Child
A child is a person who has not started puberty (a prepubescent). Within the sphere of chronophilia research and self-reference among people expressing various chronophilias, this simple definition is used.
Alternative definitions are the familial status, or someone who is either below the Age of Majority or Age of Consent (a minor).
Instability as a social concept
Childhood and by extension, the status of human beings as children is an unstable concept. It has been suggested by some historians such as Philippe Aries[1] that the concept of childhood is itself a second-millennium invention.
Childhood innocence and vulnerability
Central to the issue of intergenerational sexuality is the concept of childhood innocence and its modern objectivist/utilitarian counterpart, vulnerability.