What age did your DC watch the first harry potter

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I'm guessing 3.5 and 5 is too young.

Mine were about that age, neither of them liked the end that much but it didn't really bother them. There are loads of family films they will probably enjoy more though. Mine loved watching Star Wars more at that age

Mine had absolutely no interest in watching or reading Harry Potter books or films. So not every child needs to see them.

Asking why a 3/5 year old would become obsessed... it's quite simple really, they want to join you when you are reading the books, as a family we love movies and were introduced that way, they have visited Harry Potter world in Florida a number of times each and love it, so engrossed in what's going on with the eldest carrying out the spells etc, visited glenfinnan and the Jacobite at the eldests request, asked for and played the Harry Potter Lego game. The 3 year old actively asks for Harry Potter films on when having our usual Friday and Saturday family movie night, though we change it up.

They love Disney films, especially the live remakes, have watched all the avengers and batman movies and the fast and the furious movies to name a few. Sit and watch them, and enjoy them. They both don't like to watch cartoons, never have, instead of the television is on it tends to be a movie.

The only movie my youngest has been afraid of that he's watched is monster house on Netflix. Didn't like some of the bits in that.

Mine was 2 and a half. He liked it. He's nearly 4 and has seen the first four films, that's it for now. He loves Harry Potter, enjoys the magic and dragons. Wants to go to Hogwarts when he's big enough. Never shown any fear or freaking out here.

It started because my sister was watching it and he went and climbed on her knee and started asking questions.

My 5 yo is desparate to read them, and we won't watch the film's until she has, but we won't let her until she's a few years older. She can technically decode all the words now but she won't understand the politics of it all. Same with star wars, she wants to watch the film's but she won't understand the politics of the storylines.

The first film came out when I was five (!) and I watched the first three with no problems, but after that they stopped making sense to me. They weren’t too dark - I just wasn’t old enough to understand. My mum tried reading me the first book just before the film came out, so I would have been four, and again the only problem was it was too ‘old’ for me. I muddled through the books anyway in my teens, but it mostly all still went over my head. I was a great reader otherwise - there are just a lot of complex ideas and backstory you have to remember. My lack of understanding did put me off the series for years, and it wasn’t until I read them properly in my early 20s did I truly appreciate the story. I’d say hold off a good while!

They don't really need to understand the politics though, mine watched them younger then rewatched them later and enjoy them in different ways. At 5 with star wars they loved the characters, the light sabres etc, they had the tots and costumes too. It was actually really soec8the enjoyment they got out if it all. I guess now Disney have the rights they have loads of good series of star wars that the younger ones can watch instead of the films which they didn't when my two were small.

The Lego films are really funny.
The Narnia films are good.
Trolls 1 and Despicable Me are better than other kids films.

Totally agree with the poster who asked what’s the rush? The films are designed for older kids, not 5 year olds. Why not just wait? I don’t understand this obsession with parents wanting to show their children films that they’re not really old enough to understand or enjoy. Why not wait and enjoy it when they’re ready?

Ive read 2 and a half books with my 9 year old (reluctant reader) and we've watched the first two films but we both found them quite scary in parts. We're not fans of spiders (giant or small), 3 headed giant dogs or spooky, half formed faces on the back of peoples heads.

My children are just 5 and 7 and I'm reading them the first one now. They have both heard about it from school/cousins and the 7 year old took it off the the shelf to start reading it so decided to give it a go. They are loving it and can watch the film once we have read it. Will read books in between though so we can drag it out over a few years.

My children have kind of been bought up around it. We watched the films listened to the audio books in bed, been to the studio countless times. I’m a terrible mother and it really didn’t occur to me that it might be scary for them.
Coraline on the other hand had them terrified.

My DCs watched them about a year ago when they were 5.5 and 3.5. Nobody has been traumatised, and I don't think there is anything that went over their heads (and certainly not having now watched it eleventy-million times!). Why would you wait if you know your DCs will love it and be fine with the content? We stuck with the first one for a few months then watched #2, and they watched #3 in the summer holidays. We did to-and-fro about #3 but DCs aren't easily scared by films and it was fine. DD1 read the first book herself over the summer, but it was at the top end of her ability so we are waiting to give her book 2 and 3.
Both DCs are huge fans and have an encyclopedic knowledge of the first 3 films. DD1 has asked for HP Lego for Xmas, and I know DD2 will be sad when she doesn't also get some (she can manage up to 6+ Lego alone, but the HP sets start at 8+ so she will have to wait).

However, it will be a long long time before they are allowed book/film #4. It is a huge jump both in content and reading difficulty. I recently re-watched and read it, and it is a flat 'no'.

Mine watched them when they were around 4/5, but they didn’t appreciate them until they were older, 9/10.

I don't think it's the end of the world, but the 3yo in particular is really unlikely to be able to follow the plot.

At that age mine liked Cars, My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo, A Turtle's Tale, Moana, Froze ... but generally they preferred watching a few episodes of their favourite cbeebies show to a film.

Depends on the child. My younger DC watched them all at 5 but she is quite mature and has a good attention span for films. Elder DD would have found them boring at that age and neither of them would have sat through even the first one aged 3. It is very superficial watching at that age but she enjoyed them and has since rewatched several times.

At 3.5 and 5 years old I would go for shorter animations rather than full films. Julia Donaldsons adaptions are on iPlayer. My 4 year olds like Paddington 1 and 2 and they are watchable but as general rule I wouldn’t let her watch a full film in one sitting as it has such a negative effect on her behaviour.

@TheRuleofStix there's no rush at all. I'm just asking the question.

@thatwentbadly we have done Julia Donaldson to death. We still watch them on occasion but have all the available films on DVD, they both love books so had the books, then the dvds and are more than ready for a step up .

I'll try sone of the suggestions here.

I don't think it's the end of the world, but the 3yo in particular is really unlikely to be able to follow the plot.

You'd be surprised, I don't think it's any harder to follow than any of the Disney films. Same sort of themes, parental loss, magic, mystery, scary baddie etc. Certainly the nuance and exact politics of it he doesn't get but the basic storyline and plot he does. But like a pp said, we have watched it eleventy billion times, so the chance to understand it has been engrained

@aToadOnTheWhole

I don't think it's the end of the world, but the 3yo in particular is really unlikely to be able to follow the plot.

You'd be surprised, I don't think it's any harder to follow than any of the Disney films. Same sort of themes, parental loss, magic, mystery, scary baddie etc. Certainly the nuance and exact politics of it he doesn't get but the basic storyline and plot he does. But like a pp said, we have watched it eleventy billion times, so the chance to understand it has been engrained

My kids are 11, 8 and 7 so no I wouldn't be surprised! Even really articulate small kids understand so much more as they get older.

My kids are 11, 8 and 7 so no I wouldn't be surprised! Even really articulate small kids understand so much more as they get older.

Of course they understand more the older they get. You said you wouldn't expect a 3 yo to follow the plot, mine does. It's just a story same as any other. I'm looking forward to him getting more of the underlying storyline stuff, and reading the books with him in particular.