Children in movies and TV are so perfect - they are mature for their age (even when they're so perfectly acting childish). They are also made up and dressed in the most expensive fashions, and the ones that have prominent roles and aren't just set dressing are always unrealistically determined, talented, and moral (even if in the long run, so the audience has time to learn the lesson of the day). I'm not trying to make an argument for fictional kids over real kids, but in fiction you get the cream of the crop, and it generates an unrealistic image of childhood, which in reality is messy and illogical, and considerably less articulate. I know, I know, "that's real and that's what I like" (oh, good for you), but fantasies are fantasies for a reason.