My 3-year-old daughter is a Batman nut. She kinda’ thinks she is Batman. Not Batgirl, mind you. Batman. Most days, she pretends to be caped crusader leaping from cushion to cushion saving us all from evil of some sort or another. She has an assortment of Batman shirts she wears when she changes out of her Batman pajamas. When we go to the beach she wears her bathing suit and a batman mask. I’ve got pictures. I’m not proud of that you see, I’m just explaining. When I’m forced to peel her Batman shirt off and wash it she stands in the laundry room waiting. Impatiently.
Well, on Good Friday I suggested she wear a dress to church as we were going to pray for an hour. My three-year-old at first resisted this idea. And by resisted I mean she ran upstairs in an attempt to hide as she does every time she hears the word “dress.” (My efforts to dress her for a birthday tea party at an Aunt’s house are legendary and are still discussed by neighbors, a mailman, and the local branch of the SPCA. I’ll explain that some other time.)
So when I went up the stairs on Good Friday I half expected to find a little girl threatening the life of a stuffed animal if I took one step closer. But all I found was just a sad little girl sitting on the bottom bunk. After a struggle and some tears. (The struggle was mine. The tears were hers), I wrestled my little Batman into a dress. (She wore her Batman shirt underneath. I called it a compromise type victory. It’s a new term but I’m comfortable with it.)
My 11-year-old convinced her that she was just being Bruce Wayne for a little while although I don’t recall Batman ever donning a dress, but who knows. Gotham in the 70’s was a strange place, I’d imagine.
Anyway, we drove to our church while my 11-year-old read aloud from John’s Gospel. We arrived at just about noon. In order to remind them that they had to be perfectly quiet, as we were getting out of the van I simply said that as of 12 o’clock Jesus was dying on the cross and ...
Well that was all my 3-year-old needed to hear. My little girl leaped from the van, turned to her brother and sisters, waved her arm, and said, “Jesus is dying? Come on. We gotta’ go save Jesus.”
Uh-oh. Clearly time for a re-huddle. Perhaps I hadn’t made our purpose clear. While I tried explaining, my 3-year-old had the gall to look at us like we were nuts for not running into the church. I questioned whether bringing her was a wise idea at all. I thought that perhaps we should just go home. We could pray there.
My 11-year-old bent over and explained things better than I. She told my 3-year-old, “Jesus died to save us.”
“Oh,” said my 3-year-old. That was something she could understand. Three-year-olds understand heroics.
So we went into church. And just so you know, she was perfect. For a whole hour. Until my 5-year-old slipped, banged his chin on the pew and landed on the 8-year-old’s finger. Then we had to go. Fast. But an hour ain’t too bad.
On the way home, my 9-year-old read the Gospel and I wondered how I’d convince my 3-year-old that her pink Easter dress would look Batmanesque.
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Precious. I love it.
That is so precious. How about telling her that not only can she save people from harm, she can also help JESUS save people by speaking up about how He loves us and when we believe this, we too shall be saved. Keep it simple.
*smiling* “Suffer unto me the little children”.
And why is your 3-yr-old even exposed to Batman? It does not strike me as age appropriate.
As Archbold pointed out, 3-year-olds understand heroics; so Batman is age appropriate for his daughter.
Batwoman, now, DC Comics created to be a lesbian role-model for young girls. watch out for her.
Very cute!
Well, she did better that “West Coast Church” in Florida. Prior to an announcement of theirs I read in “Th eTribune,” I did not know that Jesus was a southpaw and that Satan was a negro,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAjXvITDcGc&feature=related
The 3-yr-old is exposed to Batman by her older siblings.
This story was better than a sermon.
Matt, Your daughter is an innocent LITTLE soul. Male/female roles aren’t the point at her age. The point is Batman seems to be strong and invincible and makes her feel some control or safety in a world much bigger than she is. Batwoman is a sidekick. Sadly in our society even writing what you did could put your daughter at risk for “grooming” by ignorant people. They are totally convinced that something like this makes her fair game and a possible lesbian. It is sick and sad. A spanish friend had a four year old who was asked by preschool teachers if she was a boy or a girl and she said a boy. They were telling her mother she may be lesbian! The girl’s parents speak Spanish to her. She didn’t even probably understand the question (which should NeveR have been asked) and English is her second language. I advised mom to change preschools. Mom told them the girl didn’t understand. Hopefully they backed off. Your daughter needs your affirmation of her role as a DAUGHTER no matter what she wears and what a special little GIRL she is. Sounds like she has a great big sister! God bless.
Oh my, what a funny story! It could so totally be my life. Except my three year old has a two year old sidekick! The things the two of them say . . . the things they insist on wearing . . . my 3 year old will wear dresses, unlike yours, but lets just say, well, never one at a time. Once I peeled seven layers off of her. SEVEN. She looked like she was ready for a Siberian winter. The only reason she didn’t stretch an eighth dress over her frame was that it was a physical impossibility. LOL
VJ,
Well, there’s the Batman animated series which I watched as a youngster. It might be scary sometimes, but it is pretty understandable for a child.
I have a four year old grandaughter that vacillates between Batman and Superman. My five year old grandson , her cousin, is a Batman nut. I had to sew him a cape with a bat on the back of it. It is amazing the scenarios that they come up with, but they both realize that these super heroes always overcome the bad guys. They know Jesus overcame Satan and that St. Michale drove the bad angels out of heaven with his sword! So they know their religion too. They can see that these super heroes are doing God’s work, helping those in need!
This is so ironic. At one of the masses I attended during lent, the Priest Said “Kids see super heroes like SuperMan and BatMan—they fight evil with their muscles. BUT, Jesus is a REAL Super Hero, fighting evil with love and when he went thru the passion..”
I realize I’m dating myself, but I was about that age when the Batman TV series was on.My dad had the original Batman comics as a child (1930s). Batman is now timeless…albeit more violent.
If he was letting her watch the Heath Ledger Joker, maybe…but both the cartoons and even the old live-action series are pretty mild. In the latter nobody is even shown getting hit, all you see is the word “KAPOW!” It’s part of the charm.
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