the 2 bears & their 42 victims

Not at all. These were "young men" mature enough to go to war. Fully adult and fully accountable in the eyes of God.

And there were no babies and young children in the flood of Noah's day and of Sodom and Gomorrah? Stop kidding yourself.

No,

The take-home-message is Christ.
The scripture is not about cutsey little moral lessons; it is testimony about the person and work of Christ.

Don't be satisfied with a superficial, Christless interpretation of scripture. That is not why He gave us of His Spirit.
These aren't Aesop's fables bro it's the word of God, and it's incredibly deep and complex moreso than anything ever written, and it's about Him.

The word used here that kjv took the liberty of translating 'children' is the exact same word used to describe Joseph when he is 39 yrs old in Genesis 44.

2 Kings 2:23-24 is not separate from 2 Kings 1& 2. The context clearly dictates a group of 50 military—age men

?
2Ki 2:23 And 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.
2Ki 2:24 And 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.

little children are the same as grown military-age men?

my position is that "little children" is not an accurate translation.
read post #2 of this thread.
my position is fully supported by the context and the overall usage of this word.

i am sorry if you are a kjvian but kjv is not always correct.

And there were no babies and young children in the flood of Noah's day and of Sodom and Gomorrah?

It would seem that John Gill agrees with your assessment about the "children" and I too believe this to be the case. He said:

And he went up from thence unto Bethel,.... From Jericho, which lay in a plain, to Bethel, situated on an hill, and therefore is said to go up to it; hither he went, to acquaint the sons of the prophets with the assumption of Elijah, to condole their loss of him, and to comfort and encourage them, and confirm his own authority among them as a prophet in his stead:
and as he was going up by the way; the ascent to the city:

there came forth little children out of the city; the word for "children" is used of persons of thirty or forty years of age; and though these are said to be "little", they were so well grown as to be able to go forth out of the city of themselves, without any to guide them, or to take care of them; and were of an age capable not only of taking notice of Elijah's baldness, but knew him to be a prophet, and were able to distinguish between good and evil; and, from a malignant spirit in them, mocked at him as such, and at the assumption of Elijah; which they had knowledge of, and to whom, taught by their idolatrous parents, they had an aversion: some Jewish writers (x) say, they were called "Naarim", which we render "children", because shaken from the commandments, or had shaken off the yoke of the commands; and "little", because they were of little faith:

and mocked him, and said unto him, go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head; meaning not up the hill to Bethel, where his coming was not desirable to the greater part in it, being idolaters; and perhaps these children were sent out to intimidate him with their flouts and jeers from entering there; but having heard of Elijah going up to heaven, as was said, they jeeringly bid him go up to heaven after him, and then they should have a good riddance of them both; thus at the same time mocking at him for his baldness, and making a jest of the wondrous work of God, the assumption of Elijah; which, with behaving so irreverently to an hoary head, a prophet of the Lord, was very heinous and wicked, and therefore what befell them need not be wondered at.
(x) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 46. 2.

Amen bro. There seems to be "fractal" and "holographic" aspects to the text. An integrated message system from outside out space and time domain so says Chuck Missler.

Our Bible is the authentic genuine Word of God. The other so-called holy books are shabby counterfeits. Once you see and know the authentic, the forgeries become all too apparent for what they are.

That is incorrect. The Hebrew text says "little children" and here is what children means in that context: "נַעַר naʻar, nah'-ar; from H5287; (concretely) a boy (as active), from the age of infancy to adolescence"

So these were probably young teenagers bent upon having some "fun".

I am going with "insignificant, unimportant youths who departed from the true God of their fathers and were servants of Baal and did worship to the demon gods".

Strong's H6996 qāṭān

1. young, small, insignificant, unimportant
   1. small
   2. insignificant
   3. young
   4. unimportant

The KJV translates Strong's H6996 in the following manner: small (33x), little (19x), youngest (15x), younger (14x), least (10x), less (3x), lesser (2x), little one (2x), smallest (1x), small things (1x), young (1x).

Strong's H5288 naʿar

1. a boy, lad, servant, youth, retainer
   1. boy, lad, youth
   2. servant, retainer

The KJV translates Strong's H5288 in the following manner: young man (76x), servant (54x), child (44x), lad (33x), young (15x), children (7x), youth (6x), babe (1x), boys (1x), young (1x).

This is not about whether babies die or not. It is about the context, and we specifically have groups of 50 military age men over and over and over in the context. The word in Hebrew is not a definitive age but anything from 10-40 years old. Context is that these also are military age men in a group of 50, so 8 are spared

That certainly could be.

I notice if you go back back to 1 Kings, Jezebel used two witnesses, sons of Belial, to bear witness against Naboth

And look at the accusation "Thou didst blaspheme God and the king."

Gods response is awesome, been an interesting study thanks for the discussion