AIBU to let 5 year old DC watch the first Harry Potter film?

[Stoufer]

Any advice welcomed (and apologies for putting it in AIBU - not sure where else it should go). Am planning a family film night tonight (we haven't had one for ages) as we really need some time on the sofa with blankets, and I am having real problems working out what sort of film is good for a 5 year old, 11 year old and 13 year old... I would really love to dust off the Harry Potter DVDs and start watching those, but worry that we will have lots of nightmares ahead from the little one.

The older ones don't mind re-watching good films, but are just not interested in child-friendly animated stuff any more, so I am really struggling to find something that is good for all three. Has anyone got any suggestions? Or what age did you let your DC watch Harry Potter? And did it have any negative effects (nightmares, phobias etc)?
Thanks ;)

My Six year old is scared of everything including Peter rabbit on cbeebies and she has been fine with the first Harry Potter film.

We haven't read the books yet as I think the books are scarier and we read right before bed!

DD stated watching them at 2 and had watched all 7 of them by aged 5.

We let her watch them because we were so sick of frozen knew she is not easily scared. I also know an older child who couldn't watch Disney films without nightmares, and he still hasn't seen any except the first one.

They are all different, you know your child best. Do you think they would be distresses by dementors? Werewolves? Cedric/dumbledore/Dobby's death?

If not, then go for it, they are great films for kids, school and magic, wizards and monsters, good vs evil battles and so much better than frozen

Totally depends on the child although I think the first HP film is fairly tame.

My DS saw the first 4 HP films when he was 5 and begged me to watch the rest this summer at 6. He loves the films, was not scared but did need a bit of plot explanation for Deathly Hallows films. It makes me chuckle that he still doesn't get the role Snape plays as everything is so black and white to him.

My son watched it at 5 and was fine, but he got very bored very quickly.

2? FFS, why? Why does a 2 year old need to be watching a film at all?

Princess which is exactly why I think it's so daft for young kids to watch these - if you need endless bits of the plot explaining you're too young! JKR increased the complexity of plot and language as her original readers aged with Harry. It's not Wimpy Kid where every single book is at exactly the same level.

So many children seem to be rushed into Harry Potter at the moment, and I think it's a bit of a shame - my 5 year old would be okay with the movie but I think would get a lot more enjoyment from discovering it for the first time when he's a few years older and will get so much more out of it

It's not necessarily about need but if you have older kids who are tired of Peppa or Bing maybe they want to watch a film with some complexity.

Or perhaps, the parent is tired of Peppa and Bing and knows their child would cope with some complexity...

My son is 4 and has seen them all now, I only showed him the first 4 but DH had the week off for half term and showed him the rest! He adores Harry Potter, we mostly put on the first 2 films.

I think you know your own child best, we have enforced the idea from early on that its all "pretend" so hes fine, my friends son on the other hand is frightened of monsters inc to the point where hes been up all night worrying and hes 7 years old.

My 7 and 4 year old have watched all the Harry potter films. The 4 year old is named after a HP character. They enjoyed them and have yet to show signs of being traumatised. In fact Dobby's death affected me much more 😭

My 6yo enjoyed them recently, along with 10yo who had read all the books and kept telling her what was happening. I'm not sure how much she got of the plot beyond nasty uncle, cool magic school, flying, cool animals, baddies trying to get thingy, but that's actually quite good as there's the books to look forward to. She's seen the second and most of the fourth too, and did find Voldemort in that scary so watched from behind a cushion for the last half hour.
10 yo gets scared by many things, 6yo not by much but by some odd things, like Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer video.

My 4yr old watched it the other evening. Didn't bother him at all.
Weirdly, he currently obsessed with Charlie and the Chocolate factory ( the Jonny Depp one)

Kids are random, at least mine is about what scares them- he complained about things in Ratatouille (!!) But was absolutely fine with the 1984 Ghost busters... Admittedly distracted him during a couple of scenes, but still.

YABU...it's a terrible film

Only if he has already read the book. That was our rule for the Harry Potter movies. We didn

My 3 year old loves it.

illustrated Harry Potter for kindle

I might entice DS with this

We are reading the first book with my 6 year old dd and that's fine BUT her friend who likes action films was up all night with bad dreams after watching it.

I can’t see an issue with it, my mum let me watch Jurassic Park when I was 5 - my brother was 7 and desperately wanted to see it at the cinema so she took us both! If you think your little one can handle it for the most part I’m sure they’ll be fine :D

really hates things like Mr Bean, as he tries to do things/help out and it all goes horribly wrong for him (she can't bear to watch when it does

To be fair, I feel exactly the same about Mr Bean and I'm 35.

DS who is 6.5 hasn’t seen any because I feel quite strongly I want him to read the books first.
He has seen: Night at the Museum, the Narnia films, labyrinth, the Spiderwick chronicles and Wonder to name a few. He’s also seen all the Star Wars films except Rogue One.
They should be ok?

Showed it to my 7 and 4yo recently. 7yo enjoyed it, 4yo was a bit scared in places.

Depends on your dc. I had the same doubt earlier this year. 11 year old is HP mad and was dying to watch it, so after much deliberation we did. 5 year old was fine during the film but hasn't slept through the night since because she's scared of Voldemort. Fucking marvellous.

It’s not aimed at 5 year olds. I would imagine they’d be bored rigid.

I also worry about starting too young with HP it’s easy to get out of your depth quickly and you’d want them to be much older before watching the later ones.

My 6 year old has seen the first 3

Yes depends on child. 1st son loves HP not seen them all first four started at six. Younger brother not bothered properly saw first one when he was three!? Not seen past four though 😬