Flying high high high in the sky
Our daughter can already identify multiple superheroes on sight. (The Easter Bunny reputedly jumps up high high high in the sky, high as Superman). This is both inevitable (with her comic-fixated father and his room of comics, there's no way she would escape a comic education) and desirable.
The world has shades of grey.
The world is not fair.
People are fallible.
Superheroes strive to be perfectly good. They strive to be scrupulously fair, merciful and just. They are infallible to the scope of their abilities. The scenarios they inhabit are contrived to allow them to embody the best principles, enabling the capacity to teach morals and ethics without getting sullied by the murky moral quandry that real life often produces.
How often as a parent (already!) have I told my daughter that violence is wrong, while periodically having lifted her bodily in order to move her to where I want her to go? (And not to save her from a speeding locomotive, it's usually just because I want to get her dressed so we can get out the door to a mundane appointment)
If we can use superheroes to teach and embody the principles we aspire to, then this is a good thing. I want my children to believe that the world is fair for as long as possible: I believe it will help them to act with honour towards others, it will make them question injustice, it will add to their sense of security. It will make them better people.
*Caveat: the modern comics are a far cry from the black and white depiction of the days of yore. There are plenty of moral quandries to go around. But we won't let our children read "The Boys", but instead stick with "Superman" and "Spiderman" and "Wonder Woman" and the murk shall be minimised.
The world has shades of grey.
The world is not fair.
People are fallible.
Superheroes strive to be perfectly good. They strive to be scrupulously fair, merciful and just. They are infallible to the scope of their abilities. The scenarios they inhabit are contrived to allow them to embody the best principles, enabling the capacity to teach morals and ethics without getting sullied by the murky moral quandry that real life often produces.
How often as a parent (already!) have I told my daughter that violence is wrong, while periodically having lifted her bodily in order to move her to where I want her to go? (And not to save her from a speeding locomotive, it's usually just because I want to get her dressed so we can get out the door to a mundane appointment)
If we can use superheroes to teach and embody the principles we aspire to, then this is a good thing. I want my children to believe that the world is fair for as long as possible: I believe it will help them to act with honour towards others, it will make them question injustice, it will add to their sense of security. It will make them better people.
*Caveat: the modern comics are a far cry from the black and white depiction of the days of yore. There are plenty of moral quandries to go around. But we won't let our children read "The Boys", but instead stick with "Superman" and "Spiderman" and "Wonder Woman" and the murk shall be minimised.