How to Write Children
I am so, so sorry that this is so late in arriving! I must admit, I've had it written for a while, but just had to edit it and couldn't find the time! School and my extracurriculars are turning out to be VERY time consuming...anyway, I hope everyone's school year is off to a great start and that you'll forgive me for the late article! :P I'll also post a featured story to make up for it.
I find that one of the largest challenges writers tend to face in their stories is how to write about children - and who can blame them? Most authors are not children themselves, and they tend to forget how kids act, feel, and talk. I distinctly remember being about eleven years old and reading a book in which the main character's little sister was supposed to be twelve, a year older than me. However, she acted younger than my little brother! I would have pegged her for an eight or nine year old had I not known what age the author had given her.
Children, however, enhance a story. Killing them creates more heartache, making them battle creates more tenseness, having them think of ingenious solutions makes it all the more impressive. All in all, kids are a valuable asset to have in any story - and the biggest challenge is writing them.
In this article, I'm going to help you with writing different age groups based on my childhood experiences and observing small children in my life!
Baby (0-1 1/2)
Babies do not have a sense of fear until they are conditioned to have one. Since they haven't experienced much of the world yet, they don't know what will hurt them and what won't. That being said, they do cry or become afraid when they are startled, hurt, hungry, or even just generally uncomfortable.
Babies are also not good sleepers, and tend to babble a lot unless you have the rare quiet baby. The older they are, the longer they will sleep and the more talkative they will become.
Toddler (2-4)
This is when children are changing the most. Many children are a bit bratty - they don't like sharing their toys, they want to be in charge, and they feel entitled to a good amount of stuff. Unless they were raised in an emotionally abusive household or by amazing parents (and the latter isn't any fun to write about!) they likely will be little brats.
Also, kids this age love to draw, and their artwork consists of circles, squiggly lines, and attempted letters. They never draw anything coherently, not at this age.
These children will also be very curious and eager to learn things. Some children, though, like to pretend they know more than they do, so if one character offhandedly mentions something that a little kid doesn't know about, the child will likely be the last person to point out that they don't know what they're talking about. But if the child feels comfortable with someone and is happy, they'll ask lots of questions. They'll also want to play games. Like, all the time.
Remember that this age group isn't as stupid as everyone makes them out to be. They can retain information surprisingly well and while they might find it difficult to pronounce big words, they'll probably be able to grasp their understanding with a fair amount of ease. They won't talk in broken English unless their parents or guardians did. Children are not as dumb as the media makes them out to be - how could they learn to function if they were?
Little kid (5-7)
This is when children are learning to read and write. Some children already know how to do both by this age, and their personalities are beginning to show. If children don't become engaged in books at this age, it is unlikely that they ever will until they are older teenagers or adults.
Also, when these children write, their handwriting is big and sloppy. They spell words phonetically, meaning just how they sound. For example, "Something awesome happened at the park" turns into something along the lines of "somthing awsum hapend at the park." They might write a couple letters backwards, but likely not consistently, unless they were taught incorrectly. This is another classic child stereotype. What they will get wrong is spelling.
Child (8-11)
This is when romance begins to come into play. You may think this is young, but in this day and age, today's children find it perfectly normal to be developing crushes at eight years old. (I blame it on all of the romance-centered media they are exposed to from birth, but that's another rant...)
This is also the dreaded age of beginning puberty and transitioning into teenage-hood. There's actually a term for this time: preteen. Girls will begin wearing training bras, periods will loom right around the corner, and hair begins growing everywhere on both boys and girls. Girls mature faster than boys, however, so this is not the age of voice cracks - and in fact, for future references, voice cracks are not as frequent as movies joke about once they begin happening.
These children are slowly maturing into teenagers. They will not be incredibly childish, although of course some aspects of their childhood will remain unless something in their life forced them to grow up too fast.
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Like I said, all of this information was based off of my own experience with children and my childhood. I hope that this helps someone while writing about children, and I hope that if you have any corrections or add-ons to my info, leave a comment!
(I should state now that if you're writing a fantasy or science fiction book, all bets are off for how your child characters talk and act.)
I hope you have a wonderful week - happy writing!
