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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to let DC 4+6 watch harry potter?

132 replies

Happypenguin2014 · 06/08/2014 09:44

My friend thinks we are. Every night for the past 6 days we've had movie night with munchies and harry potter 1-6. Kids have actually loved it and glued to the TV! I thought they would be scared but nope.

Aibu? I want Us to go harry potter world in a few months lol

OP posts:
IneedAwittierNickname · 08/08/2014 14:17

The first 3 are pg rated.
At the cinema the later ones were 12a which meant under 12s could see them if accompanied. (I don't understand that rating personally)

IHeartKingThistle · 08/08/2014 15:30

Your 3 year old? FFS.

Sallystyle · 08/08/2014 15:35

My youngest was three when she watched the first one.

What is the problem?

Most of it probably went over her head. She didn't find them scary and I don't find them inappropriate at all.

Sallystyle · 08/08/2014 15:36

She also watched the others when she was around 4 I would guess.

JustAShopGirl · 08/08/2014 15:45

My Aunt is a child psychologist - she says she would not let children under about 10 watch the films - "if a film of this ilk does not scare them, they do not understand what they are watching - so what is the point."

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 15:47

My DD is 3 and understands and enjoys that he goes to wizard school and learns magic and has adventures...

I think your aunt is wrong.

My 9 year old niece understands them completely...

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 15:48

Why Ffs thistle??

RiverTam · 08/08/2014 15:49

Most of it probably went over her head

exactly. So why bother? It's not aimed at a 3 year old - are you saying you couldn't find a single other, U-rated, film that your 3 year old would watch?

showing a 3 year old an HP film is totally idiotic.

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 15:51

My 3 year old watches lots of films.... She also loves Harry Potter. Not seeing the issue to be honest.

ziggiestardust · 08/08/2014 15:53

Idiotic? Seems a bit strong! Tangled has a PG rating as well.

RiverTam · 08/08/2014 16:16

indeed it is, an I wouldn't advocate a 3 year old watching that, either. But a couple of posters on here are saying that their 3/4 year olds have watched them all. Idiotic. And I say this as a huge HP fan.

The OP says that she wants them to go to HP World, and as far as I can see (from reading, and getting annoyed by, many a 'my toddler has watched HP' thread) it is parents who are, in the main, driving this - they want (for reasons I totally fail to understand) their DC to watch HP (or LOTR or The Hobbit) at stupidly young ages, for their own gratification.

DD watched Toy Story when she was 3 (I hadn't spotted it was a U), and whilst, if you asked her, she would say she loved it, I watched her watching it and she was totally befuddled. So I put it away, as there are plenty of other films for her to watch, with plots she can follow (I think the main problem with TS is that it was so fast-paced, and the dialogue so snappy, that she couldn't understand what was being said half the time). I don't think her world is the poorer for not having seen it again. I don't suppose any 3 year old's world would be poorer for not having seen an HP film. I think an older child's world would be the richer for watching a film at a more suitable age.

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 16:19

I suppose that 3 year olds vary quite a lot... My DD watched and completely understood Toy Story at 2.

The fact that your child didn't is maybe why you can't see how a similar aged child could enjoy Harry Potter.

RiverTam · 08/08/2014 16:24

but it's also because I have seen (and read) all the HP films myself, many many times. And I would far rather that she waited to watch them - and in fact I may, depending on how she gets on with reading, employ the 'you don't get to watch the film until you've read and understood the book' rule with HP.

I simply can't imagine even wanting DD to watch HP so young. It is absolutely outside my comprehension.

ziggiestardust · 08/08/2014 16:25

Wow, my DS totally gets Toy Story. He's been watching all 3 movies for a year and he is now 3.10. He acts out the scenes, and whilst some of the references are adult; Buzz's wings popping out over Jessie Wink kids wouldn't get that regardless!

ziggiestardust · 08/08/2014 16:27

But the earlier HP movies are a PG. The same as many Disney movies, so I think it's fine.

I've never gotten round to watching the movies with my
DS, who is 4 in Oct, but if it came on TV I wouldn't necessarily turn it off.

