2005 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

December 12, 2005: Superheroes Banned From Pre-School

The following article was published in Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper today...

    SUPERHEROES such as Spider-Man and Superman are being banned from pre-schools because they make the children more rowdy.

    A pre-school near Newcastle NSW recently wrote to parents warning them that superhero merchandise such as capes, costumes, toys and bags would be banned from January.

    But the gentler brand of movie stars like Shrek, Finding Nemo and Sesame Street characters such as Elmo are still acceptable at the Raymond Terrace Early Education Centre.

    The decision was made by centre directors - including a board made up of parents - and staff after they noticed a group of children was playing roughly with superhero toys.

    Centre director Jenny Whitton said the ban was part of several changes the centre had made to its play program.

    "We'd been having some problems with a small group of children, their behaviour was getting a little bit rough, so we made some changes to our room which included banning superheroes," she said.

    "We thought it was one of the problems because almost all of the children who seemed to be involved in the rough play were into Spider-Man and Batman and the Ninja Turtles.

    "They were hitting each other and that sort of thing..."

    Mother-of-two and centre committee president, Tamara Peters, said superhero toys were better at home.

    "I can control these two at home but when you've got 10 to 15 of them running around pretending to be Superman, it makes it a lot more difficult," she said.

    Parent Mick Lee, whose sons Ethan, 3, and Jonah, 2, attend the Raymond Terrace centre, also supports the ban.

    Ethan is a Spider-Man fan and Jonah loves his Buzz Lightyear, but Mr Lee said they didn't need to have them at pre-school.

    "It's definitely rougher when they play superheroes, they wrestle and do all that sort of stuff," Mr Lee said. "It's not about banning superheroes for the sake of it, it's about trying to manage that behaviour."



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