The Signs of the Times by Christopher Ness

This is often the result of a neglectful or abusive family or by finding out themselves without their parents knowing. This is Truth in Television insofar as there are indeed preteens out there who smoke, drink alcohol, have sex with each other, and so on. This is for when actual children are the ones engaging in unchildlike behavior. Note that if the kid is Really 700 Years Old and just has the physical appearance of a child, it doesn't count. If the child has unchildlike media consumption, it's Entertainment Above Their Age. If most of the kids in the work exhibit Troubling Unchildlike Behavior in general, Most Writers Are Adults can be tied into it.Ĭontrast with Wise Beyond Their Years and Adorably Precocious Child (which are about positive strangely adult behavior), Psychopathic Manchild (which is when an adult acts like a child and has disturbing behavior) and Acting Your Intellectual Age (which is neutral). Troubled Child (and its teenage counterpart, Troubled Teen) is a more sympathetic portrayal of this trope, as the child is engaging in this unchildlike behavior as a result of a Dark and Troubled Past rather than contempt for authority.įor when kids see things (or have things happen to them) that they shouldn't instead of do things they shouldn't, see Harmful to Minors. The Fille Fatale is considered this less than is plausible, since sexual precociousness is often a sign of sexual abuse.Ĭhild Soldiers are a particularly tragic and horrific example of this.

Children who are Conditioned to Accept Horror are often tragic examples, being forced to age quickly in order to survive their surroundings. From the Mouths of Babes is the Sub-Trope where the child only says troubling unchildlike things.

The Fake Cutie may also be prone to this, but not all the time. The Creepy Child, the Enfant Terrible, and the Evil Orphan draw much of their force from this. Other times, the kid is trying an 'adult' behavior for the first time, which may sometimes have disastrous consequences. Sometimes the kid is shown engaging in such behavior as though it's normal for them, and this can be used to show that the child has had a harsh upbringing. In fiction, there are two ways this tends to occur. Yes, many adults get upset when a 15-year-old drinks beer, but when a 10-year-old does it, outrage turns to concern and worry.

What we don't expect kids to do is to drink alcohol, smoke, have sex, use drugs, hitchhike, commit violent crimes, or do other things we only associate with adults and older teenagers. That means worrying about kid things and doing kid things, such as playing outside, watching TV, going fishing, or whatever it is that kids do locally. Kids should be kids, at least that's how the saying goes.

The Signs of the Times by Christopher Ness