Originally Posted by
Treguard
For charisma, this again comes down to looking at the skills and realising that most of them boil down to influencing others. A lack of life experience or social technique often implies difficulty in getting their message across. It's quite common in media to depict children having their claims being ignored or rebuffed by parents or whoever.
Of course kids and teens can be quite willful in their approach, but given how martial DnD is, would you be taken seriously by a big, scary bunch of warriors when you haven't even reached manhood yet? In fantasy, the passing into manhood is a much greater event than RL; the right to bear arms; the expectation to provide for and defend the homestead; a valid opinion in the community; the decision to leave home (adventure!) etc. All of these are examples of benefits/responsibilities upon reaching adulthood.
Re: Won't somebody please think of the children?
Spoiler
