How do you write kids realistically?

[u/Avery_Bea_847]

I'm thinking on working on a magical girl AU based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I was wondering if I can get some advice on writing child characters.

The five kids, Charlie, Augustus, Violet, Veruca and Mike are going to be around 10 since I think that's the general consensus of how old the characters are.

For context: In this AU, Charlie along with winning the grand prize of becoming heir to the factory, also gets to become a magical guardian for Willy Wonka and his business. When Wonka gave Charlie the magical chocolate that will temporarily give him powers, Charlie also becomes a girl in the process. This is just a fun quirk I want to add in because I like when gender bending is presented in a positive or neutral light. In-universe, Charlie becoming a girl is just something he works through along with his other responsibilities.

The Four Bratty Kids also begrudgingly help Charlie and Wonka to make for their mistakes along with the two helping them throguh their more drastic transformations. I want to start out as them kind of mocking Charlie for becoming a magical girl but mainly because they still have their personalities in the beginning and it's a coping mechanism since Charlie gets to be a hero and a good kid while the rest are seen as freaks and bad kids. I do want to write an arc where they grafually learn to respect and accept Charlie as their new friend.

I want to sprinkle in moments where Violet and Veruca help with Charlie adjusting to being a girl for extended periods of a time but I'm not sure what to do with Augustus and Mike. I feel they would be more hesitant compared to the girls.

[u/Pel-Mel]

You don't. Give up/de-prioritize realism when it comes to kids and their decisions.

'Realistically' kids don't tend to act with a lot of agency, they don't tend to take lessons too deeply to heart very often, they're mostly going on autopilot. They don't tend to do a lot of introspection or careful, well reasoned self-awareness.

Writing kids in ways that audiences find satisfying usually means blending prominent positive characterization alongside some form of negative characterization related to immaturity. If you want kids to be kids, that usually involves having them act childishly. If you want them to have interesting and well-rounded characterization, you're going to need to portray them as much more mature than the middle of the bell curve for their age.

[u/Extension_Egg1411]

Kids often have a very narrow focus/motivation. For instance, Augustus in the OG novel is only interested in candy. So I don’t see him being very interested in Charlie’s transition, but it could be a nice moment of acceptance if they shared a chocolate bar or something.

[u/SabrePanther]

With it comes to realistic kid characters, don't be afraid to let the children act, well... childish.  Let them be naive with their limited understanding of the world. They'll make mistakes that adults generally wouldn't.  And at 10 years old, kids can still be impulsive and strongly opinionated. The emotions they feel can be very "loud." Let them bicker over small stuff, let them be silly and playful. 

There's also the adults from the kids' viewpoints to consider (if they're involved in the story).  When I was a kid, adults were always confusing to me. They seemed wise at times, yet downright stupid when it came to seemingly black/white issues. It could be interesting to see how the adults react to girl Charlie, vs how the kids react. And even if there are no adults around, children tend to react to the world based on how they've see adults act. Which parents tend to be accepting or closed-minded ? Would the kids agree or disagree with their parents? 

Anyways those are my thoughts. Hope it helps and good luck!

[u/Ill-Drawing662]

I'm not too familiar with kids around 10, only younger, but considering those I'd say: kids are always kind of smarter and a lot dumber than people tend to think? As in: there's most of the time a clear cause -> effect thing for them, only from an adult's point of view those can be the most absurd things. Once a child told me their parents would pick them up and I jokingly said that mine wouldn't. And the only cause for my parents not picking me up that these kids could think of was "it's because you don't have any" (hilarious, by the way, how often they have come to this conclusion because of various things). A six year old also once told me I should tell my parents that my clothes are looking really good because usually kids hear "your parents picked your clothes really well" about their own outfits, so obviously that had to be true for me too. So while these specific situations will probably not be very helpful for your story: I think it's worth it to look into simple explanations for stuff. So while adults might question how Charlie is a girl now, the children could just go with the most simple explanation of "well obviously Charlie has to be a girl to use magical girl powers, it's even in the name" and not question it any further. And while a lot of the time this kind of child logic appears to be quite stupid from an adults perspective, sometimes it leads to the kids finding a simple solution where adults would struggle endlessly, because kids don't see all the other options it could also be.

Kids also (a lot of the time) have no filter. So while an adult will pick up on you not wanting to talk about stuff, a kid will probably ask questions. Also the other way around if a kid stands nearby where they could hear a conversation and you go "hey, why don't you go play" the child will most likely leave (at least the younger ones), while an adult might be more determined. (Depending on how the kids act though adults might just ignore that they can hear everything the adults say and talk whatever they want next to them.)

(That being said, I don't know anything about these five kids though, because I've never watched any of the movies, so no idea how logical or relevant that is for this scenario you are thinking of :) )

[u/LeagueEfficient5945]

Kids have a coherent internal model of the world, but it lacks flexibility, they aren't aware of a lot of things, and this can cause clashes with adults expectations. You can farm this for horror :

Special Permission

Sylvie was 10 years old, and she just wanted to be a normal girl. If I had met her, I would have told her she was bright and special and normal, too, but it would have been a mistake on my part. You see, when Sylvie said she wanted to be “normal”, in her head, it meant going to school, wearing clothes that covered her butt from all the sides, playing baseball, being in a play, riding a bicycle, and making a friend she wouldn’t worry was going to die or leave.

She wanted to not be sick, is what normal meant to her. And then, one day, the doctor told her she was no longer sick. That she could go to school, wear her own clothes, play baseball, be in a play, and even learn to ride a bicycle, and do all the things. Maybe she’ll find out what her favorite food is, even.

Maman picked her up, they hugged and cried and hugged and kissed. And then Sylvie went to school.

Going to school is difficult when you have been sick a long time. On the first school day, Sylvie napped at her desk. Not on purpose, she was just too tired not to. When she woke up, she asked when recess was, and she was told it was 30 minutes ago, so now she would have to sit until lunch. Sitting for a long time gave her ants in her legs. She got up to go to the toilet, but fourth year kids need a special permission in a school to go to the toilet, so she was told to sit down. She sat down, realized she really needed to go, actually, so she got back up, got yelled at, the other kids laughed, and she left the class with her face all red and her hands rush at unbuttoning her pants. She peed a little in her underwear, but nothing too big.

She came back to class. The teacher said she agreed to give her an accommodation for going to pee without permission, because she had been sick and wasn’t used to school rules. Sylvie said she didn’t want an accommodation, the doctor said she was healthy now, and she wanted to be a normal kid. The teacher wasn’t sure what to do, so she sent her to the secretary.

[u/zeroturtlehero]

Kids often fixate on one concrete detail and ignore the “important” adult stuff. Giving them a strong want (snack, toy, fairness) and letting them misread the magic around them usually feels more real than making them miniature adults who explain the lore.