noun
ADJECTIVE
▪ little , small , young
▪
My father died while I was still a small ~.
▪ newborn
▪ teenage
▪
We have three teenage children.
▪ preschool , school-aged
▪ adult , grown ( esp. AmE ), grown-up ( esp. BrE )
▪ good , obedient , well-behaved
▪ aggressive , delinquent , difficult , disobedient , fractious , mischievous , naughty , problem , sulky , unruly , wayward , wilful/willful
▪
He's always been a problem ~.
▪
The children were quite unruly and ran around the house as if they owned it.
▪ bright , gifted , intelligent , precocious
▪
a school for gifted children
▪
What a precocious child—reading Jane Austen at the age of ten!
▪ dull , slow
▪
Teaching is particularly difficult when a class contains both slow and bright children.
▪ abandoned , abused , at-risk , maltreated , neglected
▪
therapy for sexually abused children
▪ disadvantaged , needy , starving , underprivileged
▪ spoiled
▪ sickly
▪ asthmatic , autistic , disabled , dyslexic , hyperactive , etc.
▪ special-needs
▪ innocent
▪ loving
▪ only
▪
It was a little lonely being an only ~.
▪ eldest , first-born
▪ fatherless , motherless , orphaned
▪ adopted
▪ bastard ( usually figurative ), illegitimate
▪
the bastard ~ of romantic fiction and horror.
▪ unborn
▪
the rights of the unborn ~
▪ dependent
▪
tax concessions for families with dependent children
▪ street
▪
There are a lot of street children in the poorer parts of the city.
▪ biracial ( AmE ), mixed-race
▪ minority
VERB + CHILD
▪ have
▪
How many children do you have?
▪ bear , give birth to , have
▪
She didn't have her first ~ until she was nearly forty.
▪ father
▪ conceive
▪
We had trouble conceiving our first ~.
▪ expect
▪
They are expecting a ~ in June.
▪ adopt , foster
▪ lose
▪
She couldn't imagine the pain of losing a ~ at birth.
▪ bring up , raise , rear
▪
He had old-fashioned ideas on how to bring up children.
▪ indulge , pamper , spoil
▪
You can't spoil a ~ by giving it all the affection it wants.
▪ love , nurture
▪ maltreat , neglect
▪ educate , home-school ( esp. AmE ), teach
▪ discipline , punish , scold
▪ abandon
▪ abduct , kidnap
▪ abuse , molest
▪ immunize , vaccinate
CHILD + VERB
▪ be born
▪
Their first ~ was born with a rare heart condition.
▪ develop , grow , grow up
▪
Children grow up so quickly!
▪
good food for growing children
▪ cry , scream , whimper , whine
▪ misbehave
CHILD + NOUN
▪ actor , bride , soldier , star
▪ prodigy
▪ development
▪
the emotional connections which ensure healthy ~ development
▪ custody
▪
a ~ custody dispute between divorced parents
▪ support
▪
After they divorced, he refused to pay ~ support.
▪ labour/labor
▪ prostitution
▪ pornography
▪ abuse , molestation
▪ abuser , killer , molester
▪ abduction
▪ psychiatrist , psychologist
▪ protection , safety , services ( AmE ), welfare
PREPOSITION
▪ with ~ ( literary )
▪
big with ~ (= pregnant)