Rescue Heroes?

[MamaKanga]

Do you let your kids play with Rescue Heroes? Or watch the videos? DS has just been given 4 of the characters for his birthday. He does not know who/what they are, but he loves the looks of the video and wants to watch it. I have mixed feelings. I know they are "good guys" but I've always loved the fact that DS' play comes primarily from his imagination, and is only minimally influenced by media (some Thomas & Wiggles videos, for example). Plus, since he currently is not "in to" role-playing / hero play / character play, I'm not sure I should introduce this. Or should I? :shrug

Ugh! I'm just not sure what to do!

[Singingmom]

Well, I'm not sure what would be right for you and your ds, but I will say that my boys loved Rescue Heroes from the ages of about 4-6. I liked the fact that they didn't have weapons, they just helped and rescued. And I felt like they used their imaginations a whole lot when they made up all sorts of adventures and rescue missions for their toys. The videos are pretty good and give ideas for how to play. How old is your ds? If he's young and tenderhearted, some may have a few intense moments. The one thing that annoyed me was that once we got started, we collected them for birthdays and Christmas which was fine, but the vehicles etc. are large and we started running out of room! Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to put them up until he's a little older if you don't feel good about it. :-)

[Beyond Blessed]

My boys loved these from about 3 to just turning 6 (we've just grown out of them :sad2 ). They *were* wonderful stimulators of the imagination. My mom got the Rescue Hero DVD (I found *I* could only order it from the info that came with the Hero's) - that gave wonderful examples of rescues that my boys recreated for hours on end. Each little scenario is only 10-15 minutes long - they were great.

[Piper2]

I remember thinking for years about how if I ever had a little boy, I'd love to get him Rescue Heroes. But Kevin is 6, and he's never had any. :O I guess we could have always just gotten him some, but we like to get him toys we know he'll play with and let him pick out most of them himself. I've pointed Resue Heroes out to him countless times at the store, told him how cool they were, and he's even seen his godfather's son's big "rescue center" set, but he's just never been interested in them. :shrug

Gee, now I'm wanting to go out and buy one just to make myself feel better. ;)

[cannuke]

I've got friends at church whose son plays with them. I've also seen the cartoon myself a few times on TV. I agree that they don't have weapons and perform rescues and have very good safety messages in the cartoons. In my mind, that makes them a better alternative to a lot of the other garbage out there on TV.

That said, if your DS doesn't watch TV, then he may not get them. Fair enough. Playing out of his own imagination is way better for him anyway, isn't it? :)

A little off topic, but when my DH sees them on TV on the weekend, he'll quite happily watch the whole episode himself - and our baby isn't even born yet! :giggle

[caringmommy]

We love them here too! My dh gets down on the floor with our two boys and they come up with all kinds of adventures. I also like the fact that they are non-violent action figures. (My boys also like the ninja turtles, and there's so much fighting with them! :() My only frustration is that fisher-price is continually coming out with new lines and discontinuing the old ones. We liked the old ones better.

[snlmama]

My ds' love the action figures. They really do seem to encourage imaginative play w/ the younger set. :shrug My friend's 3 year old was over last week then when I saw her today she was talking about how her ds never just plays imaginative games w/ his toys and such like her dd did and I was surprised b/c he played and made up stuff for the Rescue Heroes to do for hours. We have a video, but the kids don't really like it. :shrug

I certainly don't think the video is any worse than Thomas or the Wiggles as far as "discouraging" imagination.. :shrug

[erinee]

I *love* the Rescue Heroes. They are so exciting and adventuresome, but without any violence at all. They are such a wonderful alternative to the Pokeman and Yu-Gi-Oh stuff. They also teach a lot of safety tips. Zach doesn't watch them anymore, because most of his friends watch the Cartoon Network stuff, so I think he thinks they're for "little kids". :(