1. Children do not speak like adults.

Now, there could be exceptions to this rule - if a child is unusually bright, for example. But most five year olds won't be saying things like, "I'm going to report you to the authorities!" Instead, they'll say, "I'm telling!"

I've noticed that many authors age their adolescent characters simply with language. They have reactions and body language down, but they don't really truly consider how the child would speak. Spoken language should be much more simplistic than that of an adult, even for the super-bright ones. Once nearing closer to the teenage sort of years, then the language might become more distinct and sophisticated. Depending on the character.

2. Children are short - and often somewhat fearless.

It adds so much to the environment and visualization when our children run into little difficulties with reaching things, peeking onto tables, climbing over arms of the sofa, etc. Children have a tendency to forget that when they climb too high - if they fall, it's going to HURT! My son had a habit of climbing fearlessly to the very top of the cover on a slide, being told constantly that he was going to hurt himself. He didn't believe them until he took a dive off of it and ended up in bed for a day because he'd rattled his bones so badly and scraped his face. My daughter is much the same way.

Some children have fears, however. Certain fears that are based on things that happened when they were smaller in their lives. If they DO have fears, a background to go with them is a great idea to help understand the child.

3. Children repeat everything.

This can create amazing hilarity, and in the case of many genres, some little clues and pieces of the plot, story, or puzzle that don't make sense coming from an adult can come from a child. Especially if a child is repeating something that they don't truly understand - it creates a little situation for the adults in your story to puzzle through.

4. Children are FULL of fantasy.

Children have a tendency to be much more fanciful than adults. My children imagine things that I would have never thought of. I, sometimes, wish I could tap into their brain and siphon out some of those ideas for my own use! However, since that isn't possible, I often use them as inspiration. Even within stories, children can add an amazing amount to the plot-line, confusion, worry, and love in any story.

5. The innocence of children can be fascinating.

Children know only what they've been taught, which makes them incredibly adaptable characters in a book. Fluid, interesting, and even disturbing. Consider some familiar movies and books where the adolescent characters were actually the "bad guys" - often, these are much more chilling than having adult villains. There are so many things to consider - do they do it on purpose? Are they controlled? Do they truly understand what they are doing? How they are affecting others? Can they be changed?