Apocalypse Writing Advice

[redlipstickresurrected]

Mars Black aka Steve Smith aka UK Paint Whisperer (British, b. 1975, Macclesfield, England) - Oh God, the Cat's Thrown Up Another Sunset, 2020, Paintings: Oil on Canvas

[deception-united]

Any advice on how to kill off multiple characters at the same time?

Killing Many Characters at Once

When writing the simultaneous deaths of multiple characters, it's important to plan carefully to ensure the scene is clear and emotionally effective without losing the reader. Let's look at some key considerations, like narrative purpose, emotional pacing, and the impact on remaining characters and plot development.

1. Mass deaths must matter

I've talked about this previous in my post about killing characters and what to consider before you do, but whatever the motivation may be, don't kill them all just to shock your audience or create angst. Every death should either:

Serve the emotional arc of the survivors

Push the plot forward drastically

Reveal something crucial (about the world or villain, for example)

2. Individual impact

Even if they're all dying at the same time, make the readers feel them one by one. This doesn't mean long monologues for each character—rather, make the reader notice each person's presence, their last action, and their emotions (ties into goals/motivations: fear, courage, love, etc.) before they're gone.

If the situation which has led to this is something along the lines of a war or battle where many hundreds or thousands of people are dying, however, it's better to focus the POV on select characters (likely your main ones) or those who will end up surviving so you can carry it into the aftermath.

3. Staggered deaths in one scene

Although this may have to be the case in certain situations (like an explosion), rather than having them all die in the exact same second, consider structuring it so that it's very close together. This might look like one going down trying to save another, someone else holding off the danger, and so on to keep the pace tight while increasing the impact of the death of each individual character involved by giving them each their moments before death.

4. Pace the aftermath carefully

The true impact of a mass death like this is in the silence after, once it's all over and done and the reality has settled in for those remaining. It's important not to move on too quickly—you just shook the earth, let the reader and characters feel the aftershocks.

5. Survivors carry the weight

The emotional impact of multiple character deaths shouldn't end with the scene where they occur, but rather given continuing significance through the responses of the characters who survive and remain living. This is one of the best parts of character death: the state of grief, guilt, anger, or numbness it leaves in the ones who are left behind. The suffering is over for those who were killed, but for those who weren't, it's just gotten worse.

Survivors may change their goals, behaviour, or relationships as a result of what happened (ex: some might become withdrawn while others distract themselves by a desire for revenge, justice, or redemption). These reactions can make for great character growth and further their arcs.

6. Practical effects of the loss

Consider: how does the absence of these characters affect the group dynamic, leadership structures, or ability to complete a mission, for example?

In the aftermath of an event like this, addressing both emotional and function consequences (concerning the narrative) allows the story to move forward without minimising the impact of the tragedy or making the deaths feel gratuitous or inconsequential to the rest of the plot.

Happy writing! ❤

[paroxsysdraw]

me when my friends . yea

[cannibalchicken]

[gradschoolcryptid]

[bartmobile]

because it is only one little cubie

[egberts]

looks like october is…. octover

[laurassecretlife]

i’m queueing this for next year

[finchjpeg]

Its nowvember

[babyanimalgifs]

A Pangolin reacts happily to a human grooming it in places it could not reach or take care of it by itself. There are many benefits to humans having opposable thumbs. 

(Source)

[blastovkatamarinecromancy]

Truly, we are put on this earth to serve

[thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva]

Resources For Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters

Despite the fact that I am not deaf, mute, or blind myself, one of the most common questions I receive is how to portray characters with these disabilities in fiction.

As such, I’ve compiled the resources I’ve accumulated (from real life deaf, mute, or blind people) into a handy masterlist.

Deaf Characters:

Deaf characters masterpost

Deaf dialogue thread

Dialogue with signing characters (also applies to mute characters.)

