"Cody and the Baby Start-Over Program"

[zach]

aww man.. i was sorta dissappointed in ending but other than that ... that school is my dream cometrue but it hasnt come true.
i think he should of like faked his way through the program or somethin or that he should of just slipped away slowely

[LostPup]

i got to be honest ever since reading this stories iv gotten alot of dreams like i wish you could do more stories liek this i lvoed it so much

[kittiechan]

I must say that I really loved this story, I spent about one full day reading most of it and then a few more days off and on to finish it.

I wonder though, what about that Tracy girl from the Catholic school, I think Cody should meet her again.

[teddy564339]

Originally Posted by kittiechan

I wonder though, what about that Tracy girl from the Catholic school, I think Cody should meet her again.

That's a really good point (and one that originally I was surprised no one seemed to notice), and since it's been years since I've really sat down and thought about this story my answer here may not be totally accurate. But, from what I remember, I wanted to somehow mix Tracy back into the end somewhere, it's just that I couldn't think of a good way to do it that wouldn't come across as very forced. It's not necessarily that it felt too predictable...it just didn't feel like any of my ideas would fit naturally into what was happening. I really liked the idea of Tracy and Cody ending up together, but I just couldn't think of a good way to pull it off and feel good about it.

[Yocky]

I just finished reading your story a few days ago, and I must say, It was extremely interesting and well-written! I kept reading it for hours at a time. Of course, what happens in the program is terrible, but it's just fiction, so I don't understand the righteous anger some people have responded to this story with. I don't get the impression that you support this kind of program, and even though Johnny supported it in the story, I am assuming it was a form of Stockholm Syndrome.

Actually, aside from the whole regression and babying part of the story, and of course all the impossible technology, like collars that can apparently distort gravity, it was horrifyingly realistic. There are numerous programs and "boarding schools" out there, where children (mostly troubled teenagers, but in some cases children as young as 7) are imprisoned for months or years, with little or no contact with the outside world. Parents pay as much as $40,000 per year to have their children physically, sexually, and emotionally abused in these programs. Such programs have little government oversight, and the authorities do next to nothing to stop the abuse, because the companies that run them donate large amounts of money to politicians. Also, society at large doesn't care much about the children abused in these programs because they assume that they are all drug-abusing, violent, teen delinquents. The programs often employ brainwashing techniques to make the parents and even the students themselves think they need the program- not unlike how Johnny came to support the Baby Start-Over Program. Of course, most of the programs in real life are privately owned rather than government run, and they have elaborate marketing schemes to swindle desperate parents into enrolling their children. Also, no real programs (that I have heard of) force their students to effectively become babies.
This may all sound far-fetched, but if you visit International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC) you can find out the truth about some of these programs. You could also visit AntiWWASP - Exposing boarding school abuse since 2005., which features testimonies from survivors of one of the most notorious companies operating such programs.
And there is actually one government run program (for autistic children, no less!) that uses electric shocks to control the detainees, like in the baby start-over program:
School of Shock | Mother Jones
It is disgusting how many programs like this there are in this country.

But you're story really was probably the best *B/DL story I've read. I agree with those who say you could publish it- of course, it would need some editing and refining first, and I agree with Dude that it could use some more background information about Rhines and the program itself, and some information about Johnny's escape should be included.

However, I do have some nits to pick:
Fist off, the trial. Who was it who made the decision to release Cody? It struck me as odd that there was no judge or jury that decided to release Cody to be cared for by Tammy and Johnny. It seems strange that the programs board of directors agreed to release him. He had met the requirements, but they did not want to release him, and no one who was in the court room (besides Tammy, Johnny, and Cody himself) wanted him released. It seems they certainly could have gotten away with keeping him, even against the law.
Also, as much as Johnny's snarky remarks to the program directors were amusing, the were irrelevant to the case at hand and I seriously doubt anyone (who wants to have a chance of winning their case and not be charged with contempt of court) would speak that way in a court of law. But I guess this was not your ordinary court proceeding.

Also, I would have expected that most of the faculty at a Catholic boarding school for girls would be nuns.

Finally, it struck me as odd that the collars allowed Cody and Johnny to talk normally. Surely, if the collars can sense bad language, they can also detect any words that are not baby talk?

