Child
A child is a person who has not started puberty (a prepubescent).
Alternative definitions are the familial status, or simply someone who is either below the age of majority/age of consent (a minor). Within the sphere of chronophilia research and self-reference, a child is deemed to be a prepubescent.
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.