A deaf author’s advice on deaf characters

Dialogue between deaf characters

Mute Characters

Life as a Mute

My Silent Summer:  Life as a Mute

What It’s Like Being Mute

21 People Reveal What It’s Really Like To Be Mute

I am a 20 year old Mute, ask me anything at all!

Blind Characters:

The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters.

@referenceforwriters masterpost of resources for writing/playing blind characters.

The youtube channel of the wonderful Tommy Edison, a man blind from birth with great insight into the depiction of blind people and their lives.

An Absolute Write thread on the depiction of blind characters, with lots of different viewpoints and some great tips.

And finally, this short, handy masterpost of resources for writing blind characters.

Characters Who Are Blind in One Eye

4 Ways Life Looks Shockingly Different With One Eye

Learning to Live With One Eye

Adapting to the Loss of an Eye

Adapting to Eye Loss and Monocular Vision

Monocular Depth Perception

Deaf-Blind Characters

What Is It Like To Be Deafblind?

Going Deaf and Blind in a City of Noise and Lights

Deaf and Blind by 30

Sarita is Blind, Deaf, and Employed (video)

Born Deaf and Blind, This Eritrean American Graduated Harvard Law School (video)

A Day of a Deaf Blind Person

Lesser Known Things About Being Deafblind

How the Deaf-Blind Communicate

Early Interactions With Children Who Are Deaf-Blind

Raising a DeafBlind Baby

If you have any more resources to add, let me know!  I’ll be adding to this post as I find more resources.

I hope this helps, and happy writing!  <3

[thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva]

Updated with more resources, specifically for characters who are blind in one eye.

[kiku91]

this is amazing! Thank you!

[ultrafacts]

For any writers: http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/SFTerms.html

For more facts, follow Ultrafacts

[greatfulldedd]

.

[smashwolfen]

@space-australians Feels like this would kinda fit your blog, specially for writers who want to make up weird human space shenanigans involving a ship and alien crew and what not.  Maybe someone can write about how a person fixed a specific part in the dumbest way possible using the right words XD

[space-australians]

Guys, NASA is cool.

[emperorsfoot]

If you scroll to the bottom of the page, they have a whole list of articles and pages to help sci-fi writers. NASA is the best! 

[cornbreadlesbian]

Visible Mending Guide

[torturing-characters-101]

hi! idk how well you might know the answer to this given that it's somewhat of a historical question, but is there anything that could be done to treat a respiratory illness combined with a fever without modern medicine? (like, that would actually help.) thanks!

I can't say for certain if any of these would have actually been used in the time period you're writing, but the following would help:

For Respiratory Distress Caused By Respiratory Illness:

Laying in a bed with the head of the bed at a 45 degree angle- helps make best use of the diaphragm and lessens the work of breathing

Sitting in a "tripod" position, essentially sitting and leaning forward over a table with the upper body supported by the arms, also lessens the work of breathing if the person is sitting up.

Coughing and deep breathing- purposeful, very deep breaths and deliberately hard coughs 10 times every hour while awake, which prevents a condition called atalectasis, where the small air sacs in the lungs collapse or fill with fluid.

Breathing steam to loosen secretions in the lungs

Staying as hydrated as possible to loosen secretions in the lungs

Eating very dark chocolate or cocoa/drinking black coffee (caffeine and theobromine/theophylline, chemicals in cocoa and coffee both act as bronchodilators, widening airways in the lungs.)

For Fever:

A cool cloth on the person's forehead would feel nice

A tea made from the inner bark of the willow tree (contains a precursor to aspirin called salicylic acid, which would be effective at reducing a fever and helping reduce some of the pain and inflammation in the lungs)

Staying hydrated would head off some of the worse side effects of fever- like hallucinations, confusion, anxiety, mood swings, etc...

