Title: basic child theme functionality is not working
Last modified: August 24, 2016

---

# basic child theme functionality is not working

 *  Resolved [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * (@kenvogt)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/)
 * I would like to make a child theme but it keeps breaking. So I dumbed it down
   to two files, style.css and functions.php. The files are shown below. They actually
   add no functionality at all. Unfortunately, they break the css. The css from 
   the parent style does not show up. These two files are in wp-content/themes/spacious-
   child/ and the parent theme is in wp-content/themes/spacious/. What am I doing
   wrong?
 * style.css
 *     ```
       /*
       Theme Name: Spacious Child
       Theme URI: http://themegrill.com/themes/spacious
       Description: Spacious Child
       Author: Kenneth Vogt
       Author URI: http://themegrill.com
       Template: spacious
       Version: 1.0.0
       License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
       License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
       Tags: light, white, dark, two-columns, right-sidebar, left-sidebar, fluid-layout, responsive-layout, custom-header, custom-background, custom-menu, custom-colors, sticky-post, threaded-comments, translation-ready, featured-images, theme-options
       Text Domain: spacious-child
       */
       ```
   
 * functions.php
 *     ```
       <?php
   
       function theme_enqueue_styles() {
       	wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css' );
       }
       add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'theme_enqueue_styles' );
   
       ?>
       ```
   

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  [stephencottontail](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stephencottontail/)
 * (@stephencottontail)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071519)
 * Can you temporarily [enable debugging](https://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php#Debug)
   and see if any errors appear? Your code works for me.
 *  Thread Starter [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * (@kenvogt)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071520)
 * Ok, I changed functions.php to:
 *     ```
       <?php
   
       define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
       define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true );
   
       function theme_enqueue_styles() {
       	wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css' );
       }
       add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'theme_enqueue_styles' );
   
       ?>
       ```
   
 * When I load the page I see no errors in the console and variously I see these
   messages:
    … “JQMIGRATE: Logging is active” … “JQMIGRATE: Logging is active” …
 *  [stephencottontail](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stephencottontail/)
 * (@stephencottontail)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071522)
 * Can you post a link to your site with the child theme active?
 *  Thread Starter [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * (@kenvogt)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071524)
 * Here you go: [http://observehiscommandments.org/](http://observehiscommandments.org/)
 *  [stephencottontail](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stephencottontail/)
 * (@stephencottontail)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071526)
 * Your site appears fine to me. Both the parent and child theme’s stylesheets are
   loading correctly and WP is reading CSS from both of them. Are you using a caching
   plugin or is your host caching your site?
 * In your original post, you mentioned that you “dumbed it down to two files”; 
   were there any errors prior to doing so?
 *  Thread Starter [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * (@kenvogt)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071531)
 * No, there were no errors prior. I have been purging all the caches at my host
   and clearing my local cache. While it doesn’t look ugly, it is not using the 
   theme. The header image is gone, elements are showing up that are hidden in the
   theme and it is not using the menuing css.
 *  [stephencottontail](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stephencottontail/)
 * (@stephencottontail)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071536)
 * When you switch to the child theme, it’s like switching to a new theme. You usually
   have to reassign any custom header images, navigation menus, widgets, etc., just
   like you did when you originally set up the parent theme.
 *  Thread Starter [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * (@kenvogt)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071575)
 * Yes of course, that makes sense. Thanks!
 *  Thread Starter [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * (@kenvogt)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071582)
 * That was it, thanks Stephen.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

The topic ‘basic child theme functionality is not working’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [child theme](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/child-theme/)

 * 9 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [kenvogt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kenvogt/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-child-theme-functionality-is-not-working/#post-6071582)
 * Status: resolved

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