I am, and my 12-year-old Boy Scout is not a "little child." He's a young man who is as tall as I am ... well, that was yesterday - he's probably taller today.
There are some twelve-year-olds who are grown men, six feet tall and 165 pounds of muscle and fully stocked with hormones. But some of them are still children. My boy is 12, light-boned, and still a child in his body, his emotions, and his interests. The boy who went missing looked in his photos as if he were the same type.