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15th July 2017
10:18am BST

Yes, really. Allowing children to become their favourite movie or comic book hero can give them oodles of determination, allowing them to perform what would be boring or difficult tasks for longer.
Research published in a Child Development report, studied two groups of children. The first group was made up of children aged six, while the other was comprised of four-year-olds.
Researchers looked at the benefits of self-distancing, which means taking an outside view of our own situation, when it came to children’s perseverance.
The two groups studied were asked to complete a repetitive task for 10 minutes – if they wanted a break they could play a video game. As you might imagine, the six-year-olds performed better than the younger tots, but both groups performed better and for longer when they impersonated a superhero such as Batman.
It seems engaging and personifying a character’s positive qualities and characteristics can give kids that extra belief that they have the ability and strength to complete the task.
So, the next time your little ones are getting frustrated trying to do something well or simply going through a phase of not believing in themselves, teaching them that they have the power and perseverance of their favourite superhero might just start with the hero’s costume.Explore more on these topics: