I have a bunch of kids who get injected/ given super powers when they're three years old (I know, why would you give a toddler super powers?). There are a few different groups who end up with these children, but the majority of children, from about 3-11 years old, are raised in a lab environment.
At first I was like, 'Yeah, it would be easy to control these super powered kids in a lab, esp if you have the right tools' (which the group does). Like, the people in the lab have cameras and other instruments that monitor the kids 24/7, all the kids have trackers/ shock collars on (as well as trackers in their bodies they don't know about), there's clear rewards/ punishments for being 'good' or being 'bad', and the kids being 'good' and undergoing experiments and being compliant/ obedient is the only way to get their needs met (i.e. love, care, socializing, etc.). And ofc those in the lab aren't averse to other means of physical/ mental/ psychological manipulation and/ or abuse. So it should be a piece of cake for the scientists, right?
But then I'm like, children are children -- they have their own personalities; children also get upset over things or have tantrums; they don't know certain things (i.e. you have to teach them morals, manners, etc. so they could mistakes around this). And then ofc they'll be different in that some might be neuro-diverse; have mental disorders due to the lab environment, experiments, etc.; have physical disorders and/ or differences; have physical differences due to their powers (i.e. wings). And all of this [as well as their powers] would also influence how the scientists and other kids treat them in the lab.
But I feel like -- or KNOW -- I'm missing something. Especially when it comes to the children when they're like 3yo-5yo. Like, I've heard about the terrible twos, or kids becoming more... 'defiant'? Or wanting to do things their own way, or asking questions/ being curious about things. People often struggle to feed children/ get them to eat, or to get them to sleep. Children -- like anyone -- would not like to be experimented on, or constantly have to have their blood drawn, or do tests to see how their power works. But there's no escape from this environment -- do all of them just become compliant/ obedient? I feel like that wouldn't happen, especially as they age from 3 to 11, and their powers grow/ change, and ofc they do as well. Idk, what conflicts am I missing?
[Apparently my post gets deleted unless I add in 'I have tried' so there it is!]
Mom and Early Educator here! Kids at the 3-11 range are wildly unpredictable, but here are some overarching themes in their developmental growth: 3-5: often the ages of “I can do it” (when they really can’t, these kids want to prove they are capable and strong like the bigger kids/adults. This can present as picky eating, refusing bedtime etc because they want to be autonomous. Kids are egocentric at this stage (only can see the world through their own wants/needs). Speaking wise, kids in this age group may only be speaking 2-4 words at a time (delayed language) or might tell you long, winding stories (still typically simple language). Mispronunciation is common in words that they don’t use a lot (especially is frequently mispronounced). Kids are often feral balls of energy that are hard to direct in large groups.
5-8: peer pressure starts here, and fitting in with peers starts to be come more important than impressing parental figures. More likely to see baby versions of rebellion here if Fairness (an important concept to them at this age) isn’t being applied or is perceived to not be applied. Empathy is starting, but kids are still primarily egocentric . Kids this age tend to have some specialized knowledge based on their interests but their talking tends to be more or less simple sentences and stories. Kids are more practiced at sitting still/taking direction but will revert to feral balls of energy if given the chance.
8-11: kids here sometimes get wild mood swings as puberty approaches, which could make control of powers harder. Much less egocentric than younger versions, but they also tend to do more social bullying here. (Social bullying/name calling absolutely can and does start younger, but it gets more hurtful). Can use language as well as an adult most of the time, but may miss-use words they have picked up through context. Kids at this age are used to sitting still/doing tasks but will complain at length if it’s something they hate.
I hope this helps!
Thanks for this! It really helped!
This kind of thing would lead to severe psychological disturbances among the children. Homelander, in the Amazon series The Boys is one direction it could go in but there may be others. Essentially all the children would act in abnormal ways. One thing I would expect is severe paranoia toward non-powered people or adults in general. The older children, if kidnapped, might do a lot to get back to their families.
What I think you are missing, however, is how destructive such treatment is psychologically. The kids would never be normal and suicide to get out of the situation is a possibility.
