Everybody remembers two parts of the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah: The townsfolk wanted to sexually abuse Lot's guest for being an outsider, and both cities got smote.
But there's a critical part of the story that frequently gets left out, which is Abraham's frantic negotiation with God to spare the cities, for the sake of sparing the righteous among them. If God can find fifty good people -- no wait, forty five good people -- no wait, thirty good people -- how about twenty? Ten? Ten's the lowest God will go. Deal!
And the good Lord can't even find that many. I guess Lot shoulda had more kids, eh? Well, Abraham did his best, and he wound up looking like one of the most merciful men in the whole bible. He'd spare two entire cities of wicked people just for the sake of the righteous! Why, even the Lord didn't think of that!
But then I thought, wait a damn second. How exactly were God and Abraham defining "people"? Because I'm sure both cities were full of children, and children are innocent. They can be cruel little jerks, that's to be expected, they don't know any better yet. They do not know any better yet. Did Abraham forget the kids were there? Did God decide to try and sentence all the children as adults, like the meanest son-of-a-bitch that ever held a gavel?
It's even weirder because God then lets Lot take safety in Zoar instead of having to run to the mountains, so it's not like he was being vindictive here. Between Lot and Abraham he was clearly willing to grant mercy to those who asked for it. So why did he not extend that mercy to the city, for the sake of its children?
The story doesn't get into that detail.
Either the author didn't think kids were all that different from adults, or they forgot kids existed at all.