Is it wrong to let my kids 7 and 4 watch Harry Potter?

[Cuppacoffeeinthebigtime]

Watched the first film tonight. 7 year old insisted he was fine with it. 4 year old looked a bit horrified at some parts and had to sit on my lap but begged me not to turn it off. They are now asking to watch the other Potter films but I am thinking after the first 3 films, they would be unsuitable no?

I remember watching a superman film as a 7 year old child where I seem to remember people being turned into robots and it absolutely terrified me and played on my mind for years and that was probably much milder than the Harry Potter films.

[fdgdfgdfgdfg]

@Cuppacoffeeinthebigtime

Watched the first film tonight. 7 year old insisted he was fine with it. 4 year old looked a bit horrified at some parts and had to sit on my lap but begged me not to turn it off. They are now asking to watch the other Potter films but I am thinking after the first 3 films, they would be unsuitable no?

I remember watching a superman film as a 7 year old child where I seem to remember people being turned into robots and it absolutely terrified me and played on my mind for years and that was probably much milder than the Harry Potter films.

Superman 3 scared the everloving shit out of me as well. Had this image in my head for years of someone being dragged into a computer and being turned into a robot, but couldn't remember what the hell is was from.

Rewatched it a couple of years ago and realised what it was. It's laughably not scary!

On Harry Potter, no I probably wouldn't let a 4 year old watch even the first one, let alone the rest. Even 7 would be a bit iffy for some of the later ones. They're a 12 for good reason.

I've found common sense media a good resource for this sort of thing. www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone

If you read the comments some of them are a bit nuts, but the ratings generally get averaged out, and steer you in the right direction

[ExConstance]

Mine read the first two books when they were 6, and very much enjoyed them. I'm not sure they would have understood the later books at such a young age as the issues become more complex.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

As well as some being really quite scary, I'm just not sure how well 5 year olds will understand some of it. I read a lot of Enid Blyton, and knew my cousins went to boarding school, so that aspect of it was something I understood. A five year old is barely at primary school! I think I read the first one when I was in year 3.

I would have seen the first film when I was 9 or 10, and I still found some bits a bit much (and I'd read the books so knew roughly what was going to happen). I do remember the case for the video of the second said gave a warning that it contained "giant fantasy spiders".

[ShortColdandGrey]

My now 5 year old has seen them all, the goonies, and loved them all. I think it depends on your child and what they find scary. She is also obsessed with Godzilla and King Kong and anything with big monsters in it.

[MyNameIsH]

I think it's a shame that the only benchmark lots of people are using for whether to let a child watch a film or not is whether they'll be scared. That's surely only a very small part of the point. The bigger question is surely whether they'll understand and appreciate it. There's so much in HP to enjoy - the humour, the language, the plot intricacies, the characters and relationships, the tragedies, etc etc. If a child watches it at 4, the danger is that they'll have moved on by the time they're actually old enough to really appreciate it, and all they'll get out of it is that it's got a flying car and cool spells. I agree with @BertrandRussell that people are in such a hurry for their kids to grow up and move on to older books, films etc. HP at 4, Hunger Games at 8, then what? There are so many magical, fantastic books and films that are aimed at very young children, why not enjoy those instead?

[OutnumberedSupergir]

@Cuppacoffeeinthebigtime curious as to how this worked out for you ☺️ I have a 5 and 8 yr old who haves watched as far as the 4th one but I’m unsure about the rest as I’ve heard they’re quite scary! 8 yr old is reading the books and after he finished each book we watched the movie. 5 yr old is so excited to watch the next film and insists he is not scared and says sure I know it’s not real. Not sure whether to let him watch it or not!!

[VolumniaDedlock]

my older dd watched the first two Harry Potter films at 4-5, the next two at 6-7. But then she's always been very sanguine about stuff like that. SHe watched Jurassic Park when quite young as well, and loves Dr Who.

She's now 8, and hasn't watched all the HP films yet, but only because she wants to read the books first (she's nearly finished the order of the phoenix so won't be long).

4yo dd2 doesn't watch HP yet, and probably won't for a while - she lacks the concentration and understanding for the plot.

[TwinkieTwinkle]

bertrand fair enough. He's grown up to be an emotionally stable, well adjusted, intelligent eight year old. Glad to see I didn't destroy his childhood.

[BertrandRussell]

"When DS was three/four I let him watch Jurassic Park. Is that also terrible?"


Since you ask- yes.

