History Main / ChildrenAreInnocent

* While ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' prefers to play this trope straight (considering Dieter, Nina and most of the Kinderheim 511 survivors), it also has the one [[EnfanteTerrible exception]]: [[BigBad Johan]], who is the "monster" in the title. [[TheSociopath And]] [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon what]] [[StrawNihilist an]] [[ManipulativeBastard exception]].
* The point of ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'' is that Children Are Innocent and you're sick if [[ColdBloodedTorture you torture them]], [[RapeAsDrama rape them]], [[TykeBomb make]] [[ChildSoldiers them]] [[TykeBomb fight a war for you]], [[ForTheEvulz or]] [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil mess with them]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil in any way whatsoever]]. Hence why [[BigBad King Hamdo]] is so reprehensible.

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* The theme of ''Freedom from Fear'' (of ''Art/FourFreedoms''). World War II is raging around the family, but the children are implied to be innocent of the horrors as they slumber peacefully.
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* Defied with several examples in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo''. Cloud gets an erection when seeing Sandra in a bathing suit and, according to Larisa, Sandra gravitates towards feeling needy for Cloud half of her waking hours. Speaking of Larisa, she has [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour pyromaniac tendencies]], jokes about being a "junkie" when she injects insulin (with the [[MistakenForJunkie predictable results]]), accuses a teacher of molesting her just so she could get out of a homework assignment and is generally [[FilleFatale very flirty at an adult level]]. Cloud's mom, Ye Thusa, used to be a Burmese guerrilla {{Child Soldier|s}}.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':
** Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta are three first grade children who latch themselves onto teenager-turned-child Conan Edogawa early in the story. As a result, they've been present for more than a few of the murders that occur whenever Conan is around. Despite this, they are still shown to retain their innocent and cheerful demeanors even as they try, with mixed success, to help Conan crack a case.
** An anime-only story has a murderer attempt to exploit this trope. After encountering teenager-turned-child Ai Haibara and noticing she's more intelligent than the average seven-year-old, the would-be culprit kidnaps her, pretends to be a fellow kidnap victim alongside Ai, and manipulates their surroundings as a means of establishing an alibi for the planned murder. The culprit's intent is that Ai's intelligence would allow for a sufficiently detailed testimony whose honesty would not be questioned due to her being a child.

* Innocent, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness lovely]], wholesome children, threatened by harm or in idyllic happiness, are a popular propaganda image for everyone, as in these posters: [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lindsay_help_daddy.jpg Australian]], [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scarborough,_North_Yorkshire_-_WWI_poster.jpg British]], [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DR_1943_859_Winterhilfswerk.jpg German]], [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remember_Belgium.jpg American]], [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ussr0425.jpg Soviet]], [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1938_Naka_yoshi_sangoku.jpg Japanese]], [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PoulbotPrisonnerParis02.jpg French]].

** "Suffer the Children", the band's first single, is centered around this topic, as Roland Orzabal (the main songwriter) elucidates in the liner notes of the 1999 ''Music/TheHurting'' remastered CD.

* Music/TearsForFears: "Swords and Knives":
-->''A waking world of innocence\\

So grave those first born cries''

* Both PlayedStraight as well as averted on Music/JohnZorn's ''Music/MusicForChildren''. The dolls in the album artwork all have an UncannyValley creepiness to them, while the liner notes make a stance for the benefits of childish innocence:
-->Rich ground for love and enthusiasm, innocence is delight in the natural charm of being and the unconscious experience of contradictions which no longer have a tragic character. To attain the virginal joy of innocence, one must not live contradictions consciously, or know tragedy and thoughts of death, because such knowledge is baffling, complex, and requires disjunction. Innocence resists tragedy but welcomes love, because the innocent, never troubled by inner contradictions have generous impulses.

-->Why did we make it so hard?\\
This life is so complicated until we see it through the eyes of a child
* Showing that RousseauWasRight, "Who Taught You How To Hate" by Music/{{Disturbed}} contrasts the judgmental, aggressive adults with the innocent, unbiased kids who play together paying no mind to their differences.

