alfreda89 | A Writing question....

Okay -- a building is unexpectedly attacked, and several people are killed, including (gulp) children. I'm trying to figure out if there is a real subplot for a seven year old girl or ten year old boy. Just how enterprising could an intelligent child be, especially if said child knows some of the language of the invaders, if they are taken for medical care and then hung on to because they may have hostage value. I'm thinking planning escape when they do have a feature (eye color or hair color) that might cause them to be noticed. It's winter, so clothing hiding them might help.

Their goal would be the office of a family friend -- timing when the friend will be there, so they would find the office and go several times early. One of the "captors" is not actively helping, but knows the child understands a lot of the language and does not reveal this -- and also hints when it's time to actually run.

=I= could have done this. But I was a DAMN precocious kid. How about a merely smart and observant kid? This is not in stone, I can just kill off the third kid (urp) but was trying to save a life here....

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I think that a smart, observant kid could do it. Who's to say that kid isn't precocious too? I'd say work with it. If it doesn't work, you can always change your mind.

Wow. Good question. I'm the mom of both a 10 year old and a 7 year old. I'm having difficulty putting them into this situation because, well, it's THEM and when I think of it I get sad. Also, at this point, my boy is 7 and my girl is 10. Don't really know how it would play if the ages were swapped.

Buddy? He would quite easily charm/entertain the captors until he found a way out.

Princess? She's very observant and absorbs a LOT of information. I'm not sure if she would have the courage to take the action.

All of this to say - I do think that just a smart and observant kid could pull it off. I can see a captor suspecting Buddy because of his outgoing nature. I can see a captor not suspecting Princess because she's very obedient to (non-parental) authority.

You wanna borrow them for a while?!?!? ;-)

I have the greatest respect for what you're doing, and do not think I am the person to entrust enterprising children to. It would probably be fine -- but I am the person who read through a house catching on fire, so I'd never get to read again. I only borrow children when they are going to be the focus of attention!

Your point on the quiet child not being suspected is a good point. I could talk -- but at that age around adults I was an observer, mostly. And would ask devastating questions later. I don't know if I would have been brave enough. I hated pain, but did not become afraid of larger boys until later. These children know they have strategic value -- as as fertiles, would be kept and raised to become citizens even if they did not have chess value. So they will probably only be killed accidentally. Still -- the child would probably figure out that the attack was NOT a mistake -- therefore, they'd be frantic to know if any family was still alive, and afraid that if they didn't get out soon, these crazy people who would actually KILL other people might hurt them, too. Because they would be fairly certain several family members were dead.

I have to get back to the book going E soon, sigh. But wanted to get that out to ask friends who have actively watched small ones growing up with tech around them. With a couple of kids dying they may not read the book -- but the deaths will count. Eventually, those deaths prevent other deaths. Not wasted. Hard, but not wasted.

That's one of my favorite age ranges. (I worked at a school for gifted children, particularly those with unmedicated ADHD as an undergrad.) Don't have a lot of time, but a coupla observations:

Potentially quite possible, without resorting to crazy luck, though luck is probably helpful. One of the reasons I like that age so much is that it's when reason really sets in, but before hormones hit. (If I had time I'd tell you about the kids who role played Holmes and Watson for a couple of months, and why I shouldn't have introduced them to Maurice Leblanc.)

They can notice a lot, they can be bright, and reason crazy well. However, their world experience tends to be patchy - so they're pretty likely to pick up and navigate a certain set of things really well, and totally miss other things and adult might think is obvious. Lots of variability, and you can pretty much play with it at will, I'd think.

On the gumption side of things... My experience is that the less comfortable a kid's environment, and the less they were surrounded by people who had their best interests at heart, the more will and able they are likely to be (assuming they're in reasonable mental and emotional health - and I mean reasonable, not good) to realize that they're in a bad situation and that they must act. It's really hard for people, not just kids, who aren't used to being threatened to get it through their heads that no, really, this situation sucks and they must act. The first time. Once they've been through it a few times there's a lot less dithering and a lot more "here we go..."

But that's a huge generalization, too, and a lot of aspects of personality and individual circumstance are likely to have as much effect.

Thanks, that's a good reminder -- once they've been through it. This child is loved and protected, but not oblivious -- s/he has heard the mother explain why you never distract the guards, how the guards kept her alive at a very dangerous time, about trying to always be aware of where you are -- and of course, the child will have survived something that just Really Did Happen, two siblings and a parent dead, who knows where mom and other sibling are -- not a fool.

The "This is really happening" is real and dangerous -- I was lucky mine was fairly benign, and I survived it by talking my way out. If I let the kid live, having an new awareness and willingness to ACT is important no matter whether a subplot is born or not.

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I'm thinking I can work with this -- there are still people out there who think children have brains and can figure things out. And, as you say, have adults listened to them in the past? That's why the child waits for the friend s/he knows -- because if the other adults do not believe the child on small things, they sure aren't going to believe the really big stuff yet to be told.

This child was blessed with parents who always listened, so the children don't ramble a lot when multiple adults are listening. They are used to be treated as people -- and twig quickly that the adults here blame children as adults, but don't listen to them as adults.

Children are intelligent and enterprising, though they don't always think out all the consequences (particularly far distant ones.) The problem is that adults don't always listen.

So, yes, even at the early age of seven my kids were able to give thoughtful advice ("Mommy, if you keep losing your purse, why don't you put it in the same place every time.")

Kids who are not allowed to voice their opinions to their parents (and get respect for them) are less likely to speak up -- but are not necessarily less likely to try something daring.

It's not a lack of intelligence that plagues them, it's a lack of height, strength, foresight, understanding of consequences, and long-term planning. If they don't see some of the Really Dangerous Things that an adult might see, they might dare where an adult would be more cautious.

omg

CHOMPING AT THE BIT
(to read this story!!)

My girl child could do this I think. My boys would possibly let emotions control them too much. Teo could do this as could Rio. I could have, mainly because my parents worked on independence a lot with us from the beginning. There are a bunch of precocious kids around and kids are good at survival.
When Chris was 10 his brother went over the handle bars of a bike and he and his other brother flagged down a car and got the broken brother to the hospital. So clear thinking under pressure is possible at eh ages you are talking.

Sounds like I need to go with what I know, which is competent children!

You are missed -- when are we going to cross paths again? Or is life too crazed right now? (With the book and trying to work with this ADD patch, crazed may not be a strong enough word, here....)

A Writing question....

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