AIBU to not let DD6 finish Harry Potter series?

[WhattodoSue]

My DD has been immersed in the Harry Potter books for 3 weeks. She is a very good reader, and when she finds a series she loves, she will read for hours. I initially planned to limit her to books 1-3. But she begged to read 4, and then following more strong assertions that they weren't scary I have let her read 5. I am a bit regretting it bcause Umbridge is so evil. She evidently doesn't get the same level of understanding a 12 year old does, but at the same time she is utterly enthralled and is getting a lot of pleasure from reading them.

I am not sure if I should stop her reading 6 & 7 if she is desperate to, or let her go with what she feels interested in. She re-reads her favourite books, so I'm sure these will get re-read over the years. BUT, i don't want her traumatised. Anyone else have young Harry potter readers? Thoughts? Thanks!!

arethere Um, it's a thread about the right age to read HP. I don't think the OP would gain much insight from a procession of posters being artfully vague about the ages they / their kids read it, so as to avoid accusations of stealth boasting.

Oh, and I carefully avoid these conversations in real life because of people like you who assume I'm boasting when really I've just forgotten that I have to hide dd's abilities to keep people like you happy.

"Based on that I decided that my DS will read one a year"

...whether he wants to or not?

...whether he wants to or not?

multivac Yes I will sit him down and force him to listen to me reading them - I particularly like doing the Hagrid voice.

Seems a bit controlling to say he has to wait just because you had to wait.
Skoosh I also make him watch betamax videos and get up to turn the tv over because that's what I had to do.

I'd back up RiverTam. I felt that my DSS enjoyed the books as he was lucky enough to be exactly the same age as HP (to the day). So the autumn he went to secondary school, the first book came out. The next year, the next book came out ... so he read them all at the target age. On the other hand my DSD saw all the films too young and didn't like it at all and she now won't have anything to do with it.

For our DS, he's 10 so I thought I'd give him the books in order and see what happens. The last book is rather teenagery don't you think? Quite grim? Not harmful as such, but just not of interest to a younger child. Don't forget main characters die in the books, this is tough for some kids.

Just to be clear - my intention at the moment is that we/he will read one a year. If at any point he decides not to bother it's not an issue. If at any point he begs for the next one, I will be delighted he enjoyed the last one and he can read what he likes. I hope this has cleared things up for those who were concerned about about me being controlling based on a five sentence comment about a book.

Rightio.

Thanks for explaining, crabbit. I'm sorry I brought up the subject of exactly when your child is to be exposed to each Harry Potter book, and the reasons why, in the first place...

Oh no mulitvac That was me.. here was me thinking that is what this entire thread was about. You know different people.. different experiences...different ideas. Maybe I'm wrong though and it's just about bored eejits nitpicking and arguing about utterly inconsequential shit.

I wouldn't call you an 'eejit', crabbit. That would be rude.

So is highjacking a thread to prove how big and clever you are multivac, but that hasn't stopped you.

'bit controlling' klaxon'

'MN cliché spotter klaxoner' klaxon.

I'll be honest with you PrivatePike it's a bit pish. I try for Devon but it ends up Geordie. I'm getting there.

If I pop on and say I am currently having wibbles about my teenager reading Trainspotting, will that break up the handbags over Harry Potter?

Or is that unnecessary boasting?

I would let them read HP at that age. As you can probably tell...

...got a whole year to practice

......

Heaven forbid that we as parents should set rules and guidelines about what our children are exposed to and when...

Oh for feck's sake the 'controlling' comment was in relation to that person saying she had decided her child could read one HP a year so that he'd have a sense of anticipation. She later clarified but that post did seem controlling to me.

So 'yah boo sucks' to klaxons tooting and humphy faces.

I "decided" a lot of things that would or wouldn't happen......then "real life" stepped in..... :o

Most people will have views /opinions and plans - it's only controlling when you refuse to be deviated from those for totally reasonable reasons because "that was the plan"

My DS is almost 9 and read the entire series in Year 3. I too planned to limit him to the first 3 or 4 but he loved them so much I let him carry on. He has re-read them all since and is now reading selected ones again - interestingly the earlier ones but I guess this is because they are more at his level of interest. He has never had any nightmares about them by the way and he is fairly sensitive. I imagine a lot of the later ones will have washed over him but he wanted to finish the series. They are on the school's recommended reading list for Year 5.