How to make a Superhero.

Not infrequently, we make Superheroes, in our household. They are usually made out of Tiarnan and Fintan.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, four, came to me with a pumpkin costume partially on: it was open at the back. He turned his back towards me and waited. I duly took the costume off him, as I thought he required, since I had seen him wearing it earlier.

He turned around, then, and looked up at me, very patiently and said: "Dad: I want to wear it." He wasn't annoyed. He was, however, trying to explain what he wanted very carefully to me.

So, I put the costume on him. There: one fat pumpkin.

"I am VERY strong in this.", he declared to me, confidently, his little body already swelling with this phantom strength.

Then he rushed off.

I found myself smiling in his wake, looking at where he had been and thinking of the empowered expression he had had on his face, as he had spoken of his new found strength. He actually felt that strength it seemed.

In another room, in the house, I soon heard the sounds of play fighting. I call it play fighting, because they don't really hit each other properly...they hold back. Or at least Fintan does. (He is six and very strong - and knows it.)

I walked quietly to a vantage from which I could see them, at play.

Tiarnan was in his own world, possessed by the character of this "Pumpkin man". He was swinging his arms wildly and, each time they struck Fintan, they seemed to have great impact, for Fintan was knocked all over the place by them.

"I am SO strong!", called out little Tiarnan, who, if the truth be known, was too small to be strong, at all.

Tiarnan knocked Fintan to the floor. This is a bit like you, or I, knocking Mike Tyson to the floor: not likely.

Fintan looked up at me then, some five metres away, and gave me a conspiratorial wink.

No wonder Tiarnan thought he was so strong in that costume. Fintan was duly playing along, to make it seem so.

How sweet of Fintan, to care so much about his little brother, that he confirmed his imaginative world for him, entered it, and became what Tiarnan needed to complete his inner vision.

Fintan is like that. He typically understands others and knows just how to make them happy, therefore. In that moment, he was making Tiarnan happy - and, I thought, quite enjoying the charade that was required.

I left them to it.

So, you see, in our household, we regularly make Superheroes...very small ones, but no less potent for that.

Anyway, be careful when you see "Pumpkin man". He may be small, but he is VERY strong, indeed.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Fintan Cawley, Child Hero

How young can a hero be? What is heroism? Where does it come from?

From watching my child, Fintan Nadym Cawley, 3, I would say that a toddler or a baby can be a hero. If the child is able to understand the idea of danger and is able to make a decision to face that danger in order to help another, at personal risk to themselves, then that child is a hero.

Fintan Nadym Cawley is a hero. He is only three years old, but he has the characteristics that make up a hero. I have often noted his courage in his daily play, in the situations he gets into, and the way he reacts to them. He is not afraid. He is not tearful. Indeed, in some situations in which other children would be crying, he is laughing, as if thrilled to be facing the challenge and enjoying doing so.

Today I will give one sweet example. His elder brother, Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, had been walking down the road near his grandmother's house, when, suddenly, and without any forewarning, a dog leapt forward from a house with an open gate - and started barking aggressively at him. Ainan was startled and frightened, for the dog was large, the bark was loud and ferocious - and the gate was open. He ran away as fast as he could, bursting into tears at the shock as he did so. The dog did not make chase beyond the territory of his house grounds, however - though how was Ainan to know that he wouldn't? He thought he was about to be savaged by a dog let free.

Ainan Celeste Cawley's reaction is understandable. Any child faced with sudden personal danger and fright of that kind, from an animal larger than themselves, would cry. Fintan Nadym Cawley's reaction however, was of a very different kind.

"What happened Abang?" he asked concernedly. Abang means "older brother".

Ainan explained about the dog's sudden seeming attack.

Fintan was at once emboldened - and outraged. "Where? Where is it?", he demanded, his head turning and already looking around for something that he wanted. "I will kill it with my stroller!", he vowed, his stocky body filled with resolution and certainty of will.

"No Fintan!" we cried as one and moved forward to restrain him. For Fintan Nadym Cawley, three, would, undoubtedly, have taken his stroller and proceeded along the road to challenge the dog - and punish it for what it had done to his beloved Abang, Ainan Celeste Cawley.

We were touched, by this display of brotherly love - and bravery.

Where was Fintan's fear? Why was he unafraid to challenge a dog that was many times his weight and bulk, all teeth and bark? In Fintan the affront he felt that his beloved brother should be so upset, so endangered, denied the possibility of fear: it simply did not well up in him, as it would in others. All he was concerned about was the need to protect his brother - and right this wrong.

Ainan Celeste Cawley, 6, is a scientific child prodigy - but his younger brother Fintan Nadym Cawley is a hero - and I don't think either is more special than the other. Both characteristics define them as special, in differing, but equally important ways. One is a gift of the mind, the other a gift of character. Depending on the demands of a situation one becomes more important than another, but, in absolute terms, neither is supreme: both are valuable qualities in a man, for one day, both will be men: one a genius, the other a hero. I am happy with that.

For more on Fintan Nadym Cawley, as a natural leader see:

http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/09/leader-of-pack_25.html