"The child next to this man is never calm."

Translation: L'enfant à côté de cet homme n'est jamais calme.

[DonCampbel7]

Could you not say also "l'enfant pres de cet homme n'est jamais calme "

[Jojo553168]

Yes, but près de is a bit more vague than à côté. In Duo's sentence, the man and the child a probably sitting next to each other, it may not be the case when you say près de.

[GraemeSarg]

I think this means that the child is being a flaming nuisance, which would be "il n'est jamais tranquille", rather than "il n'est jamais calme".