I wouldn't use three year olds if I were leading the scientists you speak of. Older kids can take direction much better If you want to be realistic, the parents should be paid to have the children participate. The kids could also be bribed with fashionable clothing and makeup, electronics, or weapons.
Another way is to frame their doings with a transcendental purpose. Preventing an AI takeover, stopping the anti-Christ, finding the true extent of human potential, ending the dominance of billionaires are all things that they could claim to be attempting.
Threatening parents, siblings, and pets might also be effective. Another thing that is part of controlling people is isolating them.
Finally, shock collars simply don't work well on humans. A little bit of starving myself and I probably could get paper or plastic under the electrodes. I might also be able to hide a screw driver or other tool to remove it on my body. I couldn't do that at three but if I were eleven and desperate, it might be possible.
You are essentially building a mad science version of Epstein Island. If that makes you hesitate it should. If you still want to do it, I would research the control techniques used by people like him.
Yep. Shock collars on 3 year olds? The people involved would have to be utterly without conscience, which would make things even worse.
I mean that is the point haha! They're literally experimenting on toddlers in a lab. And not really, people can still have a conscience, they just wouldn't see the three year olds as human :) Or see the collars as a way of protecting the kids from themselves plus others.
Even the other kids could be for this. I remember seeing a little Israeli girl talking to a man on Skype, and as soon as the man revealed he was Palestinian, she started swearing at him and hating at him and making obscene gestures. Nazis as well were normal people who were conditioned/ nazified by the state to see certain groups of people as less than human/ not human.
Haha a lot of what you have suggested I already have! They didn't WANT to use three year olds, age is a factor in how likely someone is to get a power, and so this is why they used them. They also do later bribe them with things, and even introduce pets [and take them away] if they misbehave. Likewise, the same thing goes with friends/ family members.
It's also not JUST about the shock collars. Like, there's lots of other things happening as well -- like 24/7 surveillance, use of drugs (tranqs, sedatives, etc.), clear rewards/ punishments. A lot of kids COULD get the shock collars off if they tried, they just don't because they'll be punished for this. I think later down the line as well a lot of them just end up with bracelets/ stuff that can pass as jewellery which monitors if they're using their powers. Again, they're punished if they don't use them unless they're allowed to.
You did touch on an aspect I've been thinking of, or grappling with lately -- which is the psychological state. From the start I knew a lot of the kids would have mental health problems (as well as physical health problems that could stem from this) due to GAINING the powers being extremely painful. But then, whether they're in the lab or not, living with powers and feeling isolated/ very different from others would also be conducive to mental illness. So I'm not sure to the extent that they all have this -- ik some def have specific disorders, and ik a lot of those who do have disorders take medication for it, i.e. anti-depressants, but yeah. I also do have some who have tried and succeeded, or tried and failed, to commit suicide. But at least in the lab environment, they do try to improve their lives/ make sure this doesn't happen -- like, they DO NOT want this to occur. I mentioned this in other comments, but it's not just them being straight lab rats. Like, they do go to school, play, talk to grown ups, have kind of parents, etc., it's just all within the lab. Kind of like if you had a super strict childhood [still lowkey abusive] but you still had a childhood, and experienced things, it was just overcast/ overshadowed by a lot of these rules you had to follow.
That's an incredibly dark idea, but it could certainly make for some fascinating characters.
That said, if I was you I'd do some research on orphanages and other institutions. If you need specific names: the medieval Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence, the nineteenth century workouse of Dickensian infamy, reform schools, Nazi schools, and Canadian Residential Schools have all considerable and recent literature written about them. Those should include considerable anecdotes and analysis of the psychological impact on the child victims.
I'm fairly sure there is also scholarship on similar institutions in Tokugawa Japan, as well as in occupied Korea, but it's outside my area of expertise.