Staying fed- or at least getting calories, salt and sugar into the person is going to both greatly improve how they feel and also support the higher level of metabolism required to maintain the fever

Bath in tepid or slightly warm water- not cold, which can actually make the fever worse by triggering shivering

Put a fan in the person's room, and dress them in light clothing

Note that if the fever is under 39C or 103F, you really don't have to worry that much- the fever isn't dangerous, just uncomfortable, and mechanical cooling (trying to force the temp down with cold from outside the body) doesn't do a lot of good and can be extremely uncomfortable.

Here is a post I made about fevers in general.

-Ross @macgyvermedical

[torturing-characters-101]

Hi! Really appreciate your cool blog! Do you have any thoughts on how to write a pregnant character in a post-apocalyptic setting? I'm not entirely clear on my timeline yet but I think she was pregnant before the apocalyptic event but only shortly before. How different would that experience be without access to the resources and medical care that they wouldn't have in this setting? What does she need to to do? What can the other characters in her little survivor group do to support her? What about when it's time for her to have the baby, how might that go?

I think it depends.

Most of the medical care we think about during pregnancy/delivery involves the following:

Provide coaching and instruction to the mother

Help control normal symptoms of pregnancy, like nausea, heartburn, and back pain

Detect and intervene in more dangerous complications of pregnancy, like pre-eclampsia, placental problems, and gestational diabetes

Screen the fetus for developmental problems if desired

Provide pain relief for the mother during delivery

Monitor for and respond to distress in the mother or fetus/infant during and immediately after delivery

So if you had a mom who was already knowledgeable about the process of pregnancy, and it was an uncomplicated pregnancy/delivery, this is a very survivable scenario for all involved.

I'll go briefly over each of the trimesters, then we'll talk about delivery.

Trimester 1: Weeks 1-12

This is usually when someone finds out that they are pregnant and when they decide to seek medical attention for pregnancy. Your character may have had a first appointment with a medical provider, which would consist of a confirmation pregnancy test, then a lot of questions, scheduling of any needed/wanted tests, and a brief physical exam.

Since people typically don't "show" in a particularly noticeable way during the first trimester, this would be a time when your character could hide their pregnancy if they needed to. One of the more common symptoms during this time is morning sickness (nausea and sometimes vomiting that can last weeks or months, especially in early pregnancy).

This is also a time when many teratogenic drugs (like thalidomide or alcohol) and exposures (like rubella) can have their most detrimental effects on the embryo/fetus.

Again assuming a normal pregnancy without complications, your character would have to try to stay away from alcohol and any medications that weren't absolutely needed. They would also have to figure out how to get food and clean water into their body- especially if nausea and vomiting are getting in the way. They may be able to use ginger or mint if available to help.

Trimester 2: Weeks 13-28

This is the middle section of the pregnancy when the fetus grows from about the size of a gummy bear to about 12 inches in length. In terms of the mom, this is generally an easier part of the pregnancy- after the worst of the morning sickness is gone, but before the fetus is so big it is causing back pain, difficulty breathing and moving for the mom.

While mom might start to show, especially earlier in this stage it would still be relatively hide-able, and mom would be most mobile if she needed to go anywhere/build anything to keep herself safe during the less-mobile times ahead.

This trimester is also when she could test herself for gestational diabetes. I would recommend she test for this, because it is easy to test for even in a low-resource environment, it is at least partially manageable in a low-resource environment, and managing it can greatly reduce complications during delivery. Most of the other stuff that someone could check for wouldn't really be possible without advanced imaging or lab equipment, and it's not like she could do anything about those things anyway.

For a quick-n-dirty method to check for gestational diabetes, the mom would drink or eat 50g sugar after fasting for 6-8 hours, and then take a fignerstick blood glucose test (she may be able to borrow a meter from someone who has diabetes) an hour later. If the result is less than 140, she can continue as she has, but a reading greater than 140 could indicate gestational diabetes. In that case the mom would need to reduce sugar consumption (IDK how easy that would be in your environment), or face the possibility of delivering an exceptionally large child. Without the possibility of a c-section, this could be very dangerous.

