It is so much easier when your protagonist can go off and do protagonist things without having to find a sitter, or make sure that the four-year-old isn’t eating strange things, and that the 12 year old has his homework done, and reminding the 15 year old that she now has caste and can’t run around the way she used to. And trying to get … stuff … out of the protagonist’s husband’s trouser knees.

The good news is, the culture around the protagonist believes in having nannies/child minders to keep the wee ones out of harm’s way, and children are taught things like predator (four legged) avoidance and plant identification from an early age. However, you, the author, still have to deal with the parent problem, since your characters also do. If they have children. If they don’t, and you don’t need a plot moppet, then go forth and adventure on.

Kids have personalities once they reach a certain age and stage. They might be mellow, they might be “just like Cousin Eric, heaven help us,” “the good one,” “the quiet one,” or “that has to come from you side of the family.” Or yes, depending on the family and child. Which means your protagonist has to keep this in mind when he or she is dealing with Junior and Juniorette. One needs to be persuaded, one just does as told or asked, and so on. This can add tension to a story, or humor, or might not matter at all.

What age are the kids? In the WIP, one is 12, one is 16, and one is 4. Yes, that is a big age gap. There’s also a fourth child who is in military school (at his request, so he can follow in dad’s footsteps, perhaps.) So you have a teenager, a not-quite-teen, and one who is small and mobile. One will generally act more like an adult, depending on environment (social and physical), one is more impulsive, and one is almost all impulse, and needs a full-time minder unless she’s asleep. So one can be written more like an additional adult almost. The other two? Time to do homework.

I spend a lot of time around the 13 and up set, so I don’t have to do too much research there. But little ones? Off to read about childhood development, behavioral benchmarks, and so on. I want the children believable within the world, which means they have to be their own people and act like kids of that age would in that society and culture. Which is different from ours, somewhat closer to Victorian England but not exactly.

The protagonist is going to worry about the kids, what they are up to, who they are with, and if they have what they need to be safe, or stay out of mischief. But the kids will do their own things, which might be helpful or might not be. And the author has to keep track of everyone, alas. I’ve done it before, I can do it again, but it takes a bit of work and making notes about who is where doing what in each chapter.

This might not be a problem for you, and you might prefer not to have kids in the story. I do it because these are family stories, and the characters do have to accept more responsibilities and limitations as their children arrive and grow.