* At a certain age, all babies will try to cause havoc and get what they want. Parents will have to guide them into learning to be patient, to behave themselves, or to understand that things can't always go according to their own wishes. Of course, with some children, the education method isn't there or doesn't receive the proper effect. In the least troublesome case, the child may become a SpoiledBrat. In the worst case, juvenile delinquency. Though it must be said that children's behaviour can change drastically for the better or the worse as they grow up.

* The belief that children could not lie about terrible things led to the deaths of countless women, men, and even other children during the witch panic that swept mainly through Europe but also the US in the 17th century. Though it wasn't always the children's fault, mind you. Often times they were just saying what they thought the adults wanted to hear. The little ones often had no idea what they were even saying beyond "If I say this a person they're saying is bad will be punished"

* The development of the human brain and the rest of the body are very loosely connected, but chances are unless something terrible has happened, you aren't likely to find a kid under ten with much understanding of abstract concepts, such as death, emotions, and morality. For example, if you ask a typical child: "Who's worse, a girl who stole a dollar from her mom's purse to buy a candy bar, or a girl who stole ten dollars from her mom's purse to help a poor friend pay for lunch?" the younger the child is, the more likely they are to choose the girl who stole ten dollars, because they stole more than the girl who took one dollar, with no regards to ''why'' the girls were stealing their money.

* ''Webcomic/TheDreamlandChronicles'': How to KickTheDog [[http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-04/page-256/ abuse children]].
* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'': [[http://megatokyo.com/strip/325 The playground of little children shows the loopiest Largo's been yet.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00254.htm Florence has no complaints about children's reaction to her.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'',
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4114 even Lil' Evil was an innocent child who preferred a teddy bear to a pitchfork.]], [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3016 though later he treated babies as if not innocent.]]
* In ''Webcomic/WoodenRose'', [[http://www.woodenrosecomic.com/comic/chapter7/161.html even the newborn tree creature is innocent]].

** ''Death Masks'', Susan tells Dresden that the Red Court prey on children, which disgusts them both. Ortega offers to turn Dresden into a vampire rather than [[CombatByChampion kill him in a duel]], claiming they are NotSoDifferent. Dresden fishes until he establishes that Ortega preys on children and cites it as a difference.

Frequently children CannotTellALie, because they are too innocent to think of suppressing the truth. Children who do start to lie often show this is new to them by being momentually {{Bad Liar}}s. On the other hand, this very quality can lead to their being TooDumbToFool.

Part and parcel of this is depicting children as the other meaning of innocent: naive, guillible, and too trusting. They can [[InnocentInaccurate misunderstand anything other than the most obvious]]. This can lead into an unawareness that they're doing anything wrong. They can commit offenses unwittingly and face a BewilderingPunishment. Children have to learn empathy, and not to be self-centered, and also often have a poor grasp of consequences of their actions. This can then lead to AmbiguousInnocence.

Subtrope for ChildrenAreSpecial. In this case it is their innocence that makes them special.

* In the second season of ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi'', Chika asks the assembled female cast if they "love" Kaoru. They freak, because their definition is ''different'' than hers. The episode follows Chika's attempts to get answers from the group individually, including Aoi's explanation of the term ''[[TitleDrop Enishi]]''. At the end, Chika concludes that ''everyone'' [[TrueCompanions loves Kaoru]].

** The headmaster of the school where the kid went fired teachers if the children were failing, the logic being that kids will study as hard as they can and if they're failing it's the teachers fault.

* In ''Anime/MekkoRarekko'' it’s played straight with Buchi, who was innocent as a kid and is still very sweet and innocent as a teenager. Taishou on the other hand, who is Buchi's best and only friend, is a different case. As a kid Taishou was also very innocent as well just like Buchi. But when he met a group of kids that he wanted to be friends with, [[KidsAreCruel all of the kids bullied him, and not just a little bit]]. Taishou was bullied so much in first grade it can even be considered torture. Because of that experience, he became a bit of a bully himself. He became friends with Buchi in second grade when Buchi was being bullied because Taishou knew what Buchi was going through since he was in his position before.

* In ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', the children on the Solo Ship are represented as the indifference between the warring sides, genuinely playful and optimistic, and completely oblivious to what's happening around them. Despite Karala Ajiba being an alien, the children accept her and see the good in her, in comparison to their paranoid older counterparts. Interestingly enough, [[spoiler:In the final film, Be Invoked, it's discovered that the children's innocence is the key to controlling the Ide, with Karala's recently revealed pregnancy by human Bes Jordan acting a sign that peace is possible. However, this being a Tomino anime, Karala is shot, the Ide is ticked off, and ends both races through their intense fighting]]. The themes explored in ''Ideon'' concerning the children are retouched in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.

