When I was a child, many people believed my obsession with superheroes was unhealthy. Teachers told me that I was wasting my time with comic books and superheroes. But times have now changed.
An article from CNN has focused on the benefits of superheroes with children. Superheroes can help create self-confidence and a feeling of power. It can help them develop a desire to be helpful and good to others. It can empower children who are bullied.
Jeff Greenberg, social psychology professor at the University of Arizona, sees this — superheroes giving strength and power — as the key to why kids love superheroes.
“We adults forget how vulnerable we all were as young children,” he said.
“We were little and lacked the physical size and strength and knowledge to protect ourselves and function effectively on our own,” he said. Children first depend on their parents for love and protection. But as they grow up, they start looking to role models who embody the same power and positivity, Greenberg said.
“By identifying with the culture’s heroes and superheroes, children can begin to feel like they are aligning with what is good and can develop their own agency, power, and value in the world,” he said.
The answer isn’t to try to control your child’s preferences. Greenberg encourages parents to “be a guiding force by sharing their enjoyment of superheroes, and in age appropriate ways.” Once children understand that these are fictional characters, they can begin to distinguish between how things work in superhero land and how they work in the real world, he said. (CNN)
Even Early Childhood education has caught onto this. Here is an article for parents and teacher from the Early Childhood News about superheroes and pre-preschoolers. It directs how to use superheroes positively in kids to teach them right from wrong.
I am very excited that we have come to a place where Superheroes have become more than just a waste of time for kids.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
