked if it is theirs, even if there's no way it could be.
- Junior High: The stage of school following elementary and preceding high.
- Junior Variant: A simplified board game variant made for kids.
- Just a Kid: Someone is denied certain privileges on account of their status as a child.
- Juvenile Hell: Juvenile hall is portrayed as an early passage to Hell.
- Kid Has a Point: Children make intelligent observations.
- Kids Versus Adults: A setting where the children rival the adults.
- Little Brother Is Watching: More sinful characters yield in the presence of children.
- Little Professor Dialog: Little kids with worldly experience.
- Little Stowaway: Children hide in vehicles.
- A Minor Kidroduction: A work starts with a brief scene of the protagonist as a child.
- Minor Living Alone: A minor who lives without their parents.
- Most Definitely Not Accompanying Us: Children who aren't allowed on adventures find a way to sneak on them.
- Most Writers Are Adults: Kids in fiction behave a lot like adults.
- Never Land: An area or town is governed by children.
- No Blood Ties: A universe in which parents are not expected to raise their own offspring.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Child character remains the same age throughout the course of the series.
- One Last Field Trip: When a character is about to come of age, they return to a childhood ritual for one last time.
- Only Fatal to Adults: Something harms adults in a way that it wouldn't children.
- Overnight Age-Up: Children transition into an older age overnight through magical powers.
- Parents for a Day: Children play the role of Designated Parents.
- Parent-Induced Extended Childhood: A child is prevented from maturing or even aging by their parents.
- Playing Doctor: Children roleplay as doctors.
- Playing House: Children pretend to take on adult roles.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Character grows older to contribute to the plot.
- Princess Phase: All girls want to be princesses.
- Propeller Hat of Whimsy: Propeller hats as a visual shorthand for whimsical and/or youthful people.
- Protected by a Child: A child jumps right in to save the life of a distressed and threatened person.
- Pubescent Braces: Character wears braces to portray them as approaching or in the stage of puberty.
- Puppy Love: Prepubescent children who fall in love with each other.
- Really 17 Years Old: A minor pretends to be an adult.
- Remote Control Ruckus: Two or more characters (usually children) fight over a remote control when they can't agree on what TV show to watch.
- Scare Dare: A childhood dare consisting of waltzing into spookiness.
- Security Blanket: A child's inanimate source of comfort.
- Shoe Shine, Mister?: A young boy carries a box of shiny tools used to polish shoes.
- Sibling Rivalry: Siblings who clash a lot.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Siblings' whose personalities contrast.
- Skip of Innocence: Children skip rather than normally walking to portray them as innocent.
- Sneaking Snacks: Sneaking snacks from the pantry at midnight when it's past your bedtime.
- Tempting Cookie Jar: ...Or any other time of the day, but there's still a restriction on them.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: A child character is suddenly older without explanation.
- Staying with Friends: Children stay with their friends rather than parents or legal guardians.
- Super-Strong Child: Prepubescents are portrayed with great strength.
- Tagalong Kid: A child tags along with an older team's adventures and often comes off as a nuisance to them.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Teachers and students are in a relationship, or at least one side wants to be.
- Teacher's Unfavorite Student: A teacher really hates one particular student.
- Teenage Wasteland: Kids now have adult power and responsibilities and rule over society.
- Tell Me About My Father: A child inquires about a parent they never knew.
- There Are No Adults: A setting devoid of adults, leaving the population inhabited by children.
- 13th Birthday Milestone: A child's 13th birthday is treated as an important event.
- Totally Radical: Awkward slang is used to appeal to youth.
- Toy-Based Characterization: A person's favorite toy, or the way they play with their toys, says something about their personality.
- Toy Ship: Children are paired with each other in fandom.
- Trapped at the Dinner Table: The stock punishment of not letting a picky eater leave the dinner table until they've eaten everything on their plate.
- Treehouse of Fun: A treehouse full of innocent childlike fun.
- Trojan Veggies: Tricking a child into eating vegetables by hiding them in a different food.
- Troubled Child: A depressed child with little emotion and a tragic backstory.
- Troubled Toybreaker: An abused, neglected or otherwise troubled child vents their anger by destroying toys.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Children engage in age-inappropriate behavior.
- Unbalanced By Rival's Kid: The Romantic Runner-Up in a Love Triangle meets the couple’s kid; drama ensues due to lingering resentment.
- Unstable Powered Child: Empowered children whose immaturity, youth, and lack of coping skills cause problems around them.
- Weapon Jr.: Children have kid-friendly versions of adult weapons.
- Water Guns and Balloons: Kids have fun outdoors by fighting with water guns and water-filled balloons.
- When I Was Your Age...: An adult complains about how easy the youth have it nowadays in contrast to their childhood.
- You Meddling Kids: A villain blames the young characters for exposing their crime, because the villain would have gotten away with it had the kids not foiled their plans.
- You Must Be This Tall to Ride: Kids can't ride thrill rides due to not meeting the height requirements.
- Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Kids can be quite stupid.
- Youthful Freckles: Children with freckles.