[TwinkieTwinkle]

LivetheLife She would also do well to realise that the earlier movies are PGs and in no way graphic. Also that, again, she sounds so embarrassingly pretentious and snooty in some of her posts. I'm cringing.

[LoveTheLifeYouLive]

SunnyBaudelaire It is quite clear how little you read as you would have realised that Mrs Norris is not dead but actually Petrified (alive, she just can't move!). At the end of the book she's perfectly fine.

[lilivonshtupp]

OP = I'd say as long as you aren't showing your DCs 'The Human Caterpillar' until they are at least 8, you should be fine.

(Note: Not to be confused with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)

Seriously, though, you know your children best and although mine freak out at things like that, I don't think it's terrible for you to show HP to them if they seemed to like the first one. Just re-watch it first to make sure.

[TwinkieTwinkle]

no need to get so defensive lashes, I did spend quite a few years studying literature so I feel able to stand by my opinion.
BTW none of my friends' children like it either, but then they are reasonably intelligent.

Biggest load of pretentious bollocks I've seen in a while. Unnecessarily insulting to boot!

When DS was three/four I let him watch Jurassic Park. Is that also terrible?

[hels71]

Different children find different things scary. My DD (and this will out me to anyone on here who knows me in rl) thinks Harry potter is not scary because it is made up....not real mummy. The secret seven on the other hand has her in bits because they are real children apparently in real houses.....

[OwlsEscapade]

I think they will enjoy them more if they watch them when they are older. So I would wait.

My DCs grew up with the HP books and films AND the lotr films.

Dd2 was just under 6 when she watched the first Lord of the rings film and that was at the cinema. She loved it but I put my hands over her eyes a couples of times. Her three elder siblings were going and I think that she would have been very sad to miss out. She wasn't scared about the film but could be scared by seeing other things. It depends on the kid and the context.

[Cuppacoffeeinthebigtime]

Well this thread got nasty fast. I think it's a tad harsh to label me letting them watch a PG film with me sitting with them lazy parenting or irresponsible. I told them to tell me if they were too scared and we would turn it off at any time. 4 year old wanted me to search for Harry Potter toys afterwards.

Having said that, although they did enjoy watching it, I think I will wait a while to let them watch any more. The thing that got the 4 year old the most was not Voldemort or the Quibble scene but that Harry's parents had been killed and asked a lot of questions about it. And I think other posters are right in thinking they are too young to fully understand everything going on and thus missing the magic of it all.

[JohnCusacksWife]

BTW none of my friends' children like it either, but then they are reasonably intelligent.

Miaow! We get it. You don't like HP. Many, many, many other people do. You seem offended by that fact!

[EvilTendency1]

When the HP films were on TV earlier this year, we flicked through and found one on, I let mine watch it as I think it was the first one (I'm not a HP fan nor have I read the stories) and they were fine.

Following week I was a bit at one scene and thought I'll switch if off it gets scary for them, it was ok and they enjoyed it but I went to look at next one and thought 'No not for my dc' as they might be scared by it. The youngest is 5.11, I don't think I would let any younger than that watch it.

[ChwatFeechers]

BTW none of my friends' children like it either, but then they are reasonably intelligent.

Only War & Peace for those little blighters, eh?

[meglet]

if possible can we have no HP spoilers! Some of us haven't read all of them yet!

[LashesandLipstick]

Sunny I don't "stalk" you, I posted on the other thread before you did, went to have a look at some other responses and saw you'd started there too.

I don't think you're aggressive for stating a different opinion - I think you're aggressive for your tone and snide remarks. I accept you don't like it, I accept you don't want your kids to watch it. That is fine. What's not okay is to repeatedly have a go at people who think it's okay for theirs

[SunnyBaudelaire]

oh dear lashes you really are grasping at straws now aren't you?
What a disappointment to go from being 'gifted and talented' to someone who stalks others on an internet forum and whines about them being 'aggressive' when they state a different opinion to yourself. Dear dear.

[fattymcfatfat]

crapbag DDF is a brilliant film, and is inappropriate at times, but my DS has seen that too, the worst things go over his head and he just looked at me in shock at "cobwebs" telling me that man's naughty. it is about knowing your child and what they can handle etc with any film. even "children's" films can be inappropriate, shrek for example has lots of adult content that children don't pick up on.

[LashesandLipstick]

You're being very aggressive, both to me and to the other poster who disagreed with you. You've even taken it onto another thread! Grow up. If your kids take after you I can see why you think they're too immature for it

[SunnyBaudelaire]

oh fgs 'aggressive' yes OK then.