When my child was little, they went through the phase of thinking superheroes were real and were the coolest thing ever. I enjoyed this phase because I had grown up with a brother who was a big comic collector. I enjoyed seeing the superheroes I had grown up with through the eyes of my child. Having said that, I also wanted my child to understand the reality of superheroes. While some may say superheroes are not real, I believe they are – just like I believe angels on Earth are real in the people we know/meet.

Superheroes

Superheroes are the everyday people we know and hear about. They are the mother who lifted a 2,500 lb. car off of their trapped child. They are the father who caught their toddler before they could fall down the stairs. Additionally, superheroes are the children who see the world for the miraculous place we adults sometimes forget it to be. (Childlike amazement is often used as a descriptive term for a reason.)

My desire for getting my child to understand the reality of superheroes was not to curb his imagination, but to get it to last for as long as it possibly could in its innocent, unencumbered way. So, the poet in me created a poem for my child that I would love for other parents to share with their children.

Let’s encourage our children to maintain their belief in superheroes not so they can become Superman someday, but so that they can do their part to be love in this world. As the Beatles sang, “Love is all you need.”

MY CHILD, THE SUPERHERO

You hold the power within,

to choose happiness over sadness,

to promote peace over chaos,

to have faith, when others do not.

You can have x-ray vision,

to see inner beauty,

and supernatural speed,

to turn a mistake in to a lesson.

You are a superhero!

You see the gift of God,

inside you and others.

With your superhuman hearing,

you hear God in the whisper of the wind,

the call of the bird, and in the sweet laughter of another child.

The power of your smile,

lightens the darkest of shadows.

You can choose goodness over evil.

For you are a superhero.

Revel in your many strengths, my child.