I have a six year old boy who WILL NOT SHUT UP! I mean really, he is a non-stop chatterbox. Fortunately for me he is an interesting little creature. He is convinced of a world where super heros do indeed exist and where he can actually be one when he grows up. Can he? What exactly is a super hero? I’ve begun to talk with him about the possibilities of that “profession”, though it may be a bit deep for him right now. I tried explaining that there are people in the world who really do help people for a living. These people may be doctors or teachers or nurses or firemen etc. He still insists that, even though those people have all chosen fine professions, he will be a REAL super hero. I thought it was my job to make him (gradually) understand that super heros are not real, but I am beginning to second guess myself.
When Cosmo was three he stood on my mom’s ottoman with his arms outstretched and a determined look on his face. From another room I glanced his direction and moments too late, realized that he was going to….holy crap….FLY!!!! I ran but was only able to reach him in time to peel his rug burned nose and forehead off of the carpet. I said “Oh, baby, you can’t fly!” His reply was simple and only came after his tears had dried, thoughtfully he said “I can too fly, I just didn’t have my cape on!” I knew then that this kid really and truly believed in super heros. Needless to say we had MANY conversations about jumping off of things, cape or no. Three years later, he has accepted the fact that he can’t fly but I do not believe the super hero ideal is going anywhere soon.
I recently had the unpleasant task of explaining to him what a suicide bomber was. Hey, we can’t choose when these subjects need explaining so, I just try to roll with it… He set to the task of describing in detail how he was going to invent personal force fields, especially for kids. That if we had force fields and bomb went off next to us we would just be thrown by the blast rather than killed. Would the guy who invented that, not be a super hero?

I suppose that as a scientist he could wear a cape in the lab….