I am sorry if these comments seem rude, but I just thought I should point out some of the story's flaws, as others have.
But it was a great story. Thank you for posting it on here.

[gnd567]

Originally Posted by Yocky

Also, I would have expected that most of the faculty at a Catholic boarding school for girls would be nuns.

Actually, they don't all have nuns anymore. I went to a Catholic school for three years and they didn't have any, although I'm sure many still do.

[teddy564339]

In response to Yocky's comments:


I don't know if I've mentioned this in this topic (I may have), but I have mentioned it to other people who I've talked to about the story...

The thing about this story is that for me, it started out as a simple idea...I just wanted to write a story that would allow me to focus on forced baby stuff since all of my other stories had been cute and cuddly up to this point. I kind of wanted to get all of the humiliation aspect of *B/DLism out of my system. I actually thought that people would hate this story so much because of how extreme it was.

So I basically came up with ideas that would be convenient enough for me to create this environment that I wanted to have. I really didn't know where I was going with it or how long/detailed it would become. The idea to have the character like Johnny struck me one day and I loved the idea so much that I immediately ran with it. From there, I decided to try to come up with a back-story and as many details as I could.

What ended up happening was...I kind of got in over my head with the story. I didn't plan it out from beginning to end before I started writing it....I just kind of went with the flow. And, I was posting it as I was writing it, so a lot of people kept saying "Give us more!" So probably about half-way through I was just kind of pushing my way through it to get it to the end.

So...I know there are some imperfections to it, especially at the end...at that point I just wanted to get everything together and wrapped up and finished...I never thought it was going to be as long as it was.

In addition...I actually wrote this story six years ago. Until I posted it on adisc a while back, it had been quite some time that I thought about it. So I really haven't had the motivation or desire to go back and change anything about it, even though a lot of people have pointed out similar things that you have.

So it's not like your points aren't valid, and it is interesting to me to hear what people point out about it. But I guess it's just I never intended to create a masterpiece and I don't really feel inspired to go back and change it to make it perfect.


As far as the collar point goes...while I see what you're saying, if I had done it that way it kind of would have completely derailed everything I liked about the story and the story would have been a completely different one...I mean, Johnny's whole persona would have never come out, and that's my favorite part of the story.

I guess an explanation might be...from what I remember (keep in mind it's been years since I've actually read this story myself!) Johnny explained to Cody that the people running the program got kind of lax and lazy about it as time went on. They didn't really see the need to monitor the behavior as closely since they thought every kid had been decoded anyway. Maybe originally they considered it but decided that it ran the risk of "making the kids go insane" as I mentioned in Johnny's backstory (I know that was another part of the story that was a bit of a copout, but I don't know enough about psychology to work around it).

Anyway, I'm still amazed at how intrigued a lot of people got about this story...like I said, when I first started writing it I thought everybody would hate it after the first few pages and that I would just stop writing it. I still find it interesting that it's my most popular one. To me it's always just been my silly little idea that I kind of ran with...I never planned on it being anything serious.

[Asher]

You know, I just read this whole story for the first time, and all I can say is: Wow. That was absolutely fantastic; rather speechless actually. That took a long time to read, but it was like a book you couldn't put down. Good job man

Like others have said, with just a little editing and some background on the program itself, I can see it publishable. It was just great man; def. one of the best AB/DL stories I have ever read.

[TheFoxxehAssassin]

Normally I explain why I like a story. This time I won't. Kidding!

This story was...fantastic. I'm not going to lie, when I read the title, I thought, 'Oh God...not another 'since you act like a baby you'll be treated like one' story...'

And then, as I began to read, I found it was much different than any other story I've ever read, with the exception of The Addict, by MyWorld08. Your stories both share a common basic plotline, but the endings are different.

It's a shame I didn't read this before, as I would've instantly praised you for it. Well, now I'm gonna do it.

Congratulations. You've earned my respect as a writer. (That doesn't say much though :P)

It was a great story, I truly enjoyed reading it.

--The Foxxeh Assassin--

[Koni]

Was this a real or just a story? the first part was pretty frightning, but overall a great story.