Haha Nazis are lowkey a prime idk, inspiration(?) -- ugh, not the right word. But I did a paper about a year ago at uni about Nazi Germany, thinking it was going to be boring war stuff and I was gonna hate it, but the whole Nazification process really interested me! Or like, frog in slowly boiling water! And I keep thinking again and again how that's what the organisation does to the kids, i.e. when they recapture them if they're out in the world, or when they're WITHIN the organisation since birth. Coz if you're around specific ideas and things 24/7, it's gonna start to affect you, you're gonna start to internalise them. But yeah, I'll def need to read more into stuff like this!
I'd say inspiration is a neutral word for this, it doesn't necessarily mean that you share their aspirations. Very few thriller authors inspired by true crime become serial killers themselves.
Either way, I think it's important in an endeavor like this not to romanticize the realities of abuse; but real humans undergo similar situations, and their struggles deserve to be processed in art.
For the medical aspect like with the injections and stuff, I would look into pediatric medical care and how kids with cancer or other illnesses are dealt with and how they react to the environment themselves.
Yeah I was thinking of that!
I'll be frank, this kind of backstory always gets an eyeroll out of me, because A) I see it ALL the time. Superpowered children raised as dogs by scientists devoid of humanity? Come on, dude. That's all of them in this type of genre. And B) obviously it doesn't work, and anyone who stops to think about it for more than five minutes would realize how stupid it would be to throw time and money at the toddler to sociopathic superhero pipeline.
You want an army of superheroes who will always obey and never defect? Easy. Get them small, and give them a family. A real family, with parents they can latch onto. Make sure the parents are loyal to the cause, and they'll take care of all the frustrating, icky parts of childrearing so that their precious little test subjects end up as fairly well-adjusted soldiers with emotional vulnerabilities that can be easily exploited. No need for shock collars when you just have to threaten to make their mom cry if they don't drink the weird glowing serum.
Granted, this doesn't solve the question of how children may react to their situation, since this is still pretty radical. Though it could simplify it if the children get an otherwise normal childhood with clear boundaries between that and their labrat life.
Haha they're not just raised as dogs though! I thought this as well/ too. Why wouldn't a kid/ teenager/ anyone try to escape when they're treated so poorly? The kids that do grow up as lab rats/ etc. are not JUST lab rats, like they're fully indoctrinated, trained, go to 'school', have parental figures, etc. and yes, their weaknesses and vulnerabilities exploited. Those rescued and brought to the lab experience the same thing. It's also a way to get them into their cause/ get them to ease into violence. Like, they found/ rescued one kid and then encouraged her to kill her rapists and told her that they deserved it. This was how she first murdered. In another organisation, someone has a different body, and so one of their parental figures is kind of like, 'X doesn't like you, how could they like you, when you don't even look human? They're fetishizing you, I'm trying to protect you,' etc. when this is NOT the case.
A lot also develop mental illnesses as well, so it's also something I'm trying to incoporate in/ treat realistically. But the organization just gives them pills/ anti-depressants for it, therapy (if needed), and ofc since the kids have to be 'useful' they're already feeding them healthy stuff and making them exercise.
It's more so the earlier years when they're treated like this/ it's at it's worse, because the kids are ofc kids, and harder to control.
You are asking for these kids to go rogue and do a Charlie Brewster. If you are going to use a lab, you might want to treat your test subjects better than lab rats. If I were you, I would use a version of the Truman Show, or the Village from the Prisoner.
CES
This is my plan! They're not JUST treated like lab rats, like they do go to school, encouraged to play with others (if they're capable), and have 'handlers' who are more-so like their parents but also in charge of their case/ know about their powers. Most of the lab rat stuff happens when they're younger tho AND it's more prevalent since this is when the kids get their powers. And kids with powers would be harder to control (emotions AND powers) than say, a 14 year old with powers.
Expect the unexpected, there's no one answer for knowing how to deal with children, let alone with superpowers. Chances are any number of examples are enough to be used as inspiration.
Finding the right ones that will help contribute to the plot of your story is the hard part. Why something is happening matters more than what actually happens.
Based on the indoctrinated approach to a rather common experience, it seems that the overall justification behind what happens is that society was never meant to control the nature of a person or supernatural things, but only to influence them if absolutely necessary. I think a logical approach would be having whatever protagonists are present to realize this.