Examples from literature

• 'My bairn! my bairn!' cried the distracted father, 'where can he be?' A dozen mouths were opened to communicate hopes which no one felt. 
• But wait and I'll see the bairns. 
• Kiss my darling bairns for papa, and give them my blessing. 
• The children, or "bairns," as they were called here, wore neither shoes nor stockings, except a few of the very young ones, and all the arable land was devoted to the culture of oats and turnips. 
• The only thing I grudge is being away all day, leaving you and the bairns, for I ken they're no' very easy to put up with.