Get target children length : children « jQuery « JavaScript Tutorial

<html>
  <head>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.3.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function(){
           $("#container").click(function (e) {
              var $ch = $(e.target).children();
              alert($ch.length);
              e.preventDefault();
              return false;
            });

        });
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <body>
    <div id="container">
        <div>
          <p>This <span>is the <em>way</em> we</span> 
          write <em>the</em> demo,</p>
        </div>
    </div>

  </body>
</html>

30.23.children
	30.23.1.	Append SPAN one after another
	30.23.2.	Children from DIV
	30.23.3.	Get target children length
	30.23.4.	children(expr): filter with an optional expression
	30.23.5.	Attaches a change event to the select that gets the text for each selected option