When is "old enough" for Harry Potter?

[peaceful_mama]

For some reason, DS randomly asked if he could watch Harry Potter today. He's seen little parts of it by being in the same room with me, but I really don't know how he even knows what it is other than that.

I told him he's too young. He countered with "but I AM older" I said like 7, 8, 9...he dropped it.

I don't think he'd sit through it all and like it yet anyway, so I think if we tried it what would happen is he'd lose interest before the 'scary parts'

I *do* think he's too young, especially for the major 'monster' scenes...to give you an idea, his TV viewing/interests mainly consist of Nick JR. and PBS cartoons. Not a monster in sight.

[meemee]

i notice with dd she suddenly goes thru sudden jumps in maturity. at 5 she watched HP with her dad on dvd. then she wanted to go for the movie and when i took her she was fine with it and not scared of anything.

if he has just been watching what he has - then i would break in with a movie for a length of time and slowly start scary ones.

at 5 i would not have let dd watch HP thinking that she would be scared. leave her alone take her to a theater. but seh surprised me by being ok with it.

[fritz]

Based on your DS's current viewing habits, I'd say you made the right call. Definitely wait until he's older. How much older? Depends on what he's exposed to and how he reacts.

There are a variety of things you can do to make the first viewing less intense/scary when you are ready for him to watch it. Reading the book, or listening to it in audio (on CD/tape) would be great. You can talk about the plot first and warn him there are some intense/scary scenes. Remind him that it's just a movie--those are actors pretending to be scared/upset. You can also pause the movie before those scenes to make sure he's willing to watch them. And/or, you can mute the volume during those parts, so he doesn't have to hear the dramatic music/loud sound effects. You can also point out that the troll and 3 headed dog are computer generated--they're not real at all; the moving chess pieces are people in costumes/special makeup.

Some kids are super sensitive and would be totally freaked out by seeing other kids in mortal danger (I'm thinking of the troll in the bathroom, or any of the challenges at the end of the first Harry Potter film).

My almost-5yo loves that movie (he likes some of the scenes from the others in the series, but he just relates better to the younger looking cast); however, he's not a super sensitive kid, and he's seen a lot of movies that most families wouldn't deem appropriate for such a young kid. He handles them fine, in part due to innate temperament, but also b/c I'm always right there with him during the first viewing, explaining what's going on...basically, spoiling the plot to cut down on the dramatic tension. I warn him in advance before intense/scary scenes. He always has the option of stopping the movie, fast forwarding, or having me pick him up. Sometimes he'll have me pick him up, but he almost never has me interrupt a film.

Good luck figuring out what works best for your family!

[Jessy1019]

Harry Potter (the first 2-3 movies that were out then) was my daughter's favorite when she turned 3. It was her 3rd birthday party theme and everything. She never had trouble following the story, and she was really into it.

Both kids (4 and 7 now) still love the movies, and we took my 7 year old to see the midnight showing of the newest one (I didn't figure my son would stay awake . . . maybe for the next one). Neither one is sensitive or easily scared, if they were, I imagine they wouldn't choose to watch HP as regularly as they do.

[Alyantavid]

Both my 7 and 3 year old have seen the first few movies. We didn't show my oldest until he was 5ish but before that he was really sensitive to what he watched.

I say wait until you feel they'd be ok watching it.

[hakeber]

I have had students as young as 7 years old READ the HP series. My line of thinking is, if they are not ready to read them (or at least have them read to them), they should not watch the films...but then, being a literature teacher I am a little bit obsessed with reading a book before I see the film based on it and fully plan to pass that on to my kids.

I let ds (almost 5yo) watch Where the Wild Things Are because it is his favorite book. He was scared by the monsters' aggression and violence and the storyline was WAY too mature for him to relate to. I would not let him watch HP now, but when he gets into chapter books, if he likes them as much as I did we'll rent the films for him to see how they managed to translate Rowling's creative masterpiece. IMO, They are too good not to demand reading first!

[USAmma]

It really depends on the child. My youngest is 6 and saw Avatar in the theatre and was just fine with it. She said it was her favorite movie. Other kids I know still can't handle anything beyond Cinderella at older ages. We let my oldest child read the first 2 books at age 7 and watch the movies, but then the subsequent books/movies were too dark for her.

[MJB]

My 7 and 4 yr. olds have seen them all. They aren't terribly sensitive or easily scared though.

