When watching TV shows, movies, or reading books, you experience a vast and diverse pool of characters. Good and evil, black and white, old and young, and so many more. You’ll see people raving over the protagonist and thirsting over the villain. Somehow, one group always seems to get the short end of the stick- kids. People hate kids. Now, listen, there are kid characters who are the problem and are meant to be the problem, but what I’m talking about is the characters you aren’t meant to hate that somehow just get dogged on for just being kids. I feel like people don’t see that these are just accurate representations of children, and need to calm down.
My first example is Muffin from Bluey. She is a wild child who is loud and full of personality. She knows what she wants and struggles with the word no, but mind you, Muffin is three. She doesn’t always behave the best and probably falls into the category of meant to be bad, but again, she’s three. She is often compared to Bluey, who is four years older than her, and Bingo, who is a year older than her, and you have to understand these comparisons are unfair to Muffin. Not only is Muffin living in a home that struggles with punishment, but she is also not of school age. She hasn’t entered school to help her learn expectations and proper socialization with others. As someone who has worked in a child care setting, I can safely say there is a Muffin in every group. They aren’t bad kids, but need guidance in learning these social development skills, and they often turn into some of the best kids.
Secondly, we have Amy March from Little Women, and I have to admit, I am bias when it comes to Amy. I think FullofIt on YouTube explains this best, so go check out her video on Amy March. Amy is the youngest of the March sisters, and when we begin the book (and movie), she is 12 years old. As someone who has been a 12 year old girl, that age just sucks, and she is just in her girly girl phase. When people say they don’t like Amy, it’s usually for one of two reasons: she burned the manuscript of Jo’s novel and “stole” Laurie from Jo. Have you never had a younger sibling? She wanted to spend time with her sisters and feels like the novel gets in the way. The pair is completely opposite, yet so similar, and clash like siblings do. I highly recommend you rewatch the burning scene, and you can see Amy feel genuine remorse and open up to her sister, but people only see the malicious action. To the point that Amy stole Laurie. Jo never loved Laurie, she loved connection. She only “loved” Laurie after losing Beth and wanted to fill the void. Laurie and Amy balance each other and care about one and other beyond just holding a friendship.
Third, a controversial take, but I saw it on a Reddit post: Meelo from Legend of Korra. Now, I will admit, he is a bit annoying at times. His fart humor and inability to take a simple task serious can become stressful and well annoying to viewers, but what five year old boy isn’t. What child doesn’t love a good fart joke? In the show, he doesn’t even reach the age of 10. To a viewer, we understand the importance of the airbenders in this society, but what ten-year-old can understand the weight of an entire society on his shoulders? As he grows older in the series, he begins maturing and taking things more seriously, but people hold the first season against him. Meelo’s character is not meant to be serious, he is supposed to be fun and carefree like his sister. He’s not supposed to be like Jinora, who’s grown up. He needs room to learn, and once we get the new Avatar series, he will probably be like adult Aang, and everyone will be like, “What happened to my man?”.
The issue is that we hold adult expectations on kids. We want them to be adults and understand actions, but that’s not how kids act. Think back to when you were a child, were you perfect? Did you make a mistake? The answer is most likely, yes. You were a kid and that was okay, that’s what it means to be a kid. They are fun and goofy. They like to play, fart, joke, and don’t take life too seriously. That’s okay. Childhood is the time when kids learn how to behave and what adulthood looks like, so why not have some fun? Holding that over them isn’t going to make the character better, we just more Jason Todd situations. I think instead of just brushing them off and saying they are brats, enjoy their excitement and naivety. Embrace the childlike wonder, and maybe, hear me out, stop bashing kids.