So, there is this flash fiction challenge at Terribleminds. Basically, there are two columns, ten items each. You go to a random number generator and get two numbers between 1 and 10, see what items (words or phrases) you got, and use it as your title. I’ve got The Remote Control Mechanism. It’s flash fiction, so it shouldn’t be longer than 1000 words. Mine turned out to be 377 words. And clumsy, since I haven’t written a story since December last year, and that one was in Serbian, not English. Of course, it also turned out to be… Well, I guess I’ll let you find out what it also turned out to be. Enjoy!
The Remote Control Mechanism
You put food on the table. You’ll need some protein and veggies to keep them healthy (assuming, of course, you do wish to keep them healthy), and you’ll need sugar for control. Once they’re addicted to sugar, controlling them is much easier – you give it to them as a reward, you withdraw it from them as a punishment. The stick and the carrot, you know?
You teach them to like things like clothes and gadgets and whatnot. You buy them new things when they behave the way you want them to; you punish them by not buying them new things when they disobey. If you get them addicted to new things, no matter how ridiculous those things are, that’s another way to control them.
You send them to a school of your choosing, for their minds to be additionally shaped into obedience. If you’re so inclined, home-schooling could be useful; after all, you don’t want them exposed to wrong ideas. It is additional work, though, so if sending them to a school will produce satisfactory results, go for it. Demanding they perform according to your expectations, whatever they may be, and scolding them for failure while ignoring the reason for said failure, will give you another tool for controlling them.
There are also emotions, of course. Love is never to be given unconditionally; punishment is to be handed out at your whim. They must never take you for granted. Your affection is to be earned. Since you’re the one in control, they are to accept punishment without question. They are to accept everything you tell them without question.
The time will come when they start fancying a mate. The mate must be approved by you, of course, and must be just as obedient to you as they are. Alternatively, you may raise them never to accept anyone as worthy enough. They have you to obey, why would they ever need anyone else in their lives? Either way, you get someone to keep by for as long as you live.
Those would be the basics; I’m sure you can think of additional ways to control your children without as much as laying a finger on them, and to shape them whatever you please.
A Kitty Dreaming About Wings 