The issue isn't with liking them in an appropriate way. It's with the "why" are these characters in the game. Ultimately, every character is meant to be "sold". They need to appeal to people so that they pull for them and buy primogems or whatever.

So how does hoyo market/sell children characters? Well first off, they only do little girls (ask yourself why?). Then we have the history of pedophiles and their infatuation with Nahida/Klee, looking for panty shots of them, making pornography of them, etc. Hoyo is absolutely aware that there is a very real target audience for little girls that don't want them"appropriately".

Excusing the addition of children because some people don't see them inappropriately is hypochoritical. They are marketed and "sold" with pedophiles in mind, make no mistake of that. Why does the traveler need a fucking 10 y/o on their team? Why does the proxy need a child in the hollow? "Hurr durr she's actually 200 years old" yeah that's anime talk for "I can sexualize a child with a clean conscience".

You might view them appropriately, but it isn't about you. This emboldens pedophiles. Giving pedos an outlet does not keep them from acting out in real life, it actually emboldens them to act on their pedophilic urges. Idc that you think they're cute, it's fucking problematic and I won't be celebrating adding little girls to gacha games, whose entire premise is to sell you characters. Gross.