NWMR: little boys and super heroes

jf198400 · May 2014

Random question on my mind, I know that my nephews (3 and 4) are into super heroes- superman, Spider-Man, etc. But I'm wondering how kids that age get into that? Are there cartoons that are actually appropriate for that age range? Or is it just that their parents are letting them watch movies and stuff that are way too mature for them? Dd is obviously into princesses, and DS is only 2 so he's not into any "characters" yet other than Thomas the train and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Just wondering if superheroes are part of my not too distant future, or if there are other less scary characters that are more appropriate for 3-4yr old boys.

2-Step · May 2014

My first DS didn't get into them until he was about 3.5 and started preschool. Everyone at preschool was talking about super heros, not to mention they are all over the toy aisle, clothing and books. Honestly, I am not even sure where he got most of his information on batman and spiderman, because we never let him watch those shows at that age, but he could name nearly every superhero based on it's logo at 3.5! There are a lot of non-scary comic book versions of batman and a TON of batman toys, cars etc that family have bought him. As for our second DS, he was obsessed with batman by age 2, simply because of his big brother. We sometimes now let them watch the old school batman shows from the 60s and my older son has seen a few spiderman cartoons, but in general I think they are too violent for this age range. What I've found is that boys will glom right on to that stuff though, whether you encourage it or not! My kids love to wear super hero capes or use hooded towels as capes and run around the house pretending they are batman and robin. It's just boy stuff. I don't think there is anything we did to encourage it particularly, besides let him be batman for halloween when he asked. It's not like we let them watch the dark night or even the batman cartoons meant for older boys.

Mustardseed2007 · May 2014

Oh super heroes! DS is 2.5 and really into these. No he does NOT watch the shows and certainly not the movies.

For us it started b/c my husband is a nerd and has some action figures...well... many action figures. DS enjoyed playing with them with his dad. Then we got some books. There are a few board books with superman and even one wonder woman and a couple golden books. He adores those. I aslo got him shirts - a batman and superman one- that has capes. He LOVES his capes.

When he got to be a little older he started watching Super Why on PBS. Yeah it's not iron man or whatever but in his mind they are the same...so in our house iron man uses a super duper computer.

Now he is actually less into super heroes than he was b/c we let him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sophia, Doc Stuffens and Jake Pirate (not all at once but maybe 1 show per day). But he still likes to play super hero. He just now also mixes in "cubby" and "captain hook" and yo ho let's go with superman and batman.

shannm · May 2014

My DS is obsessed with superheroes. Spider-Man in particular. He has never seen the adult movies and has only recently started watching the older Spider-Man cartoon episodes.
The first exposure that I remember was a coloring book that he picked out at the dollar store. He was about 2 then? After that, exposure continued with books...then age appropriate comics...now he takes a cartooning class in extended day at school....and all of this is reinforced by all of the superhero merchandise kids are exposures to, etc...

emberlee3 · May 2014

Superhero shirts are not allowed at DS's school. He knows who Spider-Man and Batman are, but he is not into them. I guess he is a little more sheltered than most 4-5 year olds. He likes the Cars movie and has a bunch of Cars books and toys, but he is scared of every other movie.

Mustardseed2007 · May 2014

@ck2md FYI the books we have are by David Bar Katz, they sell them on amazon among other places.

litzo27 · May 2014

My sons 3 and 6 have not watched any super heroes cartoons or movies. But they know ALL of them from other kids at school. Also DS1 has watched the old Starwars movies with us (after asking for two years) and DS2 knows about all the characters from his big brother.

nosoup4u · May 2014

My sons know them from other kids as well, but they don't play them at home very much. We don't let them watch the shows or get the toys for them. DS2 would rather pretend to be an animal than a superhero at this point.

June2007 · June 2014

Lurker here- there is a show called "super hero squad" that has all the main heros on netflix and is geared towards a younger audience. My almost 6 year old likes it.

TheBorg7of9 · June 2014

My 2 year old loves action figures but has never seen a tv show about them. He just likes counting them, lining them up, etc.

umma4babes · June 2014

My 3.5 yo is obsessed with them, ugh! He started getting interested when his older cousin was into them, then all the boys at his preschool were wearing the shirts and shoes and sharing superhero toys. There are also level 1 "I can read" type of series based on superhero characters so we have a lot of those because they are age-appropriate. We let him watch a few of batman/spiderman cartoons but he got scared of them - so we talked about how he needs to be a big boy like his cousin before he can watch those again. Btw, he refuses to wear anything that isn't superhero related and I hate that I can dress him the way I want anymore

mlee116 · June 2014

DS has never watched any of the super hero movies or shows and he pretty much only watches PBS sometimes at home. Luckily, he's happy enough with Thomas, Dinosaur Train and Curious George. And at 2, I don't think he needs to be watching superhero movies or shows.

Honestly, I think superheroes are just one of those things that attract kids. Maybe not every kid, but the ones who are interested are going to find out about them somehow and like them. And I'm not against him liking them or watching some of the shows eventually, just not now. He can't comprehend violence and copies every single thing someone says or does, so I'm careful about what he sees. He knows who Spiderman is because he has an old toy of my brother's, but his name is about all he knows.

SoMoNY · June 2014

Lego introduced my son (4) to Batman, SpiderMan, Superman and Star Wars.

Now he's obsessed with all of it and the Thomas the Train days are over

rubber_chicken · June 2014

CK2MD said:

Putting aside the gender bias in this question... my LO (a girl) has a few old Superman action figure that were mine, including one with a removable silky cape. We fly him around the house and hum the theme to Superman, which MH occasionally plays on his ipod for her. She doesn't watch TV and doesn't know Superman by name yet, but I may check out the Superman board books for a long airplane trip we have scheduled for next month.

Dude, seriously. My DD is 2 and loves superheros. No, she's never seen any movies or cartoons. My husband and I are big superhero geeks, and at this age, her interests are a reflection of ours. I know that won't always be the case, but for now, she loves her Spiderman shirt and Avenger's dinner plate, and will sing "nana nana BATMAN" the entire drive to daycare. We held her birthday party yesterday, and it was superhero themed. I'm trying to find her some Storm or Rogue gear, so she's exposed to some female superheroes. (I've never been a Wonder Woman fan.)

ss+el · June 2014

My son learns most of it from the neighbor kids. He has the Lego Batman movie, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't seen any other super hero stuff on TV. His favorite is Spiderman, but he can't actually tell me anything about him.

jf198400 · June 2014

I apologize for the gender bias in my question. My 3yo DD is the biggest girly girl and is mainly into princess stuff so I haven't experienced this with her. Granted she also knows about superheroes b/c of other kids at DC. I guess it really is just peer influence and merchandising that get kids into this stuff.

itsmevkb · June 2014

I just let my kids watch stuff that's too mature for them.

Dochas · June 2014

My son had the little people superheros but wasn't really into them until after he turned 3 (he'll be 4 in August). We have dvds of the old Superfriends show that we let him watch. He also loves Underdog. We're able to find books at the library too for younger kids. But mostly it's for early readers. Once his imagination took off he began a constant quest to 'save the city'. lol. Now that I think about it - The Incredibles is what really got him started. But his favorite show is still Curios George.

CarrieB. · June 2014

My DD who is 3likes watching toy unboxing videos on YouTube like Disney Collecter, so she knows who Spider-Man is from that, but she doesn't watch action figure cartoons. She loves watching people open Egg Surprises or boxes of toys and set them up. It's kind of weird.

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