Another thing the mom would start wanting to monitor would be blood pressure. High blood pressure could indicate pre-ecclampsia, which could be life threatening to the child and mother. There wouldn't be a lot the mom could do for this, other than monitor or try to get methyldopa, labetolol, or magnesium and someone who knows how to dose it. Closer to delivery, the mom's group would want to watch for seizures.

Trimester 3: Weeks 29-40

This is when mom feels really massive and her mobility may be limited- she may need help especially in a dangerous or low resource environment. She might also have shortness of breath, difficulty sleeping, heartburn, back pain, swelling in her legs, tender breasts (including producing some early milk), and contractions (even when she's not in actual labor).

The goal during this time would be to get mom ready for delivery. By 37 weeks the fetus is completely able to support themself without special needs outside the mother, so a slightly "early" baby is nothing to worry about, even in a low-resource setting.

Since a C-section would probably not be an option for your characters, towards the end of the pregnancy one of the more important things to think about is making sure the fetus's head is pointed down. Most fetuses will move into this position on their own, however, if the fetus is feet down, this could be a dangerous delivery. If the baby is feet-down, someone can turn the baby from the outside of the mother.

The Delivery:

I did a pretty comprehensive post about a low-resource birth here.

What is not covered in the post above is that you generally want the mom to be in as clean of a place as possible, and anyone helping her needs to have washed their hands at least. Infection in the mother and newborn are leading causes of death, and the cleaner people are who are poking around her birth canal, the less likely this is.

Also, to cut the cord, wait until it stops pulsing, clamp it close to the infant and a few inches out, then cut between the two clamps. The most important part of this is that the instrument used to cut is very clean (or sterile if you can get it). The reason for this is that it is not uncommon for umbilical stumps to get infected. Especially since it is unlikely that this mom had her TDaP vaccine while pregnant (which prevents baby from getting tetanus infection in their stump- which is surprisingly common).

[fanfictionwriter101]

Tips for Writing More Genuine Children (Part 1/3 - General)

What qualifications do I have? None, aside from spending basically my life with children. Also, these things aren’t stone hard. This is just from my experience with kids.

First things first, I’m going to list some things that children do that people who don’t spend times with kids don’t know :)

-They can happily watch the same movie/video/song/show/etc over and over again. Like, rewind and watch it again.  -They will either talk nonstop or are dead silent and refuse to speak. There is no in between. Alllll ages do this. -Children wear weird clothing if they dress themselves. They don’t have a sense of style. Eg, my sister once wore a Chinese Airline Towel as a scarf. They come out of their room and you have to take them back in. Style comes in around 8. -Social conventions where? Kids don’t care as much about things like names. Kids are just happy to play with each other, no names required.  -Kids don’t just laugh all the time.  -Unlikely to think their actions through before the age of like 6/7 -They have a smaller worldview. So breaking their doll is a big deal to them because they don’t have anything to compare it to. This stops around 10.  -Kids, especially under 5, are very tactical. They’re going to want to taste and touch the thing. 

~ Give the child something to obsess over! From about 2-11/12 children generally have one thing at a time that they absolutely love. It can change, and probably will, but it makes the kid more realistic. It can be really general (lego/barbie/dinosaurs) or specific (a book series/movie/colouring). You don’t need to bring it up every single time they speak but just keep it in mind. 

~ Don’t forget about the kid! Okay, this is one of my biggest pet peeves in books. Don’t introduce a child and then forget about it. Just a casual sentence once and again to show that you haven’t forgotten about them. Random example: A: “Should we meet at three?” B: “My babysitter gets out of school at three-thirty. Can we do it then?” And now this parent is shown caring about their kid and I’m not annoyed lol. 

~ Don’t make all children carbon copies of each other. Have more than 2 children? Make them different. A lot of the time I see the same basic personality in the children. Some kids are really social and some are really shy, even siblings are different! Give them different hobbies or personality types to differentiate them. 

