I like the unique idea, but the presentation really isn’t there for me. It feels like you don’t really have impact on the world around you - you don’t effect the world, it doesn’t effect you. Plus, the gameplay doesn’t change that much - after all four children are on the screen, nothing changes. I’d be nice if there were more you could do beyond just move - maybe also add collectables so that you’re encouraged not to camp in one corner for the entire game?
Another thing that I didn’t realize made such a difference is sound. Even if you just grab a soundtrack from Opengameart.org, that makes a huge difference in your game. Try playing one of your favorite games without any sound and you’ll see what a huge difference it makes!
One video I love referencing is this one by Jonas Tyroller where he goes over some game design principles and ways to help improve a game. Maybe you could take a nugget or two from his video!
To conclude: I like the idea of the four children you avoid, but I feel like there was a whole lot more potential here you could expand on should you choose to do so.