Title: Problem Creating Child Theme
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Problem Creating Child Theme

 *  Resolved [Scott M. Chapman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott-m-chapman/)
 * (@scott-m-chapman)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/)
 * I’m trying to create a child theme for Responsive for the website I’m building.
   I followed the instructions as outlined here to the letter (as far as I know)…
 * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes](http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes)
 * My problem begins when I get to the point where I have to activate the child 
   theme. The instructions say to go to Administration Panels>Appearance>Themes 
   where I am supposed to see my child theme listed there for me to activate.
 * HOWEVER I see this instead….
 * > **Broken Themes**
   >  The following themes are installed but incomplete. Themes
   > must have a stylesheet and a template.
   > **Name** **Description**
   >  Responsive Child The parent theme is missing. Please
   > install the “Responsive” parent theme.
 * The parent theme HAD been installed and currently exists in the proper directory
   but it looks as if the child theme isn’t seeing it.
 * Any ideas where I messed up? Thanks! – Scott

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  [WPyogi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpyogi/)
 * (@wpyogi)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3775975)
 * What code is in your child theme style.css file?
 * Is the file structure correct? i.e. the child theme is not inside the parent 
   but on the same level.
 *  [jmag](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jmag/)
 * (@jmag)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3776009)
 * Did you include a reference to the parent them in your child theme. At the very
   top of your child theme’s style.css file follow this format:
 * /*
    Theme Name: My Child Theme Name Description: Awesome child theme to parent
   theme. Author: Jean Luc Picard Template: _FolderNameOfParentTheme_ Version: 1.0*/
 * As mentioned by WPyogi the child theme folder should be next to the parent theme
   folder.
 * Also don’t forget to import the parent theme’s css by using [@import](https://wordpress.org/support/users/import/)
   just after the declaration I showed you.
 *  Thread Starter [Scott M. Chapman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott-m-chapman/)
 * (@scott-m-chapman)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3776010)
 * ‘sigh. OK now I feel like a first-rate newbie (actually I am..but still)
 * in the first few lines of the .css file which you have to create to make the 
   child theme, in the “template” line I had Responsive… should’ve been responsive.
 * Yes I accidentally capitalized the “r” and that threw the whole thing off. I 
   changed it and now it works fine.
 * Well…maybe someone will learn from my mistake.
 * Thanks for replying to me though.
 *  [WPyogi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpyogi/)
 * (@wpyogi)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3776025)
 * LOL – if it makes you feel any better, it’s a REALLY common mistake :)!
 *  [Matthewstickley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthewstickley/)
 * (@matthewstickley)
 * [12 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3776306)
 * [@scott](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scott/) M. Chapman – Just did the
   exact same thing, thank you for your help!
 *  [Brett Samuel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brett-samuel/)
 * (@brett-samuel)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3776309)
 * Hehe, so did I 🙂

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

The topic ‘Problem Creating Child Theme’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

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

 * 6 replies
 * 5 participants
 * Last reply from: [Brett Samuel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brett-samuel/)
 * Last activity: [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-creating-child-theme/#post-3776309)
 * Status: resolved

## Topics

### Topics with no replies

### Non-support topics

### Resolved topics

### Unresolved topics

### All topics