why is Zen-Oh portrayed as child?

Question

What I want to know is the writers reasons.
Does he say why he did it?
I would assume he wanted the innocence of child but the moodiness and lack of any logical behavior doesn't go well with all that power.

Answer 1

I think it's mainly to incorporate humor into the plot. This is not the first time we have seen characters like this. We've seen Majin Buu back in the Buu saga who acted like a child despite being insanely powerful. Toriyama is known for creating characters of this manner. The fact that we get to see the strongest beings in the universe, the gods of destruction be terrified of these kids, incorporates a lot of humor into the storyline

Answer 2

Only Toriyama can answer this question 100% accurately. But thinking logically wise I can provide you with some reasons.

Let's say you are an almighty creator and extremely powerful, maybe even god. In religions god isn't bound to time. Making it so that god doesn't age at all. Or god ages so slowly that his creations won't even notice it. Zen-oh being a child is probably either being because he ages extremely slowly or maybe he doesn't even age at all.

For example in Hinduism there is a demi-god called Brahma. He is the creator of an universe and responsible for it. Throughout 1 day in his life is equal to several hundreds of thousands human years on this planet. Meaning that if we ever met him right now and in 80 years it would be for him like no second has even passed. That same thing might apply to Zen-oh. I am a hundi myself so I used my knowledge in this religion to provide this as an example. If you want a source I'd suggest reading the Srimad Bhagavatan about the creation of the universe. But I don't think that is necessary as I simply used it as an example.

Another simpler sample might be science based. An atom has a lifespan that is extremely short. A fly has a lifespan ranging from 1 day to a few weeks. Animals can live up to several dozens of years. Each creature being mightier than the previous one. Compared to cats for example we age very slow. 1 year for them is like 12 years for us to reach the same body-age. Let's say there was a being known such as Zen-oh. He might've had a lifespan that is comparable to humans when we are comparable to that fly that lives max 1 day.

But then again I don't know if Zen-oh is immortal. Biologically wise aging is based on cells replacing themself and the brain making less and less tissue. Perhaps Zen-oh is able of perfectly replacing those tissue and not losing anything at all, making him nearly-immmortal due to perfect cell replacement.

If you were able to not age at all, then the most pleasant age would be that of a child. The reason behind this is because a child doesn't have any form of stress. It doesn't need to care about responsibilities and such. Everything is provided for a child. That is why older people always tell the younger ones to enjoy their youth. Because when they grow up, they will have so many responsibilities that they can barely enjoy life.

Perhaps a combination of the above is what inspired Toriyama to make Zen-oh look like a child. But I don't know his thoughts at the time. If I were to create a god, I'd make it look like a child as well. It shows eternal youth, bliss and a cute way of ignorance. If it were an old person It'd look wise and way too serious, to go against this you'd end up with a King-kai type of personality, which is still in the dragon-ball standards of humor.