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Might wish to review some of the discussion from this ATT from a couple of weeks ago
as much of it might be relevant to what you are asking.
The thread doesn't seem to go over being willing to hurt kids but not being willing to kill them though.
Edited by Awesomekid42
Probably Would Hurt a Child mixed with Everyone Has Standards / Even Evil Has Standards. Or maybe it's downplayed Would Hurt a Child.
Edited by mightymewtron I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
I thought it was a morality trope, in which actions or attitudes of a character condoning the harm of children specifically establish that the character is a very bad person?
So if a work has a parent using corporal punishment on a kid, but the parent isn't depicted as bad for it, it wouldn't count.
Edited by Albert3105
^ That isn't the question, though. OP is asking about people who are depicted as being willing to harm a child, as in hitting or something else, but wouldn't go so far as killing them—parents and corporal punishment don't need to even be brought into it. OP even pointed out that the other ATT that discusses it doesn't answer their question.
I think mightymewtron's distinction is best. It isn't Wouldn't Hurt a Child since they would hurt children if the situation called for it, but the Has Standards tropes can clarify that there are still levels they won't stoop to, and child murder is one of them.
Edited by Octoya
This feels like the kind of query that Trope Talk is made for.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I've been wondering about the distinction between hurting and killing and which trope would apply. If there's a character who's absolutely fine with hitting children, but will refuse to actually kill them, would that mean they'd fall under both tropes, or only one of them?