* In the Creator/DonRosa story ''The Prisoner Of White Agony Creek'', Scrooge is reminiscing about his gold digging days and Huey, Dewey and Louie decide to ask what happened the month he and Goldie spent alone in White Agony Creek. Donald has a massive OhCrap moment before shoving the boys away. While they may be innocent, Donald can probably imagine what happens when two people with BeligerentSexualTension spend a month alone together.
* In ''ComicBook/Primer2020'' , flashbacks show protagonist Ashley Rayburn as this, where she listened to her father to give him while he was in a fight with the police. He then murders the officer, and she greatly regrets what happened.

** Played with even more so in Chen's case in that, naturally, being a the mental-equivalent of a human child, has fluctuating maturity, and knows what some words mean but doesn't know what other words means but is also naive to what infertility is. Also, in 20XXIII, she pretty much knows there is a war going on but doesn't understand why Ran would be against building an inner core or refuge as a part of their preparations. At the same time, later on, in ''Gensokyo 20XXIV'', at two points, she couldn't understand why Ran had changed and, later on, attempted suicide, something children '''''don't''''' do. However, aside from her innocence, she is smarter than what she tends to let on.

** Definitely played straight with Maribel and Renko. When first introduced, seem to be unaware that the place where they were was once nuked or that their life has changed. If they are aware that their life has changed, then they don't seemed to be fazed by it. Also, they have no clue where babies come from and it prompts them to ask.
** Also played straight in ''Foundling'' (a branch off) with Reimu, who thinks its normal to live in a forest full of youkai and neither is she fazed by their overall oddness, however, being so young, she hasn't learned otherwise.

** Alt!Jane and Garrus were a big offender of this trope. [[DarkAndTroubledPast Her lost of innocence from a young age]] caused her to be overprotective to their son Gaius so when they had to explain Alt!Garrus's constantly away for his work of reforming the Hierarchy, instead of expose the truth to Gaius that "your dad does it because he's fighting against the people who want to hurt or even kill you and your kind", they just went with "I will explain it when you're older". This made Gaius misunderstood that his father hated and wanted nothing to do with him. Had they just gave Gaius the truth, the child would have felt less hurt and be more understanding of the situation.
** Alt!Victus also did it to Tiberius. He overcompensated for his son lack of motherly affection by shielding the child from every bad thing, even the flaws of others. But by constantly telling the child stories about Tarquin's heroic deeds without reveal anything bad about his deceased older brother, Victus has effectively put Tarquin on a pedestal, made Tib seeing himself as unworthiness and thus damaged his self-esteem beyond repair when he grew up.
*** Victus being into on this trope also cause him to not believe Tib when the kid tried to tell him that he was being bullied at school, it wasn't until Alt!Shepard confirmed it to him that Adrien realized that [[KidsAreCruel he was wrong]].

** This is equally played with with Nui, though, to a lesser extent, as, despite being about six, she's [[WiseBeyondTheirYears knows more than a six year old would]] but she, like Ryuuko, doesn't know what a miscarriage is.
* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', Inko Midoriya believes that the alien baby she and her husband Hisashi found to be innocent, since he's just a baby. Hisashi is convinced that the baby is somehow an EnfantTerrible. Inko's assumption proves to be true once they start raising the baby as their son Izuku.

* In ''Fanfic/ThingsJadeHates'', Jade's six year old brother doesn't realize how abusive and dangerous his mother is. He doesn't remember why his mother was arrested and doesn't pick up on the animosity in the house.

* ''Fanfic/TheMiraculousWorldOfCalineBustier'': Sabine Chang and Caline Bustier take up the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses temporarily when the normal bearers are incapacitated. [[MamaBear They nearly beat Mayura to death with their bare hands for threatening their kids]]. Caline admits after that maybe the reason teenagers are chosen for this duty is because they are innocent enough not to jump straight to using their superpowers for brutal murder.

* This is an important plot point from the ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' film, where the power from the guardians depend of the belief of the human children in them.

