The New Superheroes

It goes without saying that we’re big on feminism and empowerment in this house. 5 years ago I never thought I’d be in my position – a single mum running a business around a hectic life – but the rollercoaster experience of re-building a family and becoming a breadwinner has been a true lesson in the strength of a woman.

Back then I (of course!) acknowledged strong women and their achievements, but I’d never thought that could be me. I thought the women who kicked arse in every single aspect of their lives – careers, motherhood, relationships, friendships – knew something, or had something, that I didn’t.

Not true!

The fact is that we’ve all got something inside of us, women, men or children, that propels us to greatness. If we get that fire inside our bums, if we get going, we can do whatever we want. I’ve lived it, I believe it.

And this is a lesson I really want to pass on to my children.

The New Superheroes: #VertbaudetHeroes

A couple of days ago, we sat down to talk about superheroes. Vertbaudet, the kids, maternity and accessories retailer, had got in touch and asked us to think about what alter egos we could create for ourselves.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to explore the real life superheroes we all have inside – a wonderful way to represent the fire in our bums that drives us forward!

Vertbaudet believe children should be able to express themselves in their everyday adventures, and with that (and the long stretch of summer holidays that need filling ;) they want to encourage kids to celebrate their own little super powers.

Perhaps the imaginary superheroes could fly, read minds or jump really high? I was excited to sit down with my two and find out which superpowers they would choose given the chance.

And so my little super heroes and I got cracking. We started by talking about our own heroes, the people we look up and aspire to as our idols. We wondered what real-life aspects we could borrow to give to our own alter-egos a boost to make our ideal heroes.

Elfie immediately got into the task at hand and was soon listing off reams of traits she’d like to give her hero – kindness, the ability to make others happy, saving people from danger, sharing things, caring about others and changing hair colour automatically (er – OBVS). Hux was a little more pragmatic in his approach and wanted a green hero like Tommy from the Power Rangers, but with a blue cape and the ability to fly and save people.

As we were imagining, we were also chatting. Talking about how, although the idea of a superhero is abstract in itself, there are actually super things that us normal ordinary people, can do that will make a difference to other people’s lives. We can be happy and kind and loving, and although we aren’t saving people from tall burning buildings like Superman, these little gestures can turn us into real-life superheroes.

And thus, ‘Kind Girl’ and ‘Hux Hero’ were born!

Elfie drew hearts and stars all over her costume ‘because she’s special and she loves people’ and Hux’s is blue and green because he loves the Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles.

Boys, eh?

To take our superheroes to another level we decided to spend a morning dressing up as them, raiding the wardrobes and dressing up boxes for clothes that would fit our diagrams and digging out the face paints to create the real authentic hero vibe. And you can see how well this went down – happily, I got to sneak off for an hour of quiet and a cup of tea while they tore around the garden saving lives, being kind and doing ninja kicks. Awesome.

Now it’s your turn: Vertbaudet want YOU to join in with their #VertbaudetHeroes campaign and come up with your own superheroes with your little ones! All you have to do is design a superhero outfit together, with an accompanying inspiring alter-ego. The winner will receive a fantastic family trip for four to a UK attraction of their choice (up to the value of £250) and £200 in  Vertbaudet vouchers: you can enter over at their Facebook Page.

From my superheroes to yours: Good luck!

Huge thanks to Vertbaudet for supporting MTT.