Preschool superheroes

[TheFrozenCanal]

My nephew is the same age as my own child, 5. My son watches a bit of TV and likes things like paw patrol (though it's currently "broken" on netflix), but also diggers and unicorns.

My nephew however is apparently big on iron man, batman and some green thing that I can't name - maybe the hulk? This is relevant for gift buying, which is why I enquired.

My aibu is aren't these late teen/grown up films? But looking at clothes in shops there are a lot of superhero things, but I can't really figure out how on the basis of some clothing, all these preschoolers and reception children are mad on these characters.

I'm just wondering if it's going to hit my house too 🤣

Both my DS (6 and 3) are superhero crazy and have been for ages. Younger copies older brother. As a pp mentioned there is Spidey and his Amazing friends, Teen Titans and other age appropriate stuff.
My three year old received a spidey book set which teaches colours, numbers principles of friendship, opposites etc.

From 3 upwards mine loved superheroes, DS2 probably from age 2. DH is very much into films so they would have seen a lot of the films. Shrek is awesome, mine loved it from really young. Thomas etc wouldn't have kept them entertained at 5 yo TBH but kids are all different. It's definitely not unusual for them to be into marvel/star wars etc at 5, probably more unusual for them not to be.

Agree. Thomas the tank engine is shit anyway, the engines bully each other and the books and shows perpetuate sexist stereotypes.

My kids love anything marvel we haven’t watched the movies but anything age appropriate like the Lego versions or cartoons.

OP you can parent how ever you want, i remember being that kid that hadn’t heard of a band, knew I’d swear words or seen a movie and I felt like an outcast at times. While this doesn’t mean I let my kids watch 15 rated movies and they still haven’t seen Harry Potter past the first two, I would let them watch shrek.

Spidey and his amazing friends is on cbeebies / Disney+ and it features the other superheroes from time to time.

My 5 year old is obsessed with whatever his 10 year old brother likes. At the moment that is Marvel and football. He has got an incredibly wide knowledge of all Marvel characters and loves to build and play with the Lego sets and figures - his favourite is Guardians of the Galaxy. He plays FIFA with his brother and can have conversations around football with adults. He grew out of Thomas a long time ago (although still has a soft spot for Paw Patrol which I hate due to lack of decent female representation which was backed up when listening to an audio book about unconscious bias).

He is achieving incredibly well at school and comes home with awards most weeks with comments about his manners and good choices. He actually challenged his uncle last week when he told him not to cry like a girl, by pointing out how strong girls like Nebula, Mantis, Black Widow, The Wasp and Ghost Spider are - all taken from the Marvel universe. I can't see that he could have the same conversation from some of the programmes you mentioned!

I agree with this. I get the impression that OP feels like she’s the only one doing it right and that her DC being kept younger that he is means she’s doing him some kind of favour.

There is a Spider-Man show on cbebbies- not sure what it's called but I'm pretty sure if it's on there it's aimed at under 5'a

There is a spider man show aimed at young kids. It's on Disney, Netflix and CBeebies I think, and similar kind of age range and themes. My kids love superheroes but never watched anything out of normal age range. That said, I never avoided Shrek so maybe I'm more lax than you on stuff like that. They do seem to get a lot of the information from their peers and older siblings/ cousins so I think that does play a big part. Not sure you can avoid it when they go to nursery/childminder/pre school and then school. Even if you home schooled they would be exposed to superhero's at the park

This thread has gone from me asking about where an influence comes from, to criticism of me personally, and the fact that my son likes Thomas, and I'd rather not show him a film with American jokes and bad language. Shrek is pretty much a mash up / parody of fairy tales, so I'd rather mine get to know the original tales first.

Not everyone can afford a service like Disney plus. My children didn't go to pre school so haven't had an influence from there. I couldn't afford to send them, and we didn't qualify for free hours.

I also remember being the kid who didn't know about the bands. The others asked me in 1994 whether I preferred east17 or take that so i went home to listen to both and thought they were both not for me.
I'm happy to let my children decide for themselves that's all.

I hadn't heard of spider and friends, and his reading books come from the library which is mostly biff and kipper.

If I have offended people with ny "smugness" maybe just leave the thread?

Thanks to those who have answered my questions.

@TheFrozenCanal not the point of your thread but what do you mean your children didn't get the free hours for pre school? Do you live in England?
ALL children are entitled to 15 hours of pre school education from the academic term after they turn 3.
(Apologies if this is different in Scotland, Wales or NI and you live there).

