Children in tarot

Children stand for innocence, new beginnings and the future. The naked child of the Sun rides a horse with arms open wide, joy without self-consciousness. A small child kneels before Death, looking up at him, while the young woman beside it turns her face away. Children play with flowers in the Six of Cups, dance under the rainbow of the Ten of Cups and stand in the family of the Ten of Pentacles, and a child rises from a coffin on Judgement. In readings a child can point to actual children, to beginnings or to the inner child: playfulness, trust and the past.

Cards that show children

Death
Death: The bishop, maiden and child
A bishop in a gold mitre and vestments faces the rider with hands joined, a kneeling young woman turns her head aside, and a small child looks up with flowers in hand. They read as three responses to change: pleading, avoidance and simple openness.
The Sun
The Sun: The naked child
A small, fair-haired child with arms spread wide sits on the horse without saddle or reins. Nakedness here means innocence and nothing to hide. Waite saw the child as 'simplicity and innocence in the sense of wisdom'.
Judgement
Judgement: The rising figures
In front, a man on the left, a woman on the right and a child between them, its back to us. Behind them more figures rise from other coffins. Waite pointed out that this card shows 'more than three who are restored', so the call is universal.
Six of Cups
Six of Cups: The two children
A taller boy in a red hood bends to hand a cup of flowers to a small girl in a red headscarf. Children carry the card's themes of innocence, simple trust and the memories of early life.
Ten of Cups
Ten of Cups: The dancing children
Two small children hold hands and dance in a ring on the right. Waite notes that they 'have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner'. They show joy that needs no explanation.
Queen of Cups
Queen of Cups: The sea figures on the throne
The throne is carved with small child-like figures: two at the top and one in a niche at the side. They are often read as water spirits or undines, though Waite does not explain them, and their exact forms are hard to make out.
Six of Swords
Six of Swords: The cloaked passenger and the child
A figure wrapped in a yellow hooded cloak sits bowed in the boat, with a smaller figure in grey beside her. Their faces are hidden. They carry the grief or weariness of what they are leaving, and their trust in the ferryman.
Ten of Pentacles
Ten of Pentacles: The child
A small child in blue holds on to the woman and stretches a hand towards a dog. Waite notes that the child 'looks curiously' at the scene: the next generation, still taking it all in.