One day, some time ago, I was talking with my kids in our living room and the subject came up of how superheroes got their powers. I think the question asked was if a superhero always got their powers from something else--like Spider-Man getting it from an irradiated Spider. Soon a rather fun discussion started about how cool it would be to all of a sudden gain the attributes of something you happen to be standing next to, even though not all superheroes gain powers this way. We started joking about what would happen if one were to gain their super powers when standing next to different crazy things, and Taylar said something like "what if you got your powers standing next to a banana!" The idea was so fun we kept talking about what kind of attributes this superhero would have, and Taylar exclaimed "banana hair!" As Taylar got more and more excited about the idea, Ki and Kelten quickly caught the superhero bug and came up with their own.
My wife and I had so much fun hearing the incredibly creative ideas and zany powers they came up with, and saw how proud and thrilled they were with their creations, that we started getting neices and nephews involved. For whatever crazy reason, we decided to challenge each of my kids' cousins to invent a character (or at least come up with an idea for a power or theme) and I would draw it for them so they could have their own superhero, and we got some incredible results.
As much fun as this has been as a way to get to know each niece or nephew a little better, what has been the biggest thrill is how my non-superhero-fan wife, the one who hates comic books and makes fun of my superhero craziness, came up with some of the most creative, fun, and downright unique ideas for almost all of the babies not yet talking--and got as excited to see them come about as the kids! She also came up with the idea of putting the superheroes on tee shirts so the kids could wear and show off their creations, and over this last year this has been our gift for each niece or nephew's birthday.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Kristy started this blog, which has been very handy as a place to put all the pictures together. I've grouped the characters by family and listed them starting with the oldest child's superhero. Now that I almost have all the kids done, maybe some of the adults in the family can try to come up with their own and eventually have a team of superheroes for each clan (that is, if they can be as creative as their kids).
My wife and I had so much fun hearing the incredibly creative ideas and zany powers they came up with, and saw how proud and thrilled they were with their creations, that we started getting neices and nephews involved. For whatever crazy reason, we decided to challenge each of my kids' cousins to invent a character (or at least come up with an idea for a power or theme) and I would draw it for them so they could have their own superhero, and we got some incredible results.
As much fun as this has been as a way to get to know each niece or nephew a little better, what has been the biggest thrill is how my non-superhero-fan wife, the one who hates comic books and makes fun of my superhero craziness, came up with some of the most creative, fun, and downright unique ideas for almost all of the babies not yet talking--and got as excited to see them come about as the kids! She also came up with the idea of putting the superheroes on tee shirts so the kids could wear and show off their creations, and over this last year this has been our gift for each niece or nephew's birthday.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Kristy started this blog, which has been very handy as a place to put all the pictures together. I've grouped the characters by family and listed them starting with the oldest child's superhero. Now that I almost have all the kids done, maybe some of the adults in the family can try to come up with their own and eventually have a team of superheroes for each clan (that is, if they can be as creative as their kids).
