While many of the child characters in the future-set stories of the After the Jungle-series are similar to their parents in many ways, there are also plenty of ways in which they differ from their parents.
The Shortmans & Shermans
- Andy, just like his dad, is very friendly/sweet-natured and is very popular among the other kids at his school—but he's also the son of Helga and can be just as aggressive as she was (and still is). Andy, unlike his dad, isn't afraid to physically fight back (but only if it's necessary) and is also generally blunter with people than his dad was.
- Also, Andy's proven himself to be a lot more passionate about sports than his dad was (although Arnold is into sports, just not to the point of where he wanted to become a professional athlete).
- Megan, who can be bratty/self-centered/manipulative/aggressive, isn't a bully like her mom was when she was a kid and much friendlier and more sweet-natured (much like Arnold). Megan's also way more of a Girly Girl than her mom ever was as a kid, being more of a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak (whereas Helga was more of a Tomboy with a Girly Streak).
- The Shortman-kids, as a whole, are much more childlike and carefree compared to Arnold and Helga when they were growing up (although Andy, Megan and Henry are still fairly smart and mature for kids their age). Also:
- Andy, Megan and Henry grew up knowing all four of their grandparentsnote and even two of their great-grandparents while also being raised by parents who're much more involved than either of Helga's parents were when she was growing upnote .
- While Arnold's an only child and Helga's the baby of her family, Andy's the oldest child in his family while Megan's both the middle child and the only daughter—Andy, Megan and Henry are also much closer in age to each other than Olga and Helga are (the Pataki-sisters are generally assumed to be around twelve years apart in age).
- Logan and Lisa (Olga's kids) have way more in common with their aunt than with their mom.
- While neither of the twins are bad students (they get decent grades and aren't failing any of their classes), but they're also not straight-A/overachieving/honor roll-students like their mom was when she was a kid—also, when it comes to all the competitions that Olga had been in when she was a kid (like beauty pageants and Hillwood's annual spelling bee), the twins have never won at any of them.
- When Lisa was little, Olga tried signing her up for stuff like ballet and piano lessons, but Lisa had no interest in either of those things (for example, Lisa apparently quit ballet after only two or three lessons).
- Though Lisa is a lot like her aunt in many ways, one of the ways that she differs from Helga (which Helga notes in "A Perfect Disaster") is that Lisa's much friendlier than her aunt was as a kid and isn't a bully in any way, shape or form.
Other Kids
- Much like Paola Baxter from FP11's Many Dates-fanfics, the Mitchell-siblings (Sky, June, Sonny and Britney) seem to be much friendlier than their mom is and even end up becoming friends with Shortman-siblings and the Johanssen-sisters in "A Trip to the Beach."
