Qfyilyi

Young sorcerers' talent starts to emerge when they are two or three years old.

The level of their power varies greatly and isn't correlated with their intelligence or sense of responsibility.

They copy their parents' abilities but also experiment endlessly in the same way that children play with toys.

Knocking things over at a distance is usually one of the first things they discover but it's not unknown for them to invent more destructive abilities. Also of course they use the power to get things that they want.

Question

Let's just consider the knocking-things-over-at-a-distance ability for the purposes of this question.

A powerful 2-year-old sorcerer could easily knock over an unprepared adult or an equivalently weighted stack of loaded boxes at a distance of 20 paces.

How can these young sorcerers be taken out in public so that a tantrum doesn't become a disaster? We can't lock them up at home in a padded room with no loose objects. In any case they might discover fireballs and burn the house down with them in it.

Note

In this medieval society, Sorcerers and 'muggles' mix freely. They go to the same markets and other public places. Sorcerers mostly trade in magic items and perform spells for money. The legitimate ones are members of the Guild and are forbidden from using magic for evil purposes.

The answer is simple: you hold their hand.

(Source: The experience of raising a toddler who is currently wielding a highlighter under my desk while I write this. I'm keeping her fed with sufficient paper; so far the walls and carpet are unadulterated)

One of the more terrifying things for a parent in today's society is cars. Cars move fast. You don't realize how fast they move until you are responsible for the life of a little booger monster of vile... angel. Your angel has no idea what 15mph will do to a body, much less 45mph. Your angel gets what is coming to them is completely innocent and needs to be protected in a remarkably deadly world.

Excuse me one moment. The sharpie has disappeared from my desk. I really need to move those to a higher shelf. I do this to myself, honestly.

The solution every parent learns is to hold the child's hand. Not only does this provide a critical physical safety preventing them from tearing out like a helion in front of a car, but it also provides a remarkable amount of feedback. The human body is geared for touch. You learn a remarkable amount about what the child is about to do just by feeling the way they respond to your hand. You can sense what they are feeling and they can sense what you are feeling. It gives you a way to guide them along in the right direction without yanking their arm from its socket constantly. (At least on good days)

So I would expect a child sorcerer would be subjected to the same technique. You'd hold their hand so that you can sense what they are doing. And, if they're about to cast a really big spell, it provides a lever to manhandle gently ensure the child's larger spells don't complete.

As for the tantrums, a child can already do a remarkable amount of damage. We keep a lot of our strength in reserve. It's how a mother can lift a car off of their child. Well, during a tantrum, the child has access to their full strength reserve and can do some rather remarkable things. As such, I would expect a similar approach as we have to tantrums today. You remove the child from the scene, and make them sit outside until they calm down. I'm assuming that, in these situations, the parents know enough to not be caught off guard. Any parent that lets their guard down during a child's tantrum is only human going to learn a lesson very quickly.

I would expect parents to learn how to damp the effects of their children's magic. This would get into the particulars of your spellcrafting system, but if the parents can exert a continuous effort to keep dangerous spells from materializing, that would be a major start, and fit in well with the dead tired fatigue joys of parenting.