~ Children aren’t dumb. Don’t take lack of experience as being dumb. Kids may be wrong but their ideas aren’t inherently dumb when you think about them. Let’s talk money for a moment, now as an adult, we know that we can’t just print more money so people aren’t poor because of inflation and stuff. A kid doesn’t see it like that. Inflation isn’t on their mind just the knowledge that we can print money. See what I mean? 

~ On the same wavelength, kids aren’t super smart. Don’t let them be uber-intelligent unless their an actual genius (and even then they won’t know everything). Don’t let them have all the answers all the time. 

~ Give them goals. Kids are people you know? The goals don’t need to be life goals, more by-the-minute goals. Like, the goal for 9YearOld Sally is getting a cookie, so what’s she gonna do? That’s up to you. But still them goals. Also, most kids know what they want to be when they grow up (dancer/police officer/vet) that can influence them (wanting to go to dance lessons or getting a vet set). 

~ Don’t make them too cute. Cutesy child characters will become annoying pretty quickly. If they are meant to be likable yet they are sickly sweet all the time they’ll come across is boring and annoying.

[wildsurvival]

[bear--hearted]

This is a beautiful graphic but it doesn’t explain the pros and cons of each fire type.

The Swedish torch is good for an efficient and contained fire, it’s controlled and good for cooking over and produces less light and heat than other fires. It can be difficult to keep going once you burn through the original log

The teepee is your traditional campfire. Good for heat and light not great for cooking, burns through fuel fairly quickly

The star fire is one of the slowest burning and not well protected but provides an even heat good for slow cooking and is excellent if you have limited fuel and need the protection a fire can provide

The lean to is a compact and efficient fire that evolves into a dense and hot bed of coals. The structure creates a good source of air flow which can help damp wood burn. A slightly better cooking fire that isn’t as bright. It also provides protection from wind on one side

The platform fire is incredibly hot and will create a very thick bed of coals but it doesn’t have a lot of air flow and is a little harder to get started.

The log cabin is big and bright and has lots of air flow which again is good for damp logs. You can also use this structure to start a smaller fire in the middle while drying out bigger logs. This fire will crumble into a messier bed of coals that don’t produce particularly even heat for cooking.

The modified leanto is excellent if you need it to perform multiple functions. The side with more fuel will burn bright and hot and the side with less fuel will burn less hot but more evenly and controlled, this gives you different cooking options.

[rinitachan]

reblogging for writing purposes. the exact reason will come soon enough.

[bisexualbaker]

[Images: Infographics for seven ways to build a good campfire, made by Rolling Fox. End ID.]

I’ve taken the liberty of turning @bear–hearted’s descriptions of the uses for these various campfire types into its own infographic, so it’d be easier for me to keep all the information in one place on my computer. Here it is for anyone else who likes to save infographics! The text is almost 100% copied word-for-word from above, with only minor tweaks, such as capitalizing and underlining the campfire setup names for ease of finding them.

[doomsdayk1tty]

As someone who writes post apocalypse or zombie outbreak stories, this helps a lot.

[grandenchanterfiona]

Why do my interests in canning, couponing, and homesteading overlap so often with blogs with titles like ‘The Obedient Housewife’? 

[livingdeadpoetssociety]

Like, I’m like, “I want to learn to make soap and farm,” and suddenly I see 500 “traditional family” motherfuckers like no you are mistaken. I am just a simple lesbian anticapitalist looking to limit my consumerism as much as possible.

[roachpatrol]

‘these fun crafts will keep your kids occupied until your husband gets home!’ no i want a clothespin crown for me

[plantyhamchuk]

As a nerd who homesteads, let me share the data I have gathered!

First is my megalist of homesteading-related links I’ve gathered over the years. I’m a mod over at r/homesteading and this is where I’ve put a lot of good sources (not all, admittedly some are still sitting in my bookmark folder waiting to be added). The search function at reddit is wretched, but there’s also been lots of good things I’ve shared there too. Please note that many of these sources are not actual webpages, but PDFs. That’s not an accident, PDFs are where you find the really good in-depth stuff.

