My friend Raphael recommended the TV Series ‘No Ordinary Family‘ as a good way to pass the time on the flight into the US last night.
I downloaded some episodes on Friday afternoon and let my kids watch. They were glued to the screen – one of the characters is super fast and another is super strong. One of the kids is suddenly super-genius and the other can read minds.

Interesting that the script calls for each character to have one really strong power – but otherwise they are normal.

Something about their fascination with regular people who have superpowers, made me think – my kids have superpowers too!

I started to explain to my kids that each of them (and us) has superpowers just like the people in the show.
– I have one kid who can make anyone smile anytime with no effort
– One can remember the details of everything better than a computer
– Another is super-creative and can envision things he’s never seen

And my adult friends – almost all of them have recognizable super-powers too:
– Some have superpowers in investing – they always make money
– Some help people solve even really tough issues
– Some are able to keep calm in every situation
– Some can eat 3X as much as me and stay thin as a stick

This requires a bit more thought… but my initial thinking is that teaching kids (and adults?) to recognize their own superpowers and then thinking about the best way to use them (and perhaps it’s even a responsibility to do so!) should give them a real feeling of empowerment. And if that doesn’t work, they can still wear the cape.