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 16:38

It's a personal choice, but saying that 3 & 4 year olds in general don't understand Harry Potter (or Toy Story Hmm) is totally wrong.

You can choose not to show them the movies because you don't think they're appropriate, but I think most 3 year olds are a lot smarter than you're giving them credit for.

JadedAngel · 08/08/2014 16:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RiverTam · 08/08/2014 16:48

maybe so, but how to you justify your 3 year old watching them all? The Deathly Hallows? I mean, really?

Smart or otherwise, I see no harm in DC waiting to see these. Sure, maybe the first couple of films are fine, but the last 5? At 3? What was your rational in showing them at all?

I'm not interested in DD being old before her time.

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 16:56

She watched the first four when they were on TV each Sunday... And loved them, so I showed her the others, I watch them with her and if something seems particularly bad I fast forward it.

She's not scared. She doesn't have nightmares... She loves Harry Potter and can't wait to go and see where he lives 'in Florida'. She can tell you the entire story so it really doesn't go over her head. She is a very mature 3 though, she's really advanced cognitively as a result of being behind physically.

If you met her and watched it with her, you wouldn't give it a second thought. She is so entertained by them and plays along with the remote as a wand...

m0therofdragons · 08/08/2014 17:01

Mine have watched the first 2 -I think they get a bit dark after that. my 3 yo and 6 to love Dr Who but dh and I are a bit picky over which ones. my eldest loves a bit of a scare. It really depends on the child, my friend's dd is terrified of cartoons and another is scared of monsters and regularly has nightmares - if they were my dc I'd probably avoid Harry potter.

RiverTam · 08/08/2014 17:05

I'm afraid I absolutely would give it a second thought, and thought would be 'Christ, what kind of responsible parent allows a 3 year old to watch Deathly Hallows', and if you were the parent of a friend of DD's I would be having second thoughts about allowing her to be round at yours without me. But you carry on justifying it to yourself. The fact that she's not scared by what, certainly in the later films, are very scary situations, suggests that she isn't (unsurprisingly) emotionally mature enough for them - she clears lacks empathy - again, not surprising in a 3-year-old.

I daresay DD would love eating chocolate and pizza day in, day out, and you wouldn't guess it to look at her etc etc - but she doesn't, because I know it's not great and guess what? I'm in charge and I can decide what's in her best interests, for the moment at any rate. Just because she thinks X,Y or Z is the bees knees, doesn't mean I automatically allow it.

There we go. Nothing either us us says will change the other's mind.

morethanpotatoprints · 08/08/2014 17:07

No way would I have let my dc see these films at 4, but each to their own.
A group of mums at a local school complained about it being on nc for English, they showed the film and 2 children were scared to go to bed repeatedly and others had accidents at school, they were infants not sure what age as dd doesn't go there anymore.
The parents won as it is faith school and because their kids were traumatised.
Its not supposed to be for infants, I'm shocked so many parents are showing these films to little ones. What do they have to look forward to if you make them too old for their years.
Just because you want to take them somewhere where there are these characters doesn't make it right.
End of rant Grin

ziggiestardust · 08/08/2014 17:10

Mmm, tbh I think that's a bit of an over reaction tam

curious isn't harming her DD in the same way as feeding her chocolate all day would. She says her DD is mature enough to handle the parts of the films she's seen. I believe her.
And as for not letting her DD round to her house without you? That's a bit of a jump.

We're not talking about a Scream movie here. We're taking about Harry Potter. It's not something I'd judge one of my friends for

curiousgeorgie · 08/08/2014 17:10

Well, much as I'd love to have you over for a playdate, that's okay Wink

(And I would never show a visiting child a movie / TV show without checking with their parents first.)

But I can assure you that my DD is very empathetic and emotionally mature.

Fear and emotional maturity don't have to go hand in hand.

If anything, I'd be a little concerned that your 3 year old couldn't follow Toy Story, rather than about the maturity of my child.

morethanpotatoprints · 08/08/2014 17:10

RiverTam

Some parents don't have the intelligence unfortunately.
Totally agree with your post, its disgusting actually.
They will probably have GTA at 5 or 6

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