Like all parents of young children, I ache for the babies they once were, but I do adore the creatures they are becoming. Especially when they ask me about the X-Men.
We walk to school every morning, and it takes about 20 minutes through mainly quiet suburban streets, and we spend that time talking about the usual things, like the other kids at school, and what they have been learning, and what they want to eat for a snack when they get home.
But we have also recently been spending a lot of time talking about superheroes, and it feels like the most useful I've ever been as a parent. When the seven year old needs to know the back story of Iron Man, I've got the goods, and when she demands a list of all of Wonder Woman's enemies, I can spend 10 minutes just talking about the Cheetah.
Filling young brains with this nonsense might be intellectually dubious, but in a world of never-ending uncertainties, the kids can be reassured that their dad knows his superhero shit. This gives me an enormous sense of wellbeing.
There are interesting side effects - after giving up some details about the X-Men and Storm in particular, I did catch the kid out in the back garden, trying to move the clouds with her mind. I tried to not laugh too much, but the skies did quickly clear, so she definitely got the last laugh. (The whole neighbourhood has also recently avoided rain showers that soaked nearby suburbs, just enough to make me wonder...).
I just have so much useless information stored away, ready to come out whenever anyone asks, and nobody has ever asked before. Endless hours with the Marvel handbooks and the DC Who's Who and it finally pays off.
I do desperately want the kids to find their own things, and encourage them to consume entertainment that baffles me, and delights them. But if they ever want to know about the Legion of Super Heroes, I am one million percent here for them.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment