Troi has it the worst throughout the show. I just rewatched season 2's "The Child" and Ian didn't need to die. Since they were going to separate the saucer section anyway he could've stayed in his room and things would've been fine. Or take a shuttle; those have warp drives. But the writers needed to wrap up the episode. Ian was an interesting character and I wish he stuck around, he could've been a kindred spirit to Data, not a redundancy.

Granted, at his rate of growth he would've died of old age in over a month, so the writers would've had to slow that down if they kept him. Not that there's any consistency with kids' ages. Was Alexander an energy being too? That kid aged 9 years in 1 year.