In honor of my children…

Posted by Christine on May 9, 2010 in General, Randomness | 3 comments

I’m a huge proponent of watching TV with your kids. I mean, it’s essential to know what your children are watching on television so you can discuss it with them if they have questions or concerns. Also, it helps you understand where they are coming from. But mostly because I’m a member of the infamous Generation X and, according to some at least, we never grew up. I seem to enjoy some of the superhero cartoons almost as much as they do. 😉

This week my children learned three important life lessons from superhero cartoons, we discussed them all as they came up and I enjoyed exploring the deeper meanings.

1) NEVER split yourself into more than one – it may seem like a good idea at the time but it never works out.

Not once this week, but twice we watched a show where the super hero tried to split himself in two so he could battle the villain and keep personal commitments/have fun. In both instances this came with similar problems. First, the split caused a divide in the hero’s personality that was unpleasant at best and downright unlikable at worst.  Second, the split caused a divide in power. As a complete whole the hero fought better and was stronger than their parts split up, even when those parts tried to work together.

So we can see it is never a good idea to try to split ones self into more than one.

On a deeper level, what this reminds us is that life is full of difficult choices we have to make every day. We can’t do everything and be everywhere.  Something my kids are learning even now, and an important lesson for adulthood. Being able to decide what’s important and being able to say no and walk away sometimes is vital. Unfortunately, upon occasion that means sacrificing what you want to do for must be done, and this is part of learning responsibility.

2) NEVER fight your own evil doppelganger – they know all your strengths, weaknesses and secrets and they WILL use them against you. After all, they’re evil.

So on the surface it might seem like a good idea to fight your own doppelganger if they show up, after all you know all their weaknesses too.  But being a hero lets face it you are a lot less likely to use what you know against someone. The evil doppelganger on the other hand – not so inhibited. So get your teammate to fight the other “you” because they have secrets, and strengths that you probably don’t know about.  You simply cannot fight yourself.  It doesn’t work.

Wait let me say that again – you can’t fight yourself.  You just can’t. Granted I don’t actually think my children have evil doppelgangers and I hope I raise them not to fight their dreams. With any luck, this won’t be an issue but just in case I’ll share…the truth is eventually you have to learn to work with yourself. If you fall asleep every night telling yourself stories and wake up every morning swearing you are not creative the cognitive dissonance you are creating will drive you crazy. You have to learn to be the person you are and accept yourself.  Either that or turn your evil doppelganger over to your teammates to take care of. 😉

3) The Bad guys will ALWAYS try to divide and conquer so stick with your team mates and learn to trust them.

The bad guys just love this technique, especially if more than one has gotten together to try to defeat a team of superhero’s .  They will, without fail, try to divide the superhero’s and cause infighting, jealousy, and mistrust. Once this has been done, the team members alone are much easier to pick off and it is only once the team is working together again that they are able to triumph.

Really do I even need to explain the real life application of this one.  I think not.

Now my children are ready to go and be the hero’s of their playground.

I am so proud of my little ones, and I am so very very proud to be their mommy. They make my life better and richer ever single day.  I am a blessed mother on this day.