I only want to point out the family relation and asking a parents about their daughter (who is ~40 years old herself). Still not sure whether using 孩子 is appropriate here. is it?

  • children at any age can be referred to as 女儿 or 儿子，see e.g. Wikipedia on famous people like 林彪：儿女 儿子：林立果 女儿：林晓霖、林立衡 – user6065 Jul 22 '17 at 4:39
  • TV watchers learn that parents esp. mothers(?) may address any of their children at any age as 孩子, also 女孩子 may refer to relatively young （１-３０(?)）女子 – user6065 Jul 22 '17 at 10:39
  • thus it seems ＂parents＂ are 父母 and ＂children＂ are accordingly 儿女 – user6065 Jul 22 '17 at 18:07
  • Simply put, it can be appropriate but contextual. It is always appropriate if you are the same age or older than the listener, otherwise it becomes very subtle. On the other hand, 儿女 is always appropriate and sounds formal. – NS.X. Jul 23 '17 at 18:59
  • example from TV of storyteller referring to male person, age 20-30 as 孩子 《庭审现场》 20170722 天降“准儿媳”01:07:全家唯一的烦恼就是1:08:他儿子小秦的婚事1:10:由于小秦个人条件一般01:12:家里也不富裕1:14:这 孩子 始终交不上01:15:合适的女朋友 – user6065 Jul 24 '17 at 12:45

as a chinese.I can tell you,yes you can use the word 孩子 to describe their duaghter,like 您的孩子/您们的孩子,or use the word 子女,it is more official,no matter their son or duaghter is or not a adult.or if you want to point out the sex,you can use the word 女儿 to describe their duaghter,or more literarily,use the word 千金,as you can describe their son with 儿子 or the literarily word 公子.if we use 公子 or 千金,we dont say 您的公子/您的千金,we say 您家公子/您家千金. but we dont use 女孩子 to describe one's 40 years old duaghter,if she is about 20 to 25 and still have not been a mom,you can use 女孩子 to describe her.cause in our culture,if you have or had a son or duaghter you are not a kid anymore.and if you have not had a 孩子 and you are young,you may still be a kid in your parents' opinion.young women like to be called as 女孩子 cuase it sounds they younger.but just young women.I dont think 40 is young,so if you use 女孩子,it may sounds like you are satirizing. my english is not good.hope you can understand what I write and hope this help

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  • 知道了。Seems like 女儿 is the way to go in my usecase. 大家感谢！ – vrms Jul 24 '17 at 23:41
  • @vrms yup 女儿 is the best choice – J.Wang Jul 25 '17 at 0:14

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