A child (plural: children) is a young human. Depending
on context it may mean someone who is not yet an adult,
or someone who has not yet reached puberty (someone who
is prepubescent). Child is also the opposite of parent:
adults are the children of their parents despite their
maturation beyond infancy; for example "Benjamin,
aged 26, is the child of Tobias, aged 63". Similarly
in a generalized sense, see child node. In law, a person
who is not yet a legal adult is known as a minor (known
in some places as a juvenile, or, in others, as an infant).
For example, in many countries a person under the age
of 18 is a minor. Most countries give additional legal
protection to minors despite their underage status, and
all United Nations member states except the United States
and Somalia have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child, although not all of them have followed it.
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