Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Childhood Heroes

My firstborn is now six. When she was five, she was first exposed to that fine piece of cinematic genious called "The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl." My husband took her to see the film. He said that it was awful; and, of course, she loved it. Soon thereafter, she refused to be called by her given name. She was now Lava Girl. Her notebooks were covered with drawings of the duo, and she was constantly trying to figure out how to make her hair pink like the heroine's.
Adventures at the playground became scenes from her favorite movie, as she "guided" the other children to play their parts. As her mother, I wasn't really concerned, just a little annoyed.

I thought:
"Why can't she have a more respectable hero? I proceeded to search for good quality children's missionary biographies to read her stories of real life heroes."

Well, I still haven't found those biographies. (any suggestions?) But, we did read "Peter Pan." And now, she is Tigerlily. When we go to church she writes Tigerlily on her name tag. When she meets someone new, she introduces herself as Tigerlily, and when her sister wants to ask her something, she must call her Tigerlily. (although we've been informed that Lily is also acceptable) Well, I do believe that this is an improvement. I certainly would rather her wish to be Tigerlily than Lava Girl. A brave Indian Princess from a classic novel is preferable to a cheesy heroine from a poorly made 'kid flick.' But, even more than that I want her to want to be like Jesus. He is faithful, and we will get there.


6 comments:

  1. Don't even say the name of that movie! hehehe.

    Tigerlilly is a wonderful character. The traits in this make believe indian princess are very good ones. Ones that I am sure that a Princess to the King would be wise to have!

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  2. Well, at least she is adventureous!!!! :)

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  3. What a great choice! Tigerlily was brave, but still a princess, and I daresay she sat in her wigwam drinking her tea with her pinky in the air!
    Great post, Kendra - and keep encouraging her to look to Jesus - He's the role model/hero that will never let her down! People always, always will.

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  4. my 5 year old and i just got done reading barrie's peter pan. so he is now constantly in battle with hook in his make-believe play. but he also really enjoys reading the story of david and goliath, daniel in the lion's den, and so forth....anything with a battle or a hero!!!

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  5. Hi Kendra, Just found your blog. I have enjoyed reading today. It is always nice to find other likeminded mothers that aim to glorify God.

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  6. I think every child has to go through the occasional phase where his/her choices in cultural touchstones fall short of what we would term ideal. Lava Girl certainly qualifies: our daughter was 7 when it came out...and I, too, cringed through it when we rented it. I refused to see it in theatres, and refused to buy the DVD because it was just so pathetic.

    Good on you for pushing the point. A parent's influence is so critical in this day and age of mass media chaos.

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