Wonderchild Project

The WonderChild Project

The Dark Truth

by Angel Rockfort

There won't be many sims out there that don't remember this letter dropping through their letterbox..

The letter that promised an opportunity unlike any other.  Be paid to raise a child to the highest achievement level possible and guarantee that child's success in the future.  I certainly remember mine.  It wasn't my idea of a good time but I remember being very interested in it... from a journalistic point of view.

The idea caught the simnation's imagination and word of it spread like wild fire.  There were over 250,000 applications to the project from people in all walks of life.  The media coverage was sensational.  There were interviews with the promoters, the psychologists, the hopeful parents and the myriad of other people who were related to, or wanted to be related to, the whole project.

I won't deny it or try and pretend I wasn't sucked into the whole hype, I was.  

Just like everyone else.

I remember vividly, tuning in to the seemingly endless broadcasts of the elimination process.  Money, it appears, was to be made at every turn with this venture.  We watch the good, the bad and the downright humiliating as potential parents vied with each other to prove that they could be one of the 50 lucky couples chosen to take part.  We all had our favourites.  The ones we liked.  The ones we hated.  And those we just wanted on because we 'couldn't look away'.  It was the perfect reality television.

We were promised a show that was to deliver, from delivery to our lucky children's second birthday.  We would follow their highs, their lows, every aspect of their lives televised to a reality hungry public.  At the very end the children would be rigorously tested to see who was the brightest, smartest and most talented.

Every week we were to be given exclusive access.  Interviews with the parent, teachers and carers.  Psychologists told us what to expect, what to look out for and who they thought were flying or failing.

But soon the show became the victim of public uncertainty.  The newspapers began running reports of breaches in child saftey laws and that the children in the show were being put at risk of explotation and simian rights violations...

Promoters were quick to jump in and report that no such violations were possible under their strict rulings and guidlines and that all the children were to be regularly checked and observed by professionals to ensure their current and continuing safety.  But the accusations kept flying.

It was becoming evident that public concern for the project was not dwindling and was in fact growing.  A few of the parents backed out of the project, concerned that they would be seen as exploiting thier children and fear of the stigma and reputation of being linked with the show.

My professional interest dwindled, as did that of the public.  That was until an envelope landed on my desk.  Hand delivered.  No return address.  Inside were photos.  An address.  And a name.  Bradley Levin.

NEXT.....