* Just about every movie made before [[TheFifties the mid-1950s]] invoked this trope. Children were almost always portrayed as innocent and trusting, with nary a shed of cruelty or disrespect. This began to change once Youth Counterculture became a major social issue during the 1950's, with ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'' being first among the stories to abandon this trope.

** This trope is used to differentiate the two killers. [[HitmanWithAHeart Léon]] refuses to kill children (or women), while [[NaughtyNarcs Norman Stansfield]] has no problem gunning down a four year old child.

-->'''The Waco Kid''': ''Well, it got so that every piss-ant prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out the Waco Kid. I must have killed more men than Cecil B. De Mille. It got pretty gritty. I started to hear the word "draw" in my sleep. Then one day, I was just walking down the street when I heard a voice behind me say, "Reach for it, mister!" I spun around... and there I was, face-to-face with a six-year old kid. Well, I just threw my guns down and walked away. Little bastard shot me in the ass. So I limped to the nearest saloon, crawled inside a whiskey bottle, and I've been there ever since.''

* Downplayed in ''Film/ToKillADragon''. The children already show sign of being corrupted by the Dragon. However, it is implied that they can have their free will restored, whereas most of the adults are too far gone and will forever remain slaves at heart.

** ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Orphans Of Chaos]]'' it is explicitly invoked, when Mrs. Wren [[GodIsGood asks Vanity and Amelia to pray for her, because God will hear the prayers]] of the "young and sweet" better than hers. Later in the same work, Amelia ponders that KidsAreCruel, and while some adults take advantage of their power to do wrong, others don't -- and wouldn't they be more innocent, because their opportunities are greater?

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Two Towers]]'', Theoden throws off Saruman's charming voice citing the children who died from his attack (plus their [[DueToTheDead multilation of the dead]]).

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials''. Children are immune to the Spectres, and can have special affinity to the Alethiometer, and have transforming daemons symbolizing their infinite potential - but one of the main themes of the books is that children have to grow up, and it's not a bad thing. Neither Will nor Lyra take directly part in the war against the Authority; they don't share Lord Asriel's RageAgainstTheHeavens - they're just trying to survive. [[spoiler:They do end up killing the Authority, but it's not an act of violence; they didn't know who he was, and were trying to help him.]] Then again, one is a murderer, and the other is 'only' a sometimes foul mouth brawler who prides herself in her ability to lie to anyone and approves of the other being a murderer. Most other children are likewise depicted similarly, so 'innocence' is a relative concept.

* Played every way but straight in the ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series by Michael Grant, where every character is a child. On one end of the scale, you've got the evil, malicious kids: a BigBad, an [[AxCrazy Ax Crazy sadist]], a manipulative SmugSnake, a DarkActionGirl who can make people see monsters, an [[FightingAShadow avatar for the alien monster]], and a [[FantasticRacism racist]] [[ANaziByAnyOtherName cult leader]]. A little bit lighter gray, you've got a lot of kids who are only looking out for themselves, a [[TechnoWizard techie genius]] who is [[ChronicBackStabbingDisorder forever changing sides]], a greedy teenage businessman, and a hypocritical [[TheFundamentalist Christian fundamentalist]] who will lie when it suits her but won't tolerate it in others. For the lightest gray, our heroes are a few well-meaning kids who crack under pressure. All under 15 years old at the start of the series. It's a world of GreyAndGrayMorality, with no room for innocence.
* Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/KnightsOfTheFortyIslands'' is a case of PlayingWithATrope. Aliens abduct teenagers ([[spoiler:duplicates, actually]]) and distribute them among the forty islands connected by bridges. They are told that the group that manages to conquer all forty islands gets to go home. The kids are supplied with wooden swords that turn into metal whenever they get aggressive (i.e. fight). Dima quickly learns that this is not a game, and people really die here. Very quickly, the teens realize that it is simply impossible to conquer all forty islands, as each island only has no more than a dozen people. Eventually, the protagonist suggests allying with the nearby islands in order to be able to achieve their goal. While this works at first, it later turns into a disaster, as their former allies turn on them, kill the boys, and {{rape|AsDrama}} the girls. In fact, they find remains of children from UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo era who have tried the same thing with the identical results. This novels seems to be about breaking every child stereotype to claim that, under the right circumstances, even a child is capable of anything. The worst thing is, [[spoiler:[[TheCakeIsALie the aliens never planned to release anyone]]]].
* Deconstructed in Creator/JoeHill's ''Literature/NOS4A2'' where the children of Christmasland are innocent forever, which means they never learn or gain experience or develop empathy. As one character states, "Innocent little kids rip the wrings off flies, because they don't know any better." In other words, perpetual innocence means no CharacterDevelopment, for good or ill.

