Xander & Spiderman - A Match Made In Heaven?
May 4, 2007
My friend Jenny suggested this topic, and I think it is a very interesting one to ponder. If any of you have skimmed my husband’s blog, you have noticed that it is very comic book centered. Specifically, Spiderman centered. We have boxes and boxes of Spiderman comics at our house, and every month we get more and more. Zach uses money he earns from his blog to buy comics. Since everyone knows that Zach is a Spiderman fan, they all get him Spiderman related items - from t-shirts to Christmas ornaments to shot glasses. If there is something with Spiderman on it, chances are very likely that we’ll end up with it in our possession.
So when we had a son, I became slightly concerned that we would not be able to fit all of the Spiderman memorabilia for this boy into our house. I’m still not convinced that we’ll have enough space. Zach’s new favorite toys to buy are little superhero action figures. I call them chunky because they’re only about 2 inches tall, but they’re thick and easy to grasp (if you look closely, you can see Magneto from this set in Xander’s mouth in the picture). They come in sets of three, and although Xander enjoys chewing on them, he doesn’t exactly understand their significance. I think we’ve got about 30 of these little guys now, and there are still more on Zach’s list to buy. We’ve also got a Spiderman ball, Spiderman baby bath towel, Spiderman t-shirt, Spiderman romper, and Spiderman 2-piece outfit. I will admit that I purchased the Spiderman clothing (mostly to make Zach happy). And I don’t discourage the purchasing of the action figures - they’re small and easy enough to contain, and Xander does enjoy the different colors and textures.
As far as role models go, superheros are generally good ones. My husband grew up in this world and it seems to have been a positive influence for him. I can’t imagine that I will complain too much about exposing our son to comic books and their stories, though I do worry that some of the violence will filter in before I’m ready for it… I do wonder what Xander will think of Spiderman when he grows up. Will he idolized Peter Parker as my husband did when he was a child? Will he adore everything Spiderman as our 6 year old nephew does? What will he think of comic books as he grows up? Will he ever rebel against them, think they are uncool because his dad is so in to them? It will be interesting to observe Xander’s reaction to this comic book world that he will surely grow into.
