I see your NIV and raise you a KJV
23And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
The score is 3 'youths' to 5 'children' (or 'little boys').
And most of the youth's appear to be prefixed with "little". I wonder if the pure "youth" translation is derivative of embarrassment?
Strong's Hebrew Definition for # 06996
06996 // Njq // qatan // kaw-tawn' // or
// Njq // qaton // kaw-tone' //
from 06962 ; TWOT - 2009a,2009b; adj
AV - small 33, little 19, youngest 15, younger 14, least 10, less 3,
lesser 2, little one 2, smallest 1, small things 1, young 1; 101
1) young, small, insignificant, unimportant
1a) small
1b) insignificant
1c) young
1d) unimportant
Strong's Hebrew Definition for # 05288
05288 // ren // na`ar // nah'-ar //
from 05287 ; TWOT - 1389a; n m
AV - young man 76, servant 54, child 44, lad 33, young 15, children 7,
youth 6, babe 1, boys 1, young 1; 238
1) a boy, lad, servant, youth, retainer
1a) boy, lad, youth
1b) servant, retainer
Strong's Hebrew Definition for # 03206
03206 // dly // yeled // yeh'-led //
from 03205 ; TWOT - 867b; n m
AV - child 72, young man 7, young ones 3, sons 3, boy 2, fruit 1,
variant 1; 89
1) child, son, boy, offspring, youth
1a) child, son, boy
1b) child, children
1c) descendants
1d) youth
1e) apostate Israelites (fig.)