Sir, – It seems to me that the word “children” is seldom used nowadays in the media, except in legal reports or when dealing with equally serious matters.
Largely replacing it is the term “kids”. I notice this usage in contributions to your own paper by some senior opinion columnists.
Older readers may remember the tale of “The Mother Goat and the Seven Little Kids” in which a “kid ” meant a young goat. This is how the word is still first defined in the dictionary but increasingly now it just means a young person.
In everyday speech it is often used in criticism as in, “Those kids are making far too much noise!”
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I think the influence of American usage is largely responsible for this development.
I regret that young persons are nowadays seldom given the dignity of being referred to as “children”. – Yours, etc,
BRENDA GOODMAN,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 11.