"to him, a child with super-strength wouldn't be able to resist hitting a bully"
That makes sense. Ever read the Infancy Gospel of Thomas? It's a second-century apocryphal work that centers on Jesus's acts as a child. And there's no wonder it didn't make it into anyone's canon, because it portrays the Christ-child as doing precisely what Byrne feared a young Clark might do. Worse, actually: Jesus kills a boy for draining some water he'd collected, then another for bumping into him. When some of the villagers complain, he strikes them blind. (True, he does go on to resurrect another kid, heal someone, and provide grain for the hungry but still, yeesh.)