Boy Update
We watched The Incredibles on DVD for the first time a few days ago, it was a 4th birthday gift from Grandpa Pete. The boys both loved it. Sasha in particular wants to role-play the Incredibles every waking hour with me cast as Bob, Heather as ElastiGirl, Gregory as Dash and himself as Violet.
I'd assumed that Sasha would identify with Dash because he loves everything fast, he loves Lightning McQueen, he likes to race or somersault around the house proclaiming how fast he is, so I thought it'd be a natural fit, but for some reason he has taken to Violet, which I think is neat.
He tells me I'm Bob (Mr. Incredible) and that he is Violet and he wields her powers of invisibility and force field generation to fight off bad guys. I throw pillows at him or soft balls (yesterday for a while I was Mr. No and so I threw No-bombs, with the power to turn something into nothing) and he pretends that they're bouncing off his force field.
We discussed some ways that his force fields might be used as more than just a defensive shield but as an offensive weapon, and he seemed to like the ideas I cribbed from wasted hours reading the Fantastic Four as a kid.
I'm not doing anything to encourage or discourage his choice of Violet as a play-model, I simply accept it and play along, but I am secretly pleased. I find it cool that he is not yet straight-jacketed into cultural norms that demand he appreciate only masculine role models and that he can identify with a female character. (admittedly super hero-ing has a somewhat boyish skew to it even when the female heroes are well-rendered, then again maybe I'm just carrying my own cultural biases into thinking wanting to punch people and wield powers is more typically "male")
I'm hoping he can hold this affection for and identification with the Violet character despite the likely pressures that may come from his school-mates. We'll see. They're only 5, so maybe the Balkanization of gender (pink vs. blue, trucks vs. princesses, etc.) has not completely stamped out flexible, imaginative play.
I'd assumed that Sasha would identify with Dash because he loves everything fast, he loves Lightning McQueen, he likes to race or somersault around the house proclaiming how fast he is, so I thought it'd be a natural fit, but for some reason he has taken to Violet, which I think is neat.
He tells me I'm Bob (Mr. Incredible) and that he is Violet and he wields her powers of invisibility and force field generation to fight off bad guys. I throw pillows at him or soft balls (yesterday for a while I was Mr. No and so I threw No-bombs, with the power to turn something into nothing) and he pretends that they're bouncing off his force field.
We discussed some ways that his force fields might be used as more than just a defensive shield but as an offensive weapon, and he seemed to like the ideas I cribbed from wasted hours reading the Fantastic Four as a kid.
I'm not doing anything to encourage or discourage his choice of Violet as a play-model, I simply accept it and play along, but I am secretly pleased. I find it cool that he is not yet straight-jacketed into cultural norms that demand he appreciate only masculine role models and that he can identify with a female character. (admittedly super hero-ing has a somewhat boyish skew to it even when the female heroes are well-rendered, then again maybe I'm just carrying my own cultural biases into thinking wanting to punch people and wield powers is more typically "male")
I'm hoping he can hold this affection for and identification with the Violet character despite the likely pressures that may come from his school-mates. We'll see. They're only 5, so maybe the Balkanization of gender (pink vs. blue, trucks vs. princesses, etc.) has not completely stamped out flexible, imaginative play.