5 Reasons Seven-Year-Old Girls are the Default Ageplay Character (and 4 Reasons Why They SHOULDN'T be)

We see so many seven-year-old little girls on Birchwood Isle that when a new member joins, we start looking for little girl face claims before we've even started talking to the new member. The truth is that we're getting short on celebrities who fit the descriptions we're being given because there are so many seven-year-old girls.

Why? Because seven-year-old little girls have become the age play default character.

My co-admin and I have been asking ourselves for quite some time why seven-year-old girls are the default character, and we've come up with the following reasons that people repeatedly fall back on seven-year-olds (with an occasional variation to six or eight). This is our attempt to answer that question with honesty and fairness.

1. Seven is the median age between three (generally considered our youngest age) and ten (generally considered to be the oldest age to be considered a "little kid"). We assume, therefore, that upon having chosen to play a "young child" that our members reach for an age that gives them the best of both worlds. Seven year olds are both "young" and "independent," seemingly giving them opportunities to enjoy the cuddling and closeness of very young children alongside the autonomy of making their own decisions like older kids.
   
   
   The Reality: On Birchwood Isle, children under the age of ten aren't given free access to the town, and those who belong at the foster home have very little autonomy at all. Their decisions are made for them, they eat what they are given to them, dress in the clothes laid out for them, and are expected to obey the adults. This autonomy only comes for these children when they are older than ten. Furthermore, the staff of New Beginnings rarely cuddle the children. Cuddling and a lot of the affection you're looking for comes when bonds form and not before.
   
   
   
2. Seven-year-olds are able to fully communicate a wide range of emotions, but are still dependent on adults to tell them what the difference is between right and wrong. The fact that the child is able to communicate makes them potential fun to play with other children, while the fact that they have an underdeveloped sense of right and wrong means that they are able to get into trouble without the appearance of being a "bad" or especially "bratty" kid. One year younger, and children aren't communicating well yet. One year older, and they are growing close to the age of reason and an understanding of the difference between right and wrong.
   
   
   The Reality: Nothing -- including being below the age of knowledge of right and wrong -- excuses repeated behaviors. In fact, I will go so far as to say that this excuse to play dumb about correction is one of the most irritating things about children in this age range, and it represents one of the main reasons that I do not enjoy role playing with seven-year-old little girls. If your character is old enough to communicate well, she is also old enough to understand if not why what she did was wrong but that what she did was wrong.
   
   
   
3. Seven-year-olds are young enough to be considered "cute" and therefore at an age where they are presumably more likely to be adopted by adults in an ageplay group. In theory, adults want to adopt younger children. This is certainly true in the real world where adoptive parents look for infants instead of older foster children. Many role players believe that this applies to all groups, and default to an age where they think their child character or inner kid is likely to be adopted but is still old enough to interact at school and with peers.
   
   
   The Reality: Birchwood Isle isn't real life, and though in the real world younger children are more likely to be adopted than older children, our staff in particular is often seeking to sponsor, foster, or adopt older children and teenagers. The younger the child, the harder it is to form a bond with them through role play, and the more likely they are to wait in the foster home for somebody to pick up a sponsorship and/or to adopt them.
   
   
   
4. Female role players often play female characters because it is easier and more familiar for them. Many male age players enjoy playing opposite gender for the perceived humiliation. Girls are therefore more popular to play because people simply like to play girls. It's easier for many people to play same-gender than it is to play cross-gender and so since there are more female role players in age play than there are male, there are likewise more female characters and inner kids.
   
   
   The Reality: Boys are often more fun than girls to play because they tend to be more rambunctious and better at getting up to mischief. In particular if you're interested in spanking role play, it's often easier to get a boy into trouble than it is to get a girl into trouble, and it is nearly guaranteed to be more interesting than one more thread with a little girl out of bed or sassing an adult.
   
   
   
5. Little girls are considered "cuter" because of the way they can be dressed up or their hair can be styled. Some players are especially fond of describing the "cute" things about their child characters, including such things as the clothing that they wear or the way that they style their hair. Sometimes it's that the little girl carries around a particular stuffed animal with her (something boys this age wouldn't dream of doing). It can be assumed that the player believes these "cute" behaviors make the child more likely to be adopted.
   
   
   The Reality: Describing your character's appearance and various things that make her "cute" is fun for you, but annoying to your role play partner. "Cute" is wrapped up in the character's personality, not in her dresses, not in her sweaters, not in her pigtails or the freckles on her nose. A character with a lot of physical flaws can be "cute" because of the way that she acts. Choosing to play a little girl for the "cute" factor is annoying to many of the adult-playing members of Birchwood Isle.

Our staff fully recognizes and accepts emotionally real inner kids. We have emotionally-real inner children of our own, and we understand where you're coming from. Both Ava (my co-founder) and I have inner children in this age range, and we accept that there may be other reasons that your inner child is a seven-year-old girl. If you identify this character as an inner child, chances are that none of the above applies to you. However, we would still like for you to consider what follows before signing up to play one on Birchwood Isle.

We're going to have a harder time finding a sponsor, foster parent, or adoptive parent for your seven-year-old little girl for several reasons.

1. We simply have too many seven-year-old little girls already. The vast majority of the children at the New Beginnings Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Children are little girls. This means that your character or inner kid has more competition than if you were playing a little boy or an older girl. Adults looking to adopt girl children in this age range are going to be looking at all the girls who are available, and yours is going to have to really stand out. She won't do this by getting spanked more or taking up more attention from adults, and so for those most inclined to role play seven-year-old little girls, playing one actually defeats the purpose, as she will not stand out in this environment.
2. Most parents looking for little girls are currently full. We allow each sponsoring adult to sponsor up to three children at one time. The adults in our group who are currently seeking to sponsor little girls are full, and will be for three months, provided that all of the people involved remain in the group for the duration of the sponsorship period. This means that you may wait for no less than two to three months before there is an opening to sponsor (the first step in our adoption process) a little girl in this age range. Is it worth it, considering that a child as young as nine may be more appealing to some of our adults?
3. We need teenagers and little boys. There are needed character groups on our group right now, which means that we are actively seeking players willing to play high-school-aged teenagers and little boys. However frequently we send out notes requesting characters in these age ranges, we are met with a steady stream of little girls. Little girls are a dime a dozen, but when we get somebody wanting to play a boy or a high-schooler, we get honestly excited. Even better if it's a male teenager as far as our founder team is concerned. Another little girl is another little girl. An unexpected gem will get us fawning all over you.
4. I, Devin, on a personal level do not like F/g spanking. For those  not "in the know" on pairings, F/g refers to an adult female and a little girl. Since the majority of our members prefer female adults, and I do the majority of the spanking, this means that your seven-year-old little girl is probably at some point going to put me in a position to feel uncomfortable with the pairing. There's no reason for me to go into detail about why this pairing bothers me, but I will go so far as to say that I sometimes find this pairing triggering, and I would much prefer to avoid playing it or reading it if I can. M/g (adult male and little girl), F/f (adult female and older girl) and other pairings are fine, but F/g upsets me.

The question, therefore, is what do you do? 

If you still want to be part of Birchwood Isle, having read and understood this, then my recommendation is that you take a look at our list of needed character types of consider picking up a requested character (who is usually part of a biological family).

Most of all, we highly recommend playing an older child or a high-school-aged teenager. We accept that most of you who play girls will always prefer to play girls and that asking you to play boys won't ever get us the results that we want. All that we ask is that you consider our points carefully before bringing us (yet another) seven-year-old girl.