In my experience of having three boys now teenagers, the whole character /film thing is out of sync. So they start by liking dressing up as the superheroes without having seen the films and engaging with the backstories, and playing with the toys. They then move on to the films and video games once they have long grown out of dressing up and playing with toys.

You're absolutely right, I'm sorry, I was referring to the year before. It didn't make sense for me to return to work and pay for preschool. The following year, which would have been free for 15 hours, I had another baby and DS1 was settled into a routine at home by that point so I didn't send him in the end. Thanks for pointing that out, I got mixed up.

I should add we don't play video games, I have a ps1 and a game boy from years ago which may come out at some point but we've never really got into it in recent years. I'm not against it but It's not something I've pushed as I don't have a lot of spare money. Their Christmas presents were mostly books and board games or puzzles. I realise this makes me unusual but I'm not smug about it, people can do what they want.

@TheFrozenCanal that makes sense. The 15 hours aren't compulsory so not all children go to a pre school.
Before that age though nursery is more about childcare than 'pre school'.
Sorry... not the point of your thread though.

Their Christmas presents were mostly books and board games or puzzles. I realise this makes me unusual but I'm not smug about it

What about the toys?

You say you're not smug but continue to post about how different your child is because he hasn't be exposed to XYZ, and whether you intend to or not, it's coming across as though this makes your child better than others. If your child is in reception he's going to learn about other shows, characters, films and games, they won't always be ones you like or approve of but he's not you and his interests are going to be different from your own.

@TheFrozenCanal obviously your children don't have to be interested in superheroes - not all children are - but don't feel you have to avoid them because you think they are too 'grown up'. If your son is 5 he must be in school now. They probably have books like this one in his classroom.
The concept of Good (the superheros) vs Evil is a good thing to be learning about.

There are lots of superhero cartoons, that’s where they know the characters from, not the films.

It’s just as valid as your child watching Thomas the Tank engine.

It sounds like you weren't exposed to mainstream media a lot as a kid, and now are following suit with your kids. But it does sound like they are living a very sheltered existence compared to the majority of kids their age, and that will reflect on their interests and why they are different from other kids you know in their awareness of superheroes.

As a kid I had parents who listened to mainstream and alternative music, had the radio or tv on a lot. We watched popular tv shows together and we had Disney characters on everything. That's followed over into who my parents are as grandparents and how I feel about this stuff. So I get that some people think pop music and Disney merchandise are naff, but for me they are something fun and familiar I can share with my kids. And that helps them fit in with their peers to a certain degree as well, especially my ASD child who can connect with others over shared interests even when they struggle to connect on a deeper emotional level.

I've never understood why ignorance of popular culture is socially acceptable.

Ad a child I watched cbbc. I watched bambi as a three year old and was afraid. I didn't start enjoying Disney classics until I was about 8, but before that I enjoyed mickey mouse cartoons. There wasn't a lot else on in the 80s so we taped mickey mouse and Tom and Jerry etc off the TV. My parents listened to a lot of beatles and similar, as well as simply red. Phil Collins... and I watched Saturday morning TV.

In terms of toys they had a fire engine construction kit to share, but they already have a good amount of toys. A lot of people follow the 4 presents rule, which we certainly didn't manage, but are those people smug?

The only thing I actively avoided were plastic toys. They already have some, like the core Carson set and a paw patrol car as well as other plastic cars and I am trying to reduce our plastic consumption.

I haven't said that my children are any better or worse than others, if it has come across that way then I can only apologise...

I'm not present in schools to understand the influences myself and my son hasn't come home asking about heros. But he does know who batman and spiderman are. I only posted on MN to ask a question, but it's difficult to do so without having your intentions second guessed.

*Cory carson

@TheFrozenCanal some of the superhero characters have been around since the 1930s so they aren't new and are just as 'standard' as other fictional characters like Thomas the Tank or Disney characters etc.
Most people don't really think about where the influence about superheroes comes from because they are just there. If that makes sense.
There was some great stuff on children's TV in the 80s. Did you never watch Dogtanion, Cities of Gold, Around the World With Willy Fog etc. All those were total 80s classics (and on BBC 1).

Its a bit ironic to say you can't afford Disney+ when you have Netflix which costs the same price. We rotate through streaming services like that...

But overall, there is plenty of superhero stuff on childrens TV. Then the adult films are completely separate.

We didn't want to swap netflix for disney.

Just to be clear, I haven't said I have any sort of problem at all with super heroes. I had a super girl outfit when I was about 6 hut I don't remember where I got to know about it from.

I like batman but know nothing about iron man.