* In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Beatrice says that only children are innocent among humanity, and that as soon as they mature they become ravenously evil. She goes so far to say that a child will learn to speak intelligently at the same time they first hope to see their mother dead and buried.

** Played straight by Tommen and Myrcella Baratheon in contrast to their brother Joffrey. Tommen comes off as a genuinely sweet kid, and is nice to Sansa. Myrcella is also nice to Sansa and seems genuinely excited to see her and Joffrey get married. In the 5th season, [[spoiler: Myrcella is killed by Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes for revenge on the Lannisters and the death of Oberyn]], even though she had very little involvement since she was in Dorne at the time [[spoiler: When Oberyn was killed]]. In the 7th season, Tyrion calls them out on it, saying that she was innocent and didn't deserve it.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Series/The100''. While most of the 100 are in their late teens, it's twelve-year-old Charlotte, seemingly the youngest of the group, who's the first to commit murder on the Ground. However, while the 100 are ready to lynch Murphy (who appears to be sixteen or seventeen) when they think he's the murderer, they're suddenly not so willing when they find out it was Charlotte. Murphy thinks this is unfair, and demands Charlotte be executed just like he almost was. Much of an episode is spent trying to protect her from Murphy; even friends of the person she killed come to her defence. Charlotte, however, doesn't think she deserves this protection, and ultimately kills herself.

* Some religions go as far to preach being like something even younger than a child, like the Zen koan: "What did your face look like before your parents were born?".
* Most mainstream Christian Denominations believe that children are incapable of committing major sins by virtue of their youth. It is also generally believed that all baptized children who die immediately go to Heaven (what happens to unbaptized children is debated). In the Catholic Church, those who have not yet reached maturity are considered to be unable to commit mortal sin on the basis that they lack reason (and by extension lack full knowledge, one of the requirements necessary for a sin to be mortal). Additionally the Catholic Church holds that any baptized person who dies before attaining reason goes to Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church concludes that while it can't be said for sure what happens to baptized children, there is good reason to believe that God has mercy on them (perhaps even letting them into Heaven) on the basis that Jesus was a FriendToAllChildren. Other denominations that don't practice infant baptism believe instead that all people are born sinful, and accepting salvation is a private, personal decision, of which baptism is merely a symbol. However, those who die without having the faculties to make such an important decision (namely, children and the mentally handicapped) are still believed to get a pass.
* In Islam, children who have not yet reached maturity are one of the three categories of people for whom "the pen has been lifted" (i.e. Allah does not hold them accountable for wrongdoings). Additionally it is held that all children who die before maturity go to Heaven, even if non-Muslim children.

* The introduction of ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'' depicts adults in general as judgmental, unaccomplished and cowardly. The only admirable ones are those with childlike hearts.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is complex. While Link and Aryll are still innocent, Tetra defies it with all her might. After all, a pirate captain has no need of such a thing. Then she [[spoiler:turns into innocent Princess Zelda who takes up a bow and helps Link kill Ganondorf rather in an incredibly brutal way. When the fight is over, the King of Hyrule calls the gods themselves out to this trope, refering to Link and Tetra.]] Also, many players have noted that, aside from Link and Aryll, most of the children in the game behave like small adults, especially (aside from Tetra) Medli.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'': The spirit of a priest is convinced that "the child" can't have committed the crimes he was convicted of. It turns out "The Child" is a brilliant liar who was more than capable of murder by arson and centuries old due to being trapped in a furnace and so isn't a child anymore anyways. If the requirements are met, joins the party in control of a mish-mash of spirits called One Of Many.

* While played mostly straight in ''Nightmare Realm'', there is exception for [[spoiler:Jeff and Phillip, who are both BigBad in different ways.]] To be fair [[spoiler:the latter is a BrokenBird while the former is implied to be one: Phillip wants to maintain the Dream World(later transformed into Dark City) because he don't want to go back to be IllBoy while Jeff wants to be [[IJustWantToBeSpecial talented in somethings]].]]

