Editorial: A Naperville mom's bid to remember the real superheroes

Last year, Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man and a bale of mutant turtles were featured in top-25 grossing films in the U.S.

The year before, even more superheroes were the subject of the top 25.

Our appetite for superheroes - and princesses, for that matter ­­- appears unsated, with the same old franchises being recast and renewed year after year and films being made that feature the most halfhearted and forgettable "heroes."

So imagine our delight when we learned about one Naperville mom's efforts to bring kids to earth and celebrate everyday people and the everyday jobs they do. "We have too many superheroes and princesses," Niketa Jhaveri told Staff Writer Marie Wilson for a story in Monday's editions.

Jhaveri feels that kids need to see what real people do for a living and find reasons to admire and emulate them.

She created a board game called Brave Champs ostensibly to teach kids about career opportunities.

She said her 6-year-old son, Aarav, was her inspiration. As many boys of that age are wont to do, Aarev would pepper his mom with questions about the people they encounter and what they do.

The goal of the game, whose target audience is 4-10 years old, is to collect as many of the 100 career cards as possible by identifying careers through clues given.

Aarav took a shining to the pilot character, prompting him to check out library books on the subject and portray a pilot on Halloween.

Jhaveri said she focused on fields that help communities function or inspire a child's imagination.

"I wanted to increase the level of respect and importance we give to these community helpers," she told Wilson.

The game has become a hit at Fry Elementary School in Naperville, which Aarav attends.

A speech-language pathologist has even used the game to work with kids who are largely nonverbal. It has helped them improve their communication skills, she said.

Another benefit to the game is that it's, well, a board game. Good family time material that encourages interaction and vocalization. That was a conscious decision.

Jhaveri knows she is up against video games and other electronic pastimes in which kids interact with a computer instead of other kids or adults.

With the sheer volume of superhero imagery bombarding kids these days, it's a wonder they even recognize their parents or teachers as viable human beings, let alone someone to aspire to be. It's nice to provide kids with a better sense of reality and instill in them an admiration for people who do a variety of non-superhuman things.