Biologically, a child (plural: children) is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent (such as sons and daughters of any age) or, metaphorically, an authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion; it can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the Sixties".
Read more about Child: Legal, Biological, and Social Definitions, Socialization, Attitudes Toward Children, Age of Responsibility, One-child Policy, Child Mortality
Famous quotes containing the word child:
“To give birth is a fearsome thing; there is no hating the child one has borne even when injured by it.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)
“And they came to an end, a dead end stirred with a flicker of life,
And they came to the withered ancient look of a child that has died of starvation.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Today’s child is growing up absurd, because he lives in two worlds, and neither of them inclines him to grow up. Growing up—that is our new work, and it is total. Mere instruction will not suffice.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)