** Quark, one of the Nonary Game players in ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' is one of the nicer people in the game and won't vote Betray when he can (when it occurs in the game [[spoiler: it's when Quark is paired with [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Dio]] and he is quickly forgiven]]). [[spoiler: He's surprisingly optomistic for someone who grew up in the Apocalypse.]]

* Defied with several examples in ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo''. Cloud gets an erection when seeing Sandra in bathing-suit and, according to Larisa, Sandra graviates towards feeling needy for Cloud half of her waking hours. Speaking of Larisa, she has [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour pyromanic tendencies]], jokes about being a "junkie" when she injects insulin (with the [[MistakenForJunkie predictable results]]), accuses a teacher of molesting her just so she could get out of a homework assignment and is generally [[FilleFatale very flirty at an adult level]]. Cloud's mom, Ye Thusa, used to be a Burmese guerrilla {{Child Soldier|s}}.

'''Sweet old lady''': It was nice to get them so early, before they inevitably turn to utter shit like the rest of humanity.

** "My Big Fat Greek Bob". Linda doesn't realize until Gretchen starts selling a vibrator that the "Lady Goods" she sells are sex toys. Louise and Gene have no idea what it is but want it for different reasons, causing Linda to order them to their rooms. Tina seems to have an idea what they are, but is still sent to her room as well.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Tenzin's children Jinora, Ikki and Meelo are playful and sweet characters who have a PluckyComicRelief role in the story (Though occasionally they have a couple of BadassAdorable moments)
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'': Orel is so trusting and naive that he takes everything he Learns form the adults at face value. Lampshade at one point.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', flashbacks show that Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee were all nice kids, but ''Azula'' was an EnfantTerrible. [[spoiler:According to her, her own mother saw her as a monster.]] This trope comes up again when Katara finds a painting that she believes to be a Zuko as a baby. Zuko responds that it isn't him in the painting: it's his father, Firelord Ozai, the BigBad. The group find themselves disturbed looking at [[UsedToBeASweetKid this innocent, happy child while knowing the monster he'd one day grow up to be]].

** The show runs on inverting this trope for BlackComedy. Even the good main characters are foul-mouthed and mean to each other. The creators even mention their disbelief in this trope on the commentary.

* At a certain age, all babies will try to cause havoc and get what they want. Parents will have to guide them into learning to be patient, to behave themselves or to understand that things can't always go according to their own wishes. Of course, with some children, the education method isn't there or doesn't receive the proper effect. In the least troublesome case, the child may become a SpoiledBrat. In the worst case juvenile delinquency. Though it must be said that children's behaviour can change drastically for the better or the worse as they grow up.

* Age restriction legislation exists in North America prohibiting minors from purchasing and partaking of tobacco, pornographic material, and liquor. Minor ages, however, differ, between states and provinces of Canada and America. However, the minor ages usually range from 18-21. Other countries in particular European countries have different laws permitting minors to consume liquor in the supervision of parents or caregivers. As with tobacco, the definition of minors differs. Cinematic content is also governed by similar laws, where minors may be permitted to view R-rated movies with the presence and supervision of an adult non-minor. Minor laws differ between jurisdictional countries. For violating the tobacco and liquor restrictions adults could be fined and imprisoned for 2 years as with corruption of a minor.

* The belief that children could not lie about terrible things led to the deaths of countless women, men and even other children during the witch panic that swept mainly through Europe but also the US in the 17th century. Though it wasn't always the children's fault, mind you. Often times they were just saying what they thought the adults wanted to hear. The little ones often had no idea what they were even saying beyond "If I say this a person they're saying is bad will be punished"
** This same behavior led to the slew of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria child molestation allegations]] throughout the '80's and early '90's, the most infamous example being the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial [=McMartin=] case]], in which investigators actually looked for secret tunnels under the daycare facility because children claimed that they'd been abused there.
* The development of the human brain and the rest of the body are very loosely connected, but chances are unless something terrible has happened, you aren't likely to find a kid under ten with much understanding of abstract concepts, such as death, emotions, and morality. For an example, if you ask a typical child: "Who's worse, a girl who stole a dollar from her mom's purse to buy a candy bar, or a girl who stole ten dollars from her mom's purse to help a poor friend pay for lunch?" the younger the child is, the more likely they are to choose the girl who stole ten dollars, because they stole more than the girl who took one dollar, with no regards to ''why'' the girls were stealing their money.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23439556 What To Do When Your Class Field Trip Is Attacked,]]'' Sabine Chang and Caline Bustier take up the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses temporarily when the normal bearers are incapacitated. [[MamaBear They nearly beat Mayura to death with their bare hands for threatening their kids]]. Caline admits after that maybe the reason teenagers are chosen for this duty is because they are innocent enough not to jump straight to using their superpowers for brutal murder.

