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What gives tragedy in art its power is our reaction to a shift in fortune. The most common (and arguably the most powerful) is a change from good to bad fortune, as it evokes strong feelings of pity and sympathy from the viewer.
The same can be said about real life.
Aristotle pointed out that the power of tragedy lies in the protagonist/victim having lost good fortune through some kind of mistake rather than a character flaw, i.e. the protagonist is generally a good/noble person but he or she makes a bad decision (or decisions).
Children do not have the same capacity for reason as adults. They do not fear as we do, for they do not fully understand the way the world works. They don't have the same experiences of pain and loss, suffering or recovery. They do not understand the inherent danger of the world because what's dangerous hasn't happened to them or anyone they know.
They are bold in their ignorance, but this is the nature of youth. This is not a character flaw, and so horsing around that leads to injury or death is tragic because the victims would have made bad decisions. The victims have gone from good fortune (vibrant, youthful life with a future ahead of them) to bad fortune (dead long before having experienced life for what good and bad it can offer).
That is tragic. The loss of a child is always tragic.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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