I read this article this morning in the Washington Post about this very subject - very interesting! Now I'm not going to jump on some bandwagon of parents who restrict their children from reading or viewing Harry Potter, but I do think as parents it's our responsibility to make a reasonable decision about appropriateness in all reading/moving viewing material for our children based on their age and maturity. I think it's questionable what some parents allow their very young children to see in the movies and it always astonishes me the number of small children who attend adult oriented movies late at night with their parents. It's hard to decide if parents really want their children to see these movies or if they just can't afford a movie AND a babysitter at the same time! I mean, honestly, both are expensive!!
When Harry Potter first began, T and I were just starting a family. I can remember the first time a "very responsible christian" family asked us if we would allow our children to read or see Harry Potter. We kind of chuckled, given our oldest was 4! I mean, she didn't have a clue who Harry Potter was, we were trying to decide if we should let her watch Scooby Doo!! It was sort of a "we'll cross that road when we get to it" kind of attitude. In some ways, I'd hoped the whole Harry Potter craze would die down, but it hasn't, so here we are with our almost 8 year old. Today the cool school librarian arranged for a school viewing at the local theater of the new Harry Potter PG-13 movie - we didn't go. Our daughter wasn't really interested, so we didn't need to think about it. Eventually, though, we will have to revisit this subject because I believe there may be a spark of interest in our very imaginative, very creative child's mind. Fortunately, she is SOOO looking forward to the release of Narnia in a couple weeks she seems to be more drawn to that....
Which opens up a whole new can of worms for us! Do we take our 4 year old to see Narnia? It seems a bit scary to me and my 4 year old is not really a fan of scary. I guess we are waiting to see what others say about this movie before we decide. Which brings me back to Harry Potter (I'm all over the place here!). The reviews of Harry Potter are all over the place. Our decision: we will read these books with our daughter, decide on the movie a bit later. I think she could handle it and I'm kind of welcoming the chance to converse with her what I might like/dislike about the movie. While I'm not a huge fan of censorship, I'm a huge fan of teaching my child to make informed, wise decisions about what she is exposed to. While I'm certainly not one to take my 4 year old to the opening of a PG-13 movie, I'm not ready to judge someone else who might. That's just not my approach to teaching.
I guess my response to this article is one of perplex at the parents of our generation. It's a small minority of them, but this minority of parents don't seem to exercise any reasonable restraint with very young children. On one of our trips to Florida, my friend and I stayed late at the park - one of those extended hours nights, where they leave only the "E-ticket" or popular rides open for a select number of people who pay an extra $10 or so. My friend an I stayed and went on some fun rides, like Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, etc. We were absolutely shocked by the number of people who stayed late with babies! in those baby B'jorn's who were insensed that they were not allowed to ride on these restricted rides with their babies. I mean, how crazy is that?? Even my friend, who does not have any children of her own, could not believe anyone would willingly subject their baby to Space Mountain! and try to argue their way onto the ride. It was unbelievable, especially because it wasn't just one couple, it was several! I'm just not understanding this.
So, back to the Harry Potter movie, should my daughter ever decide she wants to read/view them, we'll start at the beginning. Maybe, by the time she's ready for #4 or #5, she'll be 13! Otherwise, it's a parental preview. I think that's reasonable!
When Harry Potter first began, T and I were just starting a family. I can remember the first time a "very responsible christian" family asked us if we would allow our children to read or see Harry Potter. We kind of chuckled, given our oldest was 4! I mean, she didn't have a clue who Harry Potter was, we were trying to decide if we should let her watch Scooby Doo!! It was sort of a "we'll cross that road when we get to it" kind of attitude. In some ways, I'd hoped the whole Harry Potter craze would die down, but it hasn't, so here we are with our almost 8 year old. Today the cool school librarian arranged for a school viewing at the local theater of the new Harry Potter PG-13 movie - we didn't go. Our daughter wasn't really interested, so we didn't need to think about it. Eventually, though, we will have to revisit this subject because I believe there may be a spark of interest in our very imaginative, very creative child's mind. Fortunately, she is SOOO looking forward to the release of Narnia in a couple weeks she seems to be more drawn to that....
Which opens up a whole new can of worms for us! Do we take our 4 year old to see Narnia? It seems a bit scary to me and my 4 year old is not really a fan of scary. I guess we are waiting to see what others say about this movie before we decide. Which brings me back to Harry Potter (I'm all over the place here!). The reviews of Harry Potter are all over the place. Our decision: we will read these books with our daughter, decide on the movie a bit later. I think she could handle it and I'm kind of welcoming the chance to converse with her what I might like/dislike about the movie. While I'm not a huge fan of censorship, I'm a huge fan of teaching my child to make informed, wise decisions about what she is exposed to. While I'm certainly not one to take my 4 year old to the opening of a PG-13 movie, I'm not ready to judge someone else who might. That's just not my approach to teaching.
I guess my response to this article is one of perplex at the parents of our generation. It's a small minority of them, but this minority of parents don't seem to exercise any reasonable restraint with very young children. On one of our trips to Florida, my friend and I stayed late at the park - one of those extended hours nights, where they leave only the "E-ticket" or popular rides open for a select number of people who pay an extra $10 or so. My friend an I stayed and went on some fun rides, like Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, etc. We were absolutely shocked by the number of people who stayed late with babies! in those baby B'jorn's who were insensed that they were not allowed to ride on these restricted rides with their babies. I mean, how crazy is that?? Even my friend, who does not have any children of her own, could not believe anyone would willingly subject their baby to Space Mountain! and try to argue their way onto the ride. It was unbelievable, especially because it wasn't just one couple, it was several! I'm just not understanding this.
So, back to the Harry Potter movie, should my daughter ever decide she wants to read/view them, we'll start at the beginning. Maybe, by the time she's ready for #4 or #5, she'll be 13! Otherwise, it's a parental preview. I think that's reasonable!
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