Our kids love superheroes—but we don’t outgrow our need for heroes as adults. We might not have the same heroes as our kids, but we all have people we look up to. Who are your heroes? What attributes make them stand out to you?

See if these three things don’t describe your heroes:

• They use what they have been given in an extraordinary way for the benefit of others
• Their efforts take courage and faith
• They don’t seek attention or glory for themselves

We tend not to hold people in high regard who use their gifts solely for themselves or seek praise for themselves. Even fictional characters we admire—heroes like Superman or Ironman—don’t use their strength and might to score goals to improve their own life.

This month, we are teaching the boys about being a Humble Hero. A Humble Hero uses the gifts they have been given by God for others. This is what it means to give glory to God. The Bible says it this way.

Over the past weeks, we have explored how to help our children grow up like Jesus—“in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). We have seen how to help our kids grow in wisdom and stature. Now we turn our focus to growing in favor with God and man.

As we continue our series on growing to be like Jesus in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), this article focuses on what it means to grow in stature. You can find the introduction to this series here, and the article on wisdom here.

Quick—think of someone you admire. What four or five attributes do you admire about them?

Maybe you thought of their talents or skills—or even their strength or their intelligence. But it’s likely most of the things you thought of have to do with character.

We should think about our kids in a similar way. We want our kids to grow physically and develop skills in academics, arts, and sports, is that really what we want our kids to be known for? I think we want our children to be known for their character—for being brave or kind or wise.

Growing in stature means developing physically and developing a reputation. As a parent which part of growing in stature can you have the biggest impact on as you spend time with them and shape them? Certainly not height! And while you can have some impact on the skills your children develop, you can have a huge impact on the development of their character.

We all love having friends, but are we good at being friends?

Think back to your best friends when you were in elementary school or middle school. What do you remember about those friendships? Can you remember times when you really needed a friend and someone stood by you? Can you remember a time when a friend stood up for you when no one else did? What about the time that a friend stood up to you when you were doing the wrong thing?