Hello all,

My almost 3 years old son is starting to show an interest for the comic super heroes he sees around. Think of Batman, Superman, Capitan America, etc.

Are these good, virtuous role models for my boy? should I allow him to get into those? if so, which ones?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

Quote from: Guest

Hello all,

My almost 3 years old son is starting to show an interest for the comic super heroes he sees around. Think of Batman, Superman, Capitan America, etc.

Are these good, virtuous role models for my boy? should I allow him to get into those? if so, which ones?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

Don't take this the wrong way, but my first question is

"Where are you seeing these superheroes around?" My kids don't see Batman, Superman or any of those... maybe those superheroes don't come around here because they don't like the Texas heat, or the inconveniences of being in the country?

See what I'm getting at?

Why is this boy getting this particular injection from the world? Is he in daycare? Does he hang around lots of other worldly kids? Does he watch TV?

If so, those would be the real problems.

No, that is not the case at all. Mother stays at home. We homeschool, there is no TV, we do not have any worldly friends, nor extended family, I am ever vigilant, etc.

But they are in the aisles in the stores, for example, a simple trip to Value Village, Walgreens, Walmart, etc and he will see the toys. There are also visible as ads in other videos I have occasionally let him watch like Thomas The Train.

I agree that the best thing is to limit exposure as most we can but we live in a metropolitan area. It is hard to limit exposure to EVERY.SINGLE. worldly influence. We live around the Pagans!!!! This is more of a future type question. I am just not sure about the super heroes thing for boys. If it is better for me to discourage it AT ALL, (as I do for example with immodest Barbie for my girls). I take it as you don't think it is a good idea at all.

Is that correct?

If it is not good for the boy, then of course, we will take the necessary measurements. That is why I am asking the question.

You can buy Papo toys on Amazon. Papo is a French toy company. They make knights and other medieval era toys. They have toys of famous people, too, like Joan of Arc.

Great! Thank you. We are definitely into knights!

Heroism is a natural attraction for boys.  As long as you steer the boy away from anything that might harm faith or morals associated with some of these heroes, I don't think there's much harm in it.  Spiderman for instance is frequently depicted with the "el diablo" hand gesture.  Batman can be a very dark figure.  And of course some of the associated movies have immodest content in them.

Professor Plinio, the founder of TFP, constantly wrote about the thirst of young boys for the heroic.  Once the boys become old enough to realize that these superheroes aren't real, they still aspire to what they stand for, and this aspiration can easily be translated over into the desire for TRUE and REAL heroism, such as happened with St. Ignatius of Loyola, having been all into combat heroism, and then having read the lives of the saints, recognizing where true heroism lie.

I let my son have superman stuff without a second thought.  He's old enough now to understand that superman doesn't exist, but he still loves to pretend that he has all his "powers".  That's just a natural boy thing and it's not only harmless but can even be good for their development.  Pretending to fight and be soldiers, these are all the things that modern society is trying to strip from boys to turn them into effeminate Kaitlyn Jenners.