Vocabulary: All About Children

A very young child under the age of about 18 months is a baby or (more formally) an infant. A child who has just learnt to walk is a toddler. Toilet-trained or potty-trained child is a young child who controls the bowel and bladder and uses the bathroom for elimination.

The terrible twos is the condition of being a small child, around two years old, whose behaviour is often rather difficult. A tantrum is a sudden attack of childish bad temper or anger.

In Britain, the term rising fives refers to children who will soon be five years old, the age by which they must start school. Sometimes infant schools take children when they are rising fives.

A child up to the age of 9 or 10 is sometimes called a little girl or a little boy, especially by adults, and girl or boy can be used about anyone up to the age of about 20. However, someone aged betweeen 13 and 19 may prefer to be called a teenager or a young woman or a young man. Teenagers are sometimes called young adults, especially where their health or social behaviour is being formally discussed. A younger teenager may also be formally called an adolescent, but this word often shows disapproval. A youth is an older, usually male, teenager but this word, too, usually indicates disapproval:

The police arrested several youths who were fighting.

A teeny bopper is a young person between the ages of about 9 and 14, especially a girl, who is very interested in popular music and the bands who play it, the latest fashions, etc. To talk generally about anyone between the ages of 10 and 25, people would usually say simply young people (or more formally) the young. Kid (infml) is used both for children:

Let's take the kids to the park

and especially (in American English) for young people:

We met a group of college kids.

An only child has no brothers or sisters. Child prodigy is an infant with exceptional talents or powers. A tomboy is a spirited young girl who enjoys rough and noisy activities. A ragamuffin is a dirty young child in torn clothes.

Children should be seen and not heard: a phrase used especially in Victorian times to tell children to be quiet and not talk. The phrase is now used to talk about this old-fashioned idea of how children should behave.

Never work with children or animals: a phrase often said by people who work in the world of acting, as children and animals are believed to be difficult to work with, and also to get all the attention and praise because they are very sweet.