>Hi all
>
>After Saddam's execution I found atleast 2 international news stories where children hung themselves, trying to demo the execution. If I remember correctly we had a high media profile hanging sometime back and we too had such deaths.
>
>We had a TV series here "Shaktimaan" which had to be taken of air because children were dying left and right, due to trying to, jumping off high places or burning oneself, thinking that "Shaktimaan" will come and save them.
>
>We also had Superman and Spiderman in our times, but I don't remember trying stunts, not that I never did stunts :), but not such serious ones with a hope of being saved by one of the super heroes.
>
>Maybe in India we had less exposure to super heroes during those days, but how was it in the America and Europe, did the children (now of our age) do such things?
>
>What are we as parents missing?

I doubt you're missing anything.
When my son was 2-3 years old we moved to a quiet semi-circle street with only local traffic.
I was busy laying sod in the front yard and he and his sister were left to play as they might.
I heard a little beep of a car horn and thought it was a neighbour with a polite 'greeting', so I looked up to acknowledge them. It was then that I saw my son with his right arm extended, directly in front of the car. He was imitating Steve Austin (the 6 Million Dollar Man), thinking he could stop the car just like him.

My *guess* is that stuff like that has gone on since there were movies but we are hearing of much more instances because:
- communication is so good these days;
- this kind of "news" gives to media cheap 'filler', letting them off-the-hook for "real" news reporting.