Word.ws English Dictionary

for the children

for the children is the alternative form of think of the children.

Meaning of think of the children

Verb

think of the children (third-person singular simple present thinks of the children, present participle thinking of the children, simple past and past participle thought of the children)

  1. (imperative, usually) An appeal to suspend rational consideration of an issue owing to its presumptive negative effects on the young and impressionable; usually in ironic or mocking parody of another's argumentum ad passiones or moral panic.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:think of the children.
  2. (imperative, usually) A sincere plea to consider the young.
    • Mrs Banks: Katie Nanna, I beseech you. Please reconsider. Think of the children. Think of Mr Banks. He was just beginning to get used to you.1964, Bill Walsh et al., Mary Poppins, Walt Disney Pictures

Questions about for the children

What is for the children the alternative form of?
For the children is the alternative form of think of the children.

Words near for the children in the dictionary

  1. for the better
  2. for the birds
  3. for the book
  4. for the books
  5. for the cheap seats
  6. for the children
  7. for the chop
  8. for the craic
  9. for the foreseeable
  10. for the fuck of it
  11. for the fun of it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: for the children (page history and authors); think of the children (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “for the children.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/for_the_children. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.