My Son, the Hero

I've mentioned before that every night at bedtime I read Jonah a story and tell him a story. Tonight, he said he wanted me to tell a story about "Jonah, the guy who melts cold men who are bad." This was new, the first time Jonah has asked for an action-adventure bedtime story.

This cold man thing started a couple of nights ago during dinner. Jonah told us that he and Sammy, his friend at school, played "melt the cold man". The cold man is made of mud and he is, well, frozen. He does bad things, although I'm not sure what Jonah envisions is bad. In any case, Jonah and Sammy were being heroes by melting the cold man.

I learned tonight that the cold man is in a movie that Sammy's mom and dad let him watch. I was only mildly appalled. Michele and I keep Jonah away from violent TV, but this was bound to happen eventually.

Laying next to Jonah at bedtime, I had to think fast. What could I tell him about Jonah, the guy who melts cold men who are bad...that wouldn't perpetuate the idea that only people who bash bad guys are heroes? Tonight, Jonah and Sammy quickly melted a cold man who came down from the sky near two girls who were fighting over a toy truck. Jonah helped the girls resolve a complex dispute over who owned the toy truck, and then he came up with an excellent solution for sharing the reward (another toy truck) with Sammy. Yes, he was a hero.

(Astronauts are heroes, too!)