Basic Trope: A child character acts younger than their stated age.
- Straight: 12-year-old Cody sleeps with a teddy bear and is a big fan of Barney & Friends.
- Exaggerated:
- 17-year-old Cody speaks in Baby Talk and goes around wearing a diaper and baby bonnet.
- All of the characters under 18 in the work act much younger than they actually are.
- Logical Extreme: Cody is Really 700 Years Old and he acts like a literal fetus.
- Downplayed:
- Although he's in seventh grade, Cody reads a book intended for sixth graders.
- Cody is a teenager, and though he does act his age for the most part, he likes a few somewhat childish things such as stuffed animals and toys.
- Cody watches Barney, but he makes up for it by being a Child Prodigy.
- Cody is a fourth grader, has mediocre linguistic skills for his age and occasionally watches Sesame Street, but outside of those, his antics are like a normal kid of his age.
- Justified:
- Kids mentally develop at different rates, and a lot of age stereotypes really are just, well, stereotypes.
- Cody has a developmental disorder.
- Cody is an adult baby.
- Cody has overprotective parents who want to keep him sweet and innocent for as long as possible.
- The show is aimed towards babies/young kids, so the producers make the adults act younger than they actually are so kids will find them more relatable.
- Childishness runs in Cody's family bloodline.
- The media that Cody is a fan of is for young children, but is legitimately interesting to older kids, teenagers, and adults as well. As for the teddy bear, that's because he's Plagued by Nightmares and is using it as an emotional crutch.
- Cody babysits younger children and they're rubbing off on him.
- Inverted:
- Most Writers Are Adults - Cody is seven, but he's smart enough to be rather strategic and he walks to the store on his own.
- Acting Your Intellectual Age - Cody is a Child Prodigy with the mindset of a grown man.
- Wise Beyond Their Years - Cody is the Only Sane Man despite being only twelve.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior - Cody smokes, makes perverted comments, and watches gory movies.
- Cody is in his thirties, but behaves more like a senior— he yells at teenagers to stay off his lawn, hates new technology, and plays games like bingo and gin rummy.
- Cody is eighteen, but behaves more like he's in his thirties, possessing a desk job and considering getting married.
- On a less severe note, Cody is a second grader who has a huge understanding for Shonen.
- Subverted:
- Cody only acts that way to get what he wants.
- In the American dub Cody is 12, but in the Japanese original Koji was a nine-year-old played by a twelve-year-old.
- Double Subverted: But his real personality isn't any better.
- Parodied:
- Cody is nearing sixteen. His friends ask if he's excited to be old enough to drive yet, but Cody just says he's not even toilet trained yet.
- It's treated as completely impossible in-universe for anyone under 18 to be potty trained, speak complete sentences, or run without tripping.
- Zig Zagged:
- Cody's maturity level constantly varies Depending on the Writer.
- Cody's friends, all about the same age, are introduced. Though Cody and his friend Alice both like preschool cartoons and stuffed animals, his friend Barbara acts more like an average 12 year old, and his friend Danny actually acts more like he's 16.
- Cody may sleep with a teddy bear and watch Barney, but he also reads Crime in Punishment (in the original Russian no less) and studies advanced mathematics.
- Averted:
- Cody acts like a normal 12-year-old.
- There are no children in the work.
- Enforced:
- "If Cody isn't innocent enough, we'll be hearing from the Moral Guardians."
- This can sometimes happen if the author tries too hard to avoid making the child characters tiny adults, and goes in the opposite direction instead.
- To set up Cody as a somewhat more childish character.
- Cody is a teenage protagonist in the show for young children, so the creator makes him act younger to help him relate with the target audience.
- Cody is originally eight-years-old in the novel, but he is undergone an Age Lift to preteen in the live-action adaptation.
- Lampshaded:
- "Cody acts a bit young for his age."
- "Are you sure Cody doesn't have some kind of disorder?", "No, he's just like that."
- Invoked: Deliberately Cute Child.
- Exploited: Because Cody acts younger than he is, he can get away with getting/entering things for free or discounted (such as "Kids under 10 eat free").
- Defied: Most middle schoolers try to act mature, contrary to being treated like babies.
- Discussed: "Cody, how old are you?" "12, but mentally I'm about 8."
- Conversed:
- "What kind of 12-year-old would get that excited about the merry-go-round? I was starting to notice girls at that age!"
- "I don't know if TV writers really know how kids act. Generally, fictional kids either act much older or much younger than they really are."
- Implied:
- Cody is The Ghost, but many characters remark that he acts rather young for a 12-year-old.
- Cody's exact age is unknown, but he seems to be somewhere around 12 judging by his appearance. Despite that, though, he often acts much younger than 12.
- Deconstructed:
- Cody turns out to have a developmental disorder.
- Cody ends up being sent into a mental hospital.
- Cody's immature behavior gets him ostracized by his peers.
- Reconstructed:
- Cody seems to be lagging behind his peers, but it turns out he's just a late bloomer.
- Cody finds Delilah, another kid his age who has similar childish traits as him, and they ended up understanding each other and getting along.
- Played For Laughs:
- Bob is fifteen, but acts like a small child from a '50s sitcom. His Character Catchphrase is "Gee willikers!"
- Cody is played as The Ditz and/or a Cloud Cuckoolander.
- Played For Drama:
- Cody has a serious developmental disorder.
- Cody is a Child Prodigy who is ashamed of his intelligence and tries to hide it, but overcompensates.
- Cody watches Barney and sleeps with a teddy bear to cope with trauma.
- Cody is bullied or underestimated for his low maturity.
- Played For Horror: Cody combines Psychopathic Man Child with Enfant Terrible.
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