How to Rescue the "Rescue Hero"

Having some troubles these days with the aggressive little "Rescue Hero" in our lives. I've been puzzling over the question of violence in our culture and the little terror in our house.

Here's an interesting article discussing a subject I've been thinking of lately: What makes little boys violent? The article starts by addressing the "cleaning up" of cartoons and the effect it might have on our children, especially boys. [Warning: this article is written from a conservative point of view, but some friends and family might find it interesting nonetheless.]

One author has a better idea. In his superb and unfairly overlooked 2002 book, Killing Monsters, former comic book author Gerard Jones proposes that society needs an entirely different approach to the issue of violence in children's entertainment. He suggests that children respond strongly to violent entertainment because the violence mirrors their own feelings of aggression -- and those feelings of aggression are legitimate and worthy of expression. Rather than struggling hopelessly to eliminate childhood aggression, we should teach children to harness and employ aggressive feelings in socially useful ways.

I gotta find that book.