Expect those who buy into this trope to hold that any villain character UsedToBeASweetKid until [[StartOfDarkness something bad happened to them]], especially if they also believe that RousseauWasRight. Sometimes that "sometime bad" is as simple as [[TeensAreMonsters puberty]] and thus "worldly experience" which again ties into the New Testament stuff.

[[caption-width-right:320:CreepyBlueEyes not with standing.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'':
** Sid tortures toys for fun. On one hand, it's easy to imagine this kid growing up to torture his fellow humans. On the other hand, he didn't know the toys were alive.
** Also, Andy in the first two films: a CheerfulChild who plays with his toys to drown out the world's cruelties.

* Music/MichaelJackson '''always''' played this trope completely straight in his work, and frequently claimed that children could/would right the wrongs in the world through their innocent goodness if only adults would listen to them.

--> ''Rich ground for love and enthusiasm, innocence is delight in the natural charm of being and the unconscious experience of contradictions which no longer have a tragic character. To attain the virginal joy of innocence, one must not live contradictions consciously, or know tragedy and thoughts of death, because such knowledge is baffling, complex, and requires disjunction. Innocence resists tragedy but welcomes love, because the innocent, never troubled by inner contradictions have generous impulses.''

-->''Why did we make it so hard?''\\
''This life is so complicated until we see it through the eyes of a child''

* Averted with extreme prejudice by ''Film/TheBadSeed'' and its [[GenderFlip Gender Flipped]] counterpart ''Film/TheGoodSon''

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* Averted with extreme prejudice by the ''Film/TheBadSeed'' and its [[GenderFlip Gender Flipped]] counterpart ''Film/TheGoodSon''
* Mocked in ''Film/BlazingSaddles''. This belief was the undoing of the Waco Kid way back when.

* Just about every movie made before the mid-1950's invoked this trope. Children were almost always portrayed as innocent and trusting, with nary a shed of cruelty or disrespect. This began to change once Youth Counterculture became a major social issue during the 1950's, with ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'' being first among the stories to abandon this trope.

* This is used to differentiate the two killers in ''Film/TheProfessional''. [[ProfessionalKiller Léon]] refuses to kill children (or women), while [[DirtyCop Stansfield]] has no problem gunning down a 6-year-old.

%%* Inverted by the play and movie ''Film/TheBadSeed'' (and its remake "The Good Son").

** The headmaster of the school where the kid went fired teachers if the children were failing, the logic being that kids will study as hard as they can and if they're failing its the teachers fault.
* Haru initially believes this in ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn!''. During their first meeting with her, Reborn is with Tsuna. Naru asks to be friends with Reborn, then to hug him. After Reborn tells her he is an assassin, she punches Tsuna, telling him that babies are innocent, pristine angels, an he should be ashamed of himself for tainting him. She changes her mind soon enough.

* ''FanFic/AGrowingAffection'' has Minato cite this as one of the reasons he sealed the Nine-Tails in Naruto; as an innocent baby/child, he would be more resistant to the demon's influence.

* Played With in ''FanFic/Gensokyo20XX'' in terms of mostly Reimu and Chen and later on the others.

* ''FanFic/ItsNotTheRaptorDNA'':

* One of the biggest focuses in ''FanFic/AGladDay'' is how all babies and non-brainwashed children are innocent and in need of protection. Ultimately the goal of the good guys is [[spoiler: to save the unborn Trunks, reincarnated Goku, and ten thousand toddler Saiyans whose infant conditioning was sabotaged by Bulma and the resistance]] specifically because of this trope.

* ''FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:''