YMMV / Growing Around

• Accidental Nightmare Fuel: Critics have observed the setting and premise as a whole counts as this, due to the sheer amounts of Fridge Horror, making the setting accidentally come across as a saccharine dystopia ruled by child overlords, given that the way that the kids treat their adults comes across as less comedic antics out of The Simpsons, and more as them just genuinely being abusive, due to Linda being shown at one point to be genuinely afraid of Sally, and another major issue is how, despite the positions of authority between an adult and a child being swapped, people still age and develop like they'd do in real life, which is the primary source of accidental Fridge Horror.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: The premise is not one that holds up well to Fridge Horror. It takes place In a World… with Swapped Roles taken to the extreme: kids have all authority, and grown-ups must abide by their rules. Despite this, people age and develop as they do in Real Life. While the author is aware of this problem readers have, he makes it clear that he doesn't want to pen the Darker and Edgier Lord of the Flies-style Deconstruction that everyone's minds head towards, nor does he want to bog down the story to explain how such a world could work, and simply implores potential readers to take the story for what it is at face value. As a result, the crowd funding campaign for the pilot was a complete bomb. For what it's worth, while Enter hasn't abandoned the project, he later admitted that it was unrealistic to expect a TV show budget for a project like this.
• Designated Monkey: Linda/Autumn. She is frequently ridiculed by the other characters for her disinterest in childish activities and supposed lack of imagination. Many feel the harsh punishments Sally subjects her to are more disturbing than funny and it is easy to see the woman as a victim of how her society is run.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Sally's friend April is well-liked for having a vibrant fashion sense and a surprisingly deep character.
  • Anna is well-liked for her bubbly and perky personality, as well as knowing if she did anything wrong.
  • The androgynous Riley Coyote has fans for their design and mad skating and graffiti skills. They even get their own episode, which is a parody of Ace Attorney.
  • The young adult Elma garnered a following for her backstory, personality, and design.
• Love to Hate:
  • Talula Heartly had authority over Summerway, but she is portrayed as somewhat intimidating and a bully to Sally. She comes off as an interesting antagonist, and even Enter himself cited her as one of his favorite characters to write.
  • Franklin and Tiana Barrows, the snobby rich kids that bully the other Rocky Road kids. Franklin would be no worse than an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain due to his younger sister blaming him for misbehaving. And while some of the things Tiana does come close to Hate Sink territory (especially in "You Snooze, You Lose"), she also has aspects that just make her seem pitiful.
  • Like Tiana, Shane falls between this and Hate Sink. He starts off as a disgruntled adult bitter at his life, and then "Pixelotchi" happened...
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Growing Around is known less for it’s actual contents or merits and more for being created by one of the most controversial critics on YouTube and the GoFundMe asking for $350,000 to make an animated pilot that failed miserably, the latter of which Enter himself later admitted was a mistake.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Of "Flip-Flopped".
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some of it's critics argue that embracing the massive amounts of Fridge Horror within the setting and going with a Darker and Edgier, Lord of the Flies-esque, dystopic tone would make for an incredibly interesting setting, in spite of Mr. Enter wishing for the audience to take the setting at face value.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Cecelia is an adult woman who deliberately acts like a child because she wants to be one again.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Bunny in "Trust Bunny". Although a Chaotic Good (according to Word of God) prosecutor with a 100% conviction rate and a strong bias against kids who have done bad things, she blackmails Sally after the latter accidentally breaks a valuable possession of Ryker's. This makes Bunny come off more as a Well-Intentioned Extremist if anything.
  • Sally herself also comes off as this a lot, especially in the original book, where she forces her mother to wear a humiliating outfit to school as punishment for covering up her bad grades. The teacher rewards Linda for this costume out of mistaken belief it came from her own creativity, and Sally's behavior is never questioned.
• The Woobie:
  • Sally often ends up in this category. Despite her good intentions, she would sometimes disappoint the people she tries to help. She becomes more of an Iron Woobie as season 2 progresses when she runs for mayor against Talula and willingly goes through hell in several episodes.
  • Her brother Max fears growing older because it means he won't be able to run his business anymore. This eventually happens in "Panic Flip Pinball", but for a different reason.
  • Their mother Autumn lost her sense of wonder at some point in her life, which is a big reason why she doesn't do very well in school. Adding to it is that Sally sometimes acts strict towards her.
  • April is constantly ignored because she has at least over half a dozen siblings, some of which who have gotten far in life. This drives her to try being popular herself, which often comes at a price.
  • Molly is undoubtedly this in episodes such as "Jinxed" and "Eternity Forever 4Ever". ^note "Passed On" could also count if it had an official episode number.

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