History Main / NaughtyIsGood

* {{Naruto}}, [[CharacterTitle from]] ''[[CharacterTitle Naruto]]''.

** Interestingly, all the Kids Next Door appear to be pretty good sons/daughters if not 'good' kids. They all stop in their tracks when their parents tell them too. Possibly because there appears to be 'good' adults and 'bad' adults.
** Isn't that TruthInTelevision?

* ''DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' ''is'' this trope. The protagonist, Greg, isn't what you'd call a good kid, and most of the time he's not even aware of how morally wrong his behaviour is.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' tends to play with this trope a lot; while the protagonist, Ben Tennyson, is an immature kid who is not above to use his powers for childish reason, and as such seems to play it straight, his attitude is often shown to attract him trouble and get in the way of his heroic actions. It's usually only when he gets serious he proves to be a true hero, and his maturity in the sequel ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce is portrayed as a good change (though he later turned back to immature due to {{Flanderization}}). Moreover, his arc enemy and rival Kevin, who is even more mischevious than him, is portrayed as AxCrazy in the original show and a AntiHero in the sequels.
** Ben's cousin, Gwen, is a more ambivalous case; she sure is much more reasonnable than Ben, but her exact portrayal is unclear; in the original show, she was a DeadpanSnarker and could occasionnally appear as bitchy to Ben, but she was definitely not evil nor boring. In the sequels, she is portrayed as less snarky.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' tends to play with this trope a lot; while the protagonist, Ben Tennyson, is an immature kid who is not above to use his powers for childish reason, and as such seems to play it straight, his attitude is often shown to attract him trouble and get in the way of his heroic actions. It's usually only when he gets serious he proves to be a true hero, and his maturity in the sequel ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce is portrayed as a good change (though he later turned back to immature due to {{Flanderization}}). Moreover, his arc enemy and rival Kevin, who is even more mischevious than him, is portrayed as an AxCrazy CompleteMonster in the original show and a AntiHero in the sequels.

* ''CalvinAndHobbes''. Calvin is a little hellion a lot of the time, but the strip just wouldn't have been nearly as good if he were well-behaved.

This trope has been around in some form for quite a while, at least since the early twentieth century. Before that, especially during the Victorian era, naughty children in fiction would usually endure very bad [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin repercussions for their actions]]... [[DisproportionateRetribution sometimes these repercussions would far outweigh the actions they committed]]. After all, in Victorian times, MostWritersAreAdults was in force to an even greater degree than it is today.

** Ben's cousin, Gwen, is a more ambivalous case; she sure is much more reasonnable than Ben, but her exact portrayal is [[YourMileageMayVary unclear]]; in the original show, she was a DeadpanSnarker and could occasionnally appear as bitchy to Ben, but she was definitely not evil nor boring. In the sequels, she is portrayed as less snarky.

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[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* Usagi from ''SailorMoon'' starts out as one at the beginning of the manga version, but then she grows out of it as the manga progresses.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' tends to play with this trope a lot; while the protagonist, Ben Tennyson, is an immature kid who is not above to use his powers for childish reason, and as such seems to play it straight, his attitude is often shown to attract him trouble and get in the way of his heroic actions. It's usually only when he gets serious he proves to be a true hero, and his maturity in the sequel Ben10AlienForce is portrayed as a good change (though he later turned back to immature due to {{Flanderization}}). Moreover, his arc enemy and rival Kevin, who is even more mischevious than him, is portrayed as an AxCrazy CompleteMonster in the original show and a AntiHero in the sequels.

* {{Ben10}} tends to play with this trope a lot; while the protagonist, Ben Tennyson, is an immature kid who is not above to use his powers for childish reason, and as such seems to play it straight, his attitude is often shown to attract him trouble and get in the way of his heroic actions. It's usually only when he gets serious he proves to be a true hero, and his maturity in the sequel Ben10AlienForce is portrayed as a good change (though he later turned back to immature due to {{Flanderization}}). Moreover, his arc enemy and rival Kevin, who is even more mischevious than him, is portrayed as an AxCrazy CompleteMonster in the original show and a AntiHero in the sequels.

