Friend to All Children: Difference between revisions

[[File:StainedGlass.jpg|frame|Let the children come to me, do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.]]

 

 

Just describing a character as being fond of (or at least having a soft spot for) children is an automatic [[Pet the Dog]] since [[Children Are Innocent]] with bonus points if [[Licked by the Dog|the kids like the character back]]. Characters who [[Child-Hater|don't like kids]] are usually villains or, at most, anti-heroic. Note that this trope doesn't apply if it is a disguise put on to avoid suspicion for something [[Lolicon|else]] [[Shotacon|entirely...]]

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Berserk]]'', of all series plays with this concerning [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Guts]] of all people. Even though he's regularly a dick to anyone and everyone (including kids), it's usually for their own protection (and because he does not want to see them hurt). Despite the emotional scars of his own horrific childhood (or perhaps because of them) and his gruff nature, [[Aloof Big Brother|children seem to just love him.]] Unfortunately, considering [[It Got Worse|the nature of the series]], {{spoiler|Wouldn'tHurtAChild}} is subverted horribly in the most graphic and heartbreaking way possible.

* A defining trait of any of the heroes in ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''. Kenshiro himself is one of the most famous [[Papa Wolf|Papa Wolves]] in anime and manga, but the biggest examples are Fudoh and Shu.

* Frowski the Crimson Bullet, from ''[[Beet the Vandel Buster]]'', loves kids and animals...but only at a certain level of cuteness. After that, they're dead meat.

* [[Wolverine]] in the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' comics has a tendency to take on a mentor/big-brother role to the younger members of the team. Starting with Kitty Pryde, then Jubilee, and currently [[X-23]] and Armour, as well as a Team up with the [[Power Pack]] and 5 year old Katie Power. All his mentoring storylines were combined into Rogue for ''[[X-Men 1]]''.

** Case in point, when his rivalry with Cyclops boiled over in ''Schism'' and they came to blows, it was over the issue of getting the younger X-Men involved in combat; with Cyclops willing to allow it but Wolverine dead-set against it. In the wake of the event, Wolverine took his half of the X-Men and re-established the school for young mutants that the group originally had been.

 

== Film ==

* The Greek goddess Artemis is the protector of young animals and children, especially virgin girls. Her brother Apollo is patron of boys...although when one reads about Hyacinth and Cyparissus, he comes across as more of a pedophile.

 

 

== Theatre ==

* In ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'', one of Dr. Horrible's reasons for refusing to fight a self-proclaimed nemesis in the City Park is that "there's kids in that park." Also, when told he has to kill someone to enter the Evil League of Evil, he's offered the suggestion of a child who is destined to become President of the United States. Dr. Horrible replies that he's not going to kill a kid.

* Harley Morenstein, of [[EPICMEALTIME]] fame, draws the line at [[Black Comedy|dead baby comedy]] and gives apple pies to kids when he was shopping at [[McDonald's]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* WWII Russian soldier example: the German army pushed the Russian defenders back to the river in Stalingrad; in a furious battle, the Russians surrounded the city, cut off the Germans from their supply lines and started to annihilate them room-by-room and building-by-building. Some children who were kept as servants by the German army were trapped in such a building, and called out in fear. The Russian soldiers who found them immediately formed a defense perimeter and escorted them to safety. Some of the children were adopted into the unit because they were orphans. Years later, one child related, "The one who found us shouted, 'Lads, there are kids in here!' I had never seen men cry."

* Another WWII example: A German soldier was sweeping a village looking for contraband. He poked his head up into the attic of a cottage to find several hiding Jewish children. When another soldier called to him from below to ask if he had found anything, he replied, "No," and left.

* [[Michael Jackson]] tried to give himself this image, possibly due to [[Freudian Excuse|not really having a childhood himself]]. It famously backfired on him and, until very recently, he was more known for the various (and never convicted) pedophilia scandals than his music.

** Though in fairness, Macaulay Culkin met Jackson while a child and considered him a dear friend for the rest of the latter's life.

* Fred Rogers, a man who devoted his life to children, and helped raise an entire generation of them via ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood|Mister Rogers Neighborhood]]''.

* [[Angelina Jolie]]. Over the past decade, she's criss-crossed the globe on behalf of UNICEF and UNHCR, often in the company of her significant other [[Brad Pitt]], and regularly takes time out from her movie shoots to work on some project involving children or refugees (or refugee children). She often keeps her work low-key so as not to have her celebrity status distract from the matter at hand; for instance, at the time of this writing, she and Pitt have visited Bosnia to look into the issue of civilians who haven't been able to return home even 15 years after the war's end, but are making no public appearances.

* [[Doug Walker]], [[Mean Character, Nice Actor/Real Life|in a much less screwed up way than his character of]] [[The Nostalgia Critic]]. You only have to put on a random VLog or commentary to see how much he cares about children and hates movies that treat them like idiots.

* [[Jim Henson]]. Really, what more needs to be said?

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Goodness Tropes]]

[[Category:Purity Personified]]