Many of my sources are from the Extension Service. They won’t try to relate to you based on your lifestyle or sexual identity or religion or whatever, but due to that, they also won’t be alienating you either.

The Cooperative Extension Service (US only) exists in all 50 states and in most counties. It is taxpayer funded. The Extension Service exists to help people become more self sufficient, for farmers to be more successful, for people to be healthier, for kids to be well adjusted, to figure out how to grow the best plants in your area, etc. Some county offices even offer cheap classes in things like gardening, canning, soap making, and they’re taught by people with training in these areas (I once heard a great talk on composting from a soil scientist that way). Do you want to know what type of plant something is? Do you need help figuring out a plant disease or pest issue? You can now contact them online and get great info.

I HIGHLY recommend checking out your state’s extension service website, because they do offer different types of information, depending on what is grown/raised where you are (and how well funded they are). My county extension puts out a monthly gardening newsletter, which includes a helpful ‘this is the time of the year to do —-’ part.

Here’s an example from North Carolina - check out that left sidebar

Here’s an example from California - this website is HUGE so dig around

Here’s an example from New York - they have a calendar at the bottom, showing how they have things like hydroponic and urban agriculture workshops coming up.

Interested in raising animals? Penn State Extension is really really good. They have tons of free materials and courses available online, some I pulled for my megalist at the top of this.

National Center for Home Food Preservation - they cover the important aspects of food safety, and also have some recipes. Many state Extension Service websites will have lots more recipes.

If you have kids, check out 4-H programs for them. It’s part of the local public school system here. If you’re homeschooling, you can also purchase their science-filled educational and self sufficiency materials (materials are divided by age ranges - Cloverbud Member: ages 5-8, Junior Member: ages 9-13, Senior Member: ages 14-19). One of my coworkers is in 4-H, she’s still in high school, and last year she raised an award-winning heifer.

Congress grants the money for funding these programs, and they’re connected with various universities. There’s a level of cutting edge scientific knowledge and academic rigor you don’t find in blogs or even most books. There’s LOTS of homesteading books filled with outdated information like ‘till the earth every year’ hell I still have older coworkers who do it and I’m trying to figure out how to gently tell them that they’re destroying their soil that way, and that there’s better methods now, methods grounded in science.

Knitting - try this youtube series

DIY Crown - here’s a youtube video on how to make a mermaid crown

Hope this is helpful to someone out there.

[systlin]

HOLY FUCKIN SHIT BLESS

[bareboneswitch]

@crazycatsiren up your street I think?

[karijote]

[fixyourwritinghabits]

I reblogged one of these but this one is even better.

[fire-fira]

Here’s your reminder that the US doesn’t have an official language.

[theredscreech]

This is such a fascinating concept that writers can apply to their world-building.

[hogwartsconsultingtimelady]

This is also an interesting look at which immigrant groups settled where

[teaboot]

How to write kids, if you don't remember being one or haven't lived with any

1. Kids never feel as small as you see them. A three year old thinks a one year old is a baby and a six year old is grown up. A six year old thinks a three year old is a baby and a twelve year old is an adult. Age is about perspective. One year is a huge age difference to a little kid.

2. Little kids might not be conscious of their physical limitations, but they can still be frustrated by them. A seven year old might see an adult do something relatively simple, like draw a straight line or perfectly crack an egg, and try to do the same thing, only to be frustrated when it doesn't work.

Imagine suddenly having an injury that makes a skill you use every day become difficult- you feel you should be able to do the thing, and you understand the thing should be easy for you, but it isn't. It can be immensely frustrating to have a brain that grasps a concept that language or fine motor skills haven't caught up to.

3. You know when you forget a word, and have to make something up on the fly to describe the word? That's pretty much exactly what learning your first language is like.