* {{Ben10}} tends to play with this trope a lot; while the protagonist, Ben Tennyson, is an immature kid who is not above to use his powers for childish reason, and as such seems to play it straight, his attitude is often shown to attract him trouble and get in the way of his heroic actions. It's usually only when he gets serious he proves to be a true hero, and his maturity in the sequel Ben10AlienForce is portrayed as a good change (though he later turned back to immature due to {{Flanderization}}). Moreover, his ArcEnnemy and rival Kevin, who is even more mischevious than him, is portrayed as an AxCrazy CompleteMonster in the original show and a AntiHero in the sequels.

** Interestingly, all the Kids Next Door appear to be pretty good sons/daughters if not 'good' kids. They all stop in their tracks parents tell them too. Possibly because there appears to be 'good' adults and 'bad' adults.

* ''TheDandy'' has/had this with most of its characters like Beryl the Peril, Cuddles and Dimples, etc., but Bully Beef and Chips subverted it somewhat.

* The ''Tracy Beaker'' series.

* The ''Tracy Beaker'' series.

* ''JustWilliam'' is the terror of his family and his teachers, and pretty much the embodiment of every "undesirable" trait an eleven-year-old boy can have, but he's also a beloved children's book protagonist. His friends, the Outlaws, are pretty much the same type of characters, though the series do also include some "naughty" children who are portrayed in a far less favorable light and serve as occasional antagonists. "Good" children tend to swing between being well-meaning but annoying nuisances and malicious antagonists.

* Not exactly the same, but ill-mannered Goofus, of Highlights' "Goofus & Gallant" fame, tends to be more the favorite of many readers then the prissy Gallant.

This doesn't necessarily mean the kids will ''get away'' with being naughty in NaughtyIsGood stories. They're just as likely to find they CantGetAwayWithNuthin, but the story will still be on their side, rather than just saying "And it served them right!"

Well-behaved children are often antagonists to the main character if he or she is a child, and these "good" kids can be portrayed as being anything from just [[GoodIsBoring absolute bores]], to evil incarnate. This trope has been around in some form for quite a while, at least since the early twentieth century. Before that, especially during the Victorian era, naughty children in fiction would usually endure very bad [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin repercussions for their actions]]... [[DisproportionateRetribution sometimes these repercussions would far outweigh the actions they committed]]. After all, in Victorian times, MostWritersAreAdults was in force to an even greater degree than it is today.

The reason for this might be because the well behaved children in the stories are often viewed as being [[TheDragon suck-ups]] to the evil [[TheBigBad adults]], [[AlwaysChaoticEvil who only want to take away all the fun stuff for little kids]]. These kids also tend to be 'tattle tales' if they're real sticklers for the rules.

** Intrestingly, all the Kids Next Door appear to be pretty good sons/daughters if not 'good' kids. They all stop in their tracks parents tell them too. Possibly because there appears to be 'good' adults and 'bad' adults.

The reason for this might be because the well behaved children in the stories are often viewed as being [[TheDragon suck-ups]] to the evil [[TheBigBad adults]], who only want to take away all the fun stuff for little kids. These kids also tend to be 'tattle tales' if they're real sticklers for the rules.

The reason for this might be because the well behaved children in the stories are often viewed as [[TheDragonbeing suck-ups]] to the evil [[TheBigBad adults]], who only want to take away all the fun stuff for little kids. These kids also tend to be 'tattle tales' if they're real sticklers for the rules.

* Gene Kemp's "Cricklewood School" series, starting with ''The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler'', all feature kids who are basically decent, but end up causing trouble, usually due to the inflexibility of a SadistTeacher. The exception is ''Gowie Corby Plays Chicken'', where the title character is an outright bully who LearnsBetter.