# firstElementChild property

The `firstElementChild` property contains the first child element. All tags that are directly located inside a block are considered child elements. If the element has no children, then `null` is returned.

## Syntax

`element.firstElementChild;`

## Example

Let's get a content of the element's first child:

`<div id="parent"> <p>1</p> <p>2</p> </div>` `let parent = document.querySelector('#parent'); let text = parent.firstElementChild.textContent; console.log(text);`

The code execution result:

`'1'`

## Example

And now an element has no children and therefore `null` will be displayed:

`<div id="parent"></div>` `let parent = document.querySelector('#parent'); console.log(parent.firstElementChild);`

The code execution result:

`null`

## See also

- the `lastElementChild` property
  that contains the last element
- the `children` property
  that contains child elements
- the `firstChild` property
  that contains the first node

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