You know what you intend, but you don't have a way to express it, and it can move you to tears with frustration when everyone around you is suggesting the wrong thing, or seems completely certain they understand what you mean, and they don't.

You don't have a word for "Later"? You might try saying "next time", or, "after", or, "before tomorrow".

This might result in saying, "Are we going to the park next time?", "Are we going to the park before tomorrow?", or, "Are we going to the park after?", all of which can result in different answers.

4. Kids feel like adults are a different species. They don't get why we do certain things, and they don't understand why we don't want to run around with them all the time.

If sitting still is boring, coffee tastes bitter, and long conversations only happen with weird-smelling strangers who talk to them like they're stupid, then they truly will not understand why anyone would *want* to be left to have coffee with a friend without welcome distractions to make it bearable.

Aren't you bored? You aren't doing anything. How could you possibly be stimulated without any food or toys or music or anything? Why don't you just leave? Do you *have* to be there, the way you had to go to work? Adults are weird.

5. Children have complex social relationships that are just as varied as yours.

A room full of third graders might look like indiscriminate chaos to an adult, but pick a well connected kid, and they'll tell you that Megan is the fashion icon who can do hair really well, Thomas is the athlete, Gray gets mean when he has to share so nobody wants to play with him, Paisley can't read and the boys make fun of her for it so don't make her work in a group with Anthony, Dillon put a bug in their food once so they'll never trust him again, and Matthew's parents let him watch family guy so he says bad words and makes grown-up jokes that make other kids uncomfortable.

You don't see this stuff because you aren't inside the society. They are, and they do.

6. Time. Moves. So. Slow. Five minutes really does feel like half an hour. Sit still for five minutes? That's like you sitting in a waiting room at the DMV for an hour. Wouldn't you get annoyed and impatient? They haven't learned to hide their irritation yet. That's really the only difference.

7. "Reading in your head" requires understanding that you have a Voice, which people can hear, and Thoughts, which are audible only to yourself. This can be a difficult concept to grasp. If a kid is reading out loud, and you tell them to read quietly, there's a good chance they're going to whisper or mouth the words instead of going totally silent the way you might. Splitting the self into multiples like "Internal monologue VS public perception" or "What I look like VS how I think I look" is alien and bizarre. If a kid thinks they look like a Dragon and you laugh at them? Ouch. They might be mad for a while.

8. Repetitive chores make no sense when your awareness of time doesn't extend beyond a week or so. Why should I wash my blankets? They don't look dirty and I don't smell anything bad. Blankets don't get dirty unless you put dirt on them. If you put a blanket in a washer, you can't use that blanket AT ALL the ENTIRE TIME it's being cleaned. That might be an hour, but it will *feel* like a week. And you have to do that every two weeks?? That's overkill. Why even bother?

9. Kids have opinions about adults. They will have a sense about whether an adult is "real-kind" or "fake-kind". An adult who listens respectfully to what they have to say, asks thoughtful questions, and takes their concerns seriously? That's a good adult. An adult that oversimplifies their struggles, ignores their complex social rules, and gives bullshit advice like "just walk away from bullies" and "turn your chores into a fun game"? That's not a trustworthy adult. That's an Adult™. An Adult™ doesn't consider them to be a real human being with thoughts and emotions. An Adult™ sees them as an inferior, amusing pet. And they will actively sabotage An Adult™ like that.

10. Emotions are physical at a young age. Joy might make their body buzz until they can't help but wiggle or jump around. Sadness might be a huge physical pain in their throat and heart. Everything they experience is still relatively.New to.them, so there is very little frame of reference to decide if this is a "big hurt that will last forever and ever and never go away", or a "small hurt, that can be fixed easily and won't matter in five minutes". If someone lies to them about getting a cookie, that very well might be all the betrayal of your best friend sleeping with your husband.

Fortunately, a child probably won't be able to burn all your clothes in the yard without your notice.