Who are the heros?

Do your kids have heroes? Besides Superheroes, because we all know that Spidey and Superman are heroes. But what is a hero? Dictionary.com defines hero as "a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal".

When kids are small, Mom and Dad are their heroes and, if life is good, it stays that way. Most often kids look to sports figures, rock bands, and movie stars. We know that some of these are not the best role models for our children.

This would make a good dinner table topic. Ask about heroes. Did you have a hero when you were a kid or as a teenager? I don't recall that I did. I'm not certain that I do now, at least not without giving it some thought. But these three quickly come to mind:

• Eleanor Roosevelt, quite a woman. She was shy and unattractive but stepped into the public spotlight when her husband entered politics. A quote: "I know that we will be the sufferers if we let great wrongs occur without exerting ourselves to correct them."
  
• My mother. She maintains a good outlook on life despite the fact that she has lost both parents, a husband, two children and three grandchildren. "What would change if I moped around?", she asks.
  
• My son. He has had challenges that people twice his age will never face and he keeps his sense of humor through it all. It would be so easy to become bitter but his theory is "If no one's dying over it, lighten up."

Find out about who your children look up to. Do they have qualities that you want your children to have? Do they help others? What sort of role models are they? Heroes need not be famous nor do they need to be grown-ups. Check out the My Hero Project.

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