Basic Trope: Preteen kids are portrayed as being unrealistically short, especially in comparison to adults.
- Straight: Bobby, who's 8 years old, is portrayed as being only about as tall as adults' waists.
- Exaggerated:
- Bobby is 11-12, but is still barely 2 feet tall.
- Bobby is 13-14 and less than 4 feet tall.
- Kids are only a few inches tall.
- Downplayed: Bobby is about one head shorter than most teens and adults in the setting.
- Justified:
- Bobby has dwarfism, has had his growth stunted, or otherwise has a condition that makes him shorter than usual.
- Bobby's species tends to stay relatively small for much of its childhood.
- One of Bobby's parents is also shorter than average, and he takes after them.
- Inverted:
- Kids are portrayed as being significantly taller than they would be in real life.
- Small Parent, Huge Child
- Subverted:
- Bobby seems to be much shorter than real kids, but it's revealed that this is because he's commonly shown around giants, and he only appears small in comparison.
- Bobby is revealed to be Younger Than He Looks.
- Double Subverted:
- When he's shown around regular adults, though, Bobby is still very small for his height.
- Bobby is younger than he looks, but still shorter than average for that age.
- Parodied: Children are portrayed as being only a few inches tall, until they reach their 13th birthday, when they suddenly grow into their adult height overnight.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Bobby is often shown at various heights depending on the situation.
- Bobby, Alice, and Carl are all about 8 years old. Bobby is shown as very short for his age, while Alice is about average height, and Carl is very tall for his age.
- Averted: Bobby is at an average height for a kid his age.
- Lampshaded: "Why does Bobby only reach you to the waist?
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Kids in cartoons are always so tiny!"
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