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{{trope}}
In cartoons, kids are portrayed as being way shorter than adults, even kids who are seven to twelve years in age. In real life, seven year olds are on average four feet tall, but in cartoons, seven to eleven year olds are often drawn to be only half adult height. Despite that children are rather small when they're young, it doesn't stay this way for long in real life (unless that is, they have a growth condition but that's another story entirely), especially when puberty sets in and they outgrow clothes faster than they get new ones. In some cartoons however, it's much more exaggerated. Even ten and eleven year olds only appear two feet tall.
Usually, this is done as an exaggeration and to play around for fun with. Because children often feel overpowered by their parents and other adults, they're drawn much shorter. Especially when it's told from their point of view. Sometimes, all that's visible of their parents are their legs. Bully and jock characters tend to be shown at heights that are more realistic for their age, however.
However, this is not a [[Universal Trope]] and sometimes children are scaled to a more realistic size. Having said that, though, it's prevalent ''enough'' that averting the trope may lead to the audience being confused about how old a child character is actually supposed to be.
[[Teens Are Short]] refers to simply having most teens be identified by being shorter than adults, especially in [[Dawson Casting]]. This applies to four to twelve year old children being RIDICULOUSLY small for their age, to the point that they are only as tall as toddlers. Classic cartoons often invert this trope and [[Teens Are Short]] for laughs.
This is seen to a much smaller degree in live action television, where smaller actors may be chosen instead of a taller actor.
Related to [[Animation Anatomy Aging]]. [[Teens Are Short]] is the teenage version. Compare [[Miniature Senior Citizens]].
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== Anime and Manga ==
* The main character in the ''[[Pokémon (
* [[Child Prodigy|Leon]], [[Bratty Half-Pint|Rebecca,]] and [[Morality Pet|Mokuba]] on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. [[And Zoidberg|And Yugi]]...except he's the same age as the rest of the cast.
* ''[[Detective Conan]]'' comes to mind. He comes up to the knees of most adults, as does most of his classmates. Particularly funny since Genta, who is around the size of an ACTUAL kid that age, looks like a giant in comparison...
* Yachiru and Nel in ''[[Bleach]]'' are drawn like this. Yachiru seems even smaller than she is because she hangs out with Kenpachi, who is very large.
* In ''[[Gurren Lagann]]'', Simon [[Word of God|is 14 at the start of the series]], but looks like he's 10. Other characters his age have more realistic heights. Supposedly, he just has stunted growth.
* Mamoru and his friends on ''[[
* Chiyo-Chan in ''[[
* The students of ''[[Hanamaru Kindergarten]]'' are probably some of the smallest in fiction ''period''. Their teachers have no difficulty picking them up.
* The kids at ''[[Crayon Shin
* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' is weird for this one. Kids 9 are under are tiny. Anyone who is at least 10 [[Younger Than They Look|looks like an adult]]. Everyone in this world gets a giant growth spurt when they become 10, it seems.
== Film ==
* The kids, including Lilo, in the four [[Lilo and Stitch]] movies
* Young Tiana and Charlotte and a random kid at the end of [[The Princess and
* Dash Parr and other kids between four and twelve in [[The Incredibles]]
== Literature ==
* [[Berenstain Bears]]. One of the books shows Sister as being small enough to ''cling to papa bear's head''. And as usual, the leader of the bully squad, Too-Tall is even a hanging lampshade.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* Calvin of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' despite being 6-years-old is shown as being only about 2 feet tall, about as tall as a toddler, and his parents are both normal height. Just about every one of his peers except Moe (the school bully) are also about as tall as he is. Amusingly, Hobbes (when he's not a plushie) is taller than Calvin is.
** This can be extended to pretty much every non-Moe (No, not that kind of Moe) child in the comic.
** He even mentions in one strip that short pants touch his feet, and another when he follows the wrong woman around the Zoo that "From the knees down, she looks just like you".
* The kids in ''[[Family Circus]]'' are all disproportionately tiny.
* Averted in ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'', which not only had the kids grow up in real-time but portrayed them as being more closer to the adults in terms of size when they hit double-digits.
== Video Games ==
* In [[The Legend of Zelda:
* The campers in [[
== Western Animation ==
* Timmy and several of his friends (and most of his peers) in ''[[The Fairly
** Except for when he regresses her to about ten years old and she's even ''shorter'' than he is.
*** Actually, he wished that she was five years old, half his age. So it makes sense that she was shorter at that time.
** Timmy and most other ten-year-olds in the show definitely fit. His parents can pick him up and hold him in their hands!
*** Some of his classmates are somehow taller than him, even though they are considered to be around the same age...
* Just about every kid in ''[[South Park]]'' probably goes up to most adults' thigh level in terms of height.
* The Tweebs in [[Kim Possible]]
* The kids, including Lilo, in [[Lilo
* The kids in [[Phineas and Ferb]]
* Averted in [[Handy Manny]] to the point that even the toddlers in the show are only a head shorter than the adults and teens.
** Then again, their heads are ''huge''.
* Also averted in [[Super Why!]], and like in [[Handy Manny]], their heads are ''huge''.
* The kids in [[Special Agent Oso]]
* Inverted in the [[Looney Tunes]] cartoons that show the Three Bears, where Junior is twice the size of his pint-sized father (and still in diapers, despite being 7½ years old!).
* Tucker from ''[[My Life
* A lot of kids in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' fit this trope, except for the school bullies.
** Ralph Wiggum even makes fun of this in one of the comics.
{{quote|
** Bart and Lisa once referee to as being 4 feet tall. This brings up certain implications when you realize that they reach around their parents waists or so.
* Used really, really weirdly in ''[[Dragon Tales]]'', where the parents are never shown above knee height as a result of their giant-like stature. In fact, every adult except the teacher/mentor character is freakishly tall.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', the main protagonists range from age 11 (Aang and Toph) to 15(Zuko) and yet even the oldest male is seen as significantly shorter than most adult characters, only averted for adults who are portrayed as extremely short.
* In ''[[Family Guy]]'', a baby like Stewie is compared next to five year olds and nine year olds, and they are the exact same height.
* Haley in ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]''. She is even said to be only two feet tall.
* Mac from ''[[
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