[DaughterOfKali]

My son was 4 or 5 when he first watched Harry Potter. He was completely fine with it.

[elmh23]

Dd is 5 and ds is almost 3 and they can handle the first Harry Potter. Dd can also watch the second one with no problem. They've been fine with them.

[lonegirl]

Really and truly imo every child is different. My son has enjoyed all of them with us as we have the boxed set. He doesn't find monsters scary....his first favorite cartoon movie was Monsters Inc...he doesn't see them as "bad" but just monsters.

[Ellien C]

Depends on the kid. My kid watched the first few movies and we read the first few books at 3 or 4. I think we read the books first. But she decided to stop for awhile. Now, at 7 we are just reading book 7 (the pretty scary one) and she feels ready to watch the movie.

[zinemama]

We don't watch the movie until they've read the book, when it comes to this type of thing.

For some of this, it's after I've read them the books aloud (Peter and Wendy, The Secret Garden, Charlotte's Web). But for HP, I think it should be after the kid has read the book him/herself.

[LynnS6]

It really does depend on the child. How does your child do with scary content in general? Are they prone to overactive imagination? Nightmares?

My kids are really sensitive to scary content, both in books and in movies. Actually, they're so sensitive to scary content that we don't watch that many movies. Ds had nightmares after seeing Cars (he was 5 at the time) from one scary scene. Dd freaks out with PBS shows.

If he's really interested, get the book. Read the book. If he does OK with the content in the book, then I'd probably try the movie. My kids are 5 and 8 and are not ready for the book at all. I asked ds if he wanted to read Harry Potter (he's got the reading ability) and he said "Not until I'm older". At this rate, he's going to be 30!

[musikat]

My then 7 and 5 year olds went to the theater to see #6. They have seen them all and do fine with them. My two year old has seen 1 and 2 and been okay. Beyond that I won't let him watch because I am worried he'll be scared.... But he was awfully cute when he would bang his head with his hand and say "Dobby, Dobby, Dobby."

[Bug-a-Boo's Mama]

I really think it is a personal decision. I have a friend whose four year old has seen some of the movies-not sure how many there are, but thinking at least two if not more, not the last one though.

I wouldn't let my DS watch them-his imagination loves to go wild with nightmares at night. But then I know he has watched movies that others would never let their children watch. But he watches them with DH who fast forwards through a good amount of those movies.

[peaceful_mama]

some great input here thanks!

I read the books before there were movies. And this is one where I have to agree with the camp that they should be able to read the books themselves (and comprehend it!) before seeing the movie.

Right now, I could probably sit down with DS1 and he probably could read most of the words in the books.

How much would he actually comprehend? I don't know. Like I said he really hasn't seen much TV beyond Nick Jr. and pretty little-kid shows. He doesn't know about witches and wizards and magic really at all.

And I don't think his attention span is really there to sit and have me read them to him, but then again he may surprise me.

I'm waiting. No reason to rush. It was a casual comment I think inspired by the fact that I was watching a bit of movie 2 on TV the other night.

[MomOf3boyz]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

Both my 7 and 3 year old have seen the first few movies. We didn't show my oldest until he was 5ish but before that he was really sensitive to what he watched.

I say wait until you feel they'd be ok watching it.

This is us, almost exactly. (other than I have a 7 and 4 year old)

We have watched one and two with both kids, and parts of three with our 7 year old.

Our 7 year old is pretty sensitive, so I am waiting on watching the later ones with him until I think he can process them better.

[greenemami]

I guess we are in the high end here-dsd just finished the book series and she is just over 8.5-I guess she started them around 8. She saw the first 2 (maybe 3?) movies but said she didn't want to see the rest because the movies were a lot scarier than the books. She has always been fairly sensitive to scary scenes though. I personally would wait until your kids can read the books first-the movies were pretty intense in parts and I think it helps to have an understanding of what is going on based on what they read.

[Autumn Breeze]

I think ds was 5 when he watched the first two with me. My 4 yr old daughter loved the first movie.

I have made a new deal with them because of the 'scary parts'. My dd wants to watch them, very much, so I made a deal that I would read them to them first. When we finish a book we can add the movie into our movie list so they can watch it. After hearing Chamber of Secrets, she did just fine watching the movie. No nightmares.

So, you really just have to go off your kid. Is he old enough? Does he need to know before hand that Harry (and everyone else) will be ok? My daughter does, my son not so much, but he really likes knowing what's going to happen. He also loves to point out the inconsistencies LOL