S/O - reading Harry Potter in kindergarten

[Anonymous]

I'm 14:26 with the Aspie, HP-reading son. I should add that my other children are perfectly typical, and for at least one of them I would not recommend reading HP that soon. If I had not had my son to keep me humble and grounded and continually astonished, I would be as critical and dismissive as other PPs on this board.

[Anonymous]

If my child wanted to read Harry Potter next year, she would be welcome to do that. I have read all the books and would be ready to discuss them with her as she read.

If you're comparing them to, say, the Little House books, there are "scary" or "traumatic" things that happen in the Little House books too. I read those when I was maybe 6 (learned to read picture books at 4, moved on to simple chapter books at 5, never really cared for A Wrinkle In Time anyway) and I remember:

- Mary going blind
- Laura teaching school away from her family at age 15 in a house with people who were scary (though I now don't remember why they were scary?)
- lots of weather related drama
- Nellie Olsen, that horrible brat!
- the dog dying

It all seemed very abstract because as a child in the mid-80s, I was not experiencing those stressors. That said, I am also not a British wizard child, so I'm not experiencing those stressors either.

[Anonymous]

My 6 year old might be able to read HP. He might even be able to completely understand what he was reading. But I think he's too young for it. Maybe not the first book or two, but they get pretty dark pretty quickly. There are plenty of other options out there for young readers. I think 2nd grade is probably a better age to start HP books, for content, not necessarily reading level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a precocious reader and I would never have allowed him to read Potter at that age. The ability to read a book doesn't translate into the maturity to read a book.

+1

[Anonymous]

I used to nanny for a kid who was working his way through Harry Potter between 1st and 2nd grade. He didn't have any issues grasping the content. He was also perfectly friendly, social, etc and showed no signs of autism or any other disorders. Sure not all kids will be ready for it at a young age, but some are. No need to judge them or their parents just because they have a different maturity level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to nanny for a kid who was working his way through Harry Potter between 1st and 2nd grade. He didn't have any issues grasping the content. He was also perfectly friendly, social, etc and showed no signs of autism or any other disorders. Sure not all kids will be ready for it at a young age, but some are. No need to judge them or their parents just because they have a different maturity level.

You realize you are talking about a 7 yo as opposed to a 5 yo--big differences there in maturity and reading ability.

I think the whole HP thing is driven by lazy parents--it's a common book that people have lying around, so they let their kid read it instead of investing time in finding better options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to nanny for a kid who was working his way through Harry Potter between 1st and 2nd grade. He didn't have any issues grasping the content. He was also perfectly friendly, social, etc and showed no signs of autism or any other disorders. Sure not all kids will be ready for it at a young age, but some are. No need to judge them or their parents just because they have a different maturity level.

You realize you are talking about a 7 yo as opposed to a 5 yo--big differences there in maturity and reading ability.

I think the whole HP thing is driven by lazy parents--it's a common book that people have lying around, so they let their kid read it instead of investing time in finding better options.

Good lord. Yeah, I'm sure anyone whose kid reads the HP books is a lazy parent.

Some kids are more able to handle "older" content than other kids, both in terms of reading aptitude and emotionally/psychologically. I think that's hard for some parents to grasp, and that's when you get comments like PP's.

[Anonymous]

I won't censor my child based on the criteria that it's a year or two too advanced. I read things that were too sad and sophisticated for me as a young child. They either won't understand it fully -- which is fine with me, they will rise to it eventually, and read plenty of other stuff too -- or they will understand it and we can talk about it and they'll learn something.

My 5-year-old has not asked to read Harry Potter yet and we haven't suggested it, but if she wants to, she can. I think she'd have more trouble with the made-up wizarding words than the subject matter. The first book is not that dark.

[Anonymous]

I thought the first was the best, but I wouldn't encourage a kindergartner to read it because it's such a great book for kids in the middle grades. There are other, better books for young ones, even complicated books like, say, Stuart Little, but by fourth or fifth grade it can be hard to find things that kids like, especially boys.

[Anonymous]

I will not let my precocious British wizard child read HP until he is at least 9 3/4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to nanny for a kid who was working his way through Harry Potter between 1st and 2nd grade. He didn't have any issues grasping the content. He was also perfectly friendly, social, etc and showed no signs of autism or any other disorders. Sure not all kids will be ready for it at a young age, but some are. No need to judge them or their parents just because they have a different maturity level.

You realize you are talking about a 7 yo as opposed to a 5 yo--big differences there in maturity and reading ability.

I think the whole HP thing is driven by lazy parents--it's a common book that people have lying around, so they let their kid read it instead of investing time in finding better options.

Nope. It's driven by bragging rights.

[Anonymous]

Really, wow My kid's kindergarten teacher was still sending home those home made books with sentences like "It is fun to hop on pop" and "Dot can run up the hill and tag Mat" at the end of the school year.

[Anonymous]

If Harry Potter had been around when I was 5-6, I would have loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I won't censor my child based on the criteria that it's a year or two too advanced. I read things that were too sad and sophisticated for me as a young child. They either won't understand it fully -- which is fine with me, they will rise to it eventually, and read plenty of other stuff too -- or they will understand it and we can talk about it and they'll learn something.

My 5-year-old has not asked to read Harry Potter yet and we haven't suggested it, but if she wants to, she can. I think she'd have more trouble with the made-up wizarding words than the subject matter. The first book is not that dark.

+1. I do not censor reading material at all, my kids can read any book they show an interest in and when they were younger I would read to them anything they brought me or asked for my help with even if it was not a book most would consider age-appropriate.

I have never really understood the concept of limiting one's reading to "age appropriate" selections. Of course there will be things about the book that a young child will not understand, but the beauty of books is that they are not a onetime deal; they can and probably should be reread. I remember many books I read as a middle school student or younger and reread as an adult, the story and the impact were so much different when I had the life experience and perspective to truly understand the deeper issues, but that doesn't mean there was anything wrong with me reading the books when I did the first time.

My view on the idea of a child not being "ready" for the book's subject matter is that they pretty much only process what they have at least some framework for understanding, anything that is too much will either go over their head or they will skip that part entirely. This is how I read many books when I was young, I liked the story and the action/adventure but I was grossed out by any romantic or sexual content -- so I skipped the pages containing anything I found "mushy" or "icky". As long as they're reading for fun and not for a school assignment, I see no problem with kids reading some books that they don't actually completely finish or comprehend.

As long as you're not opposed to the magical aspects of the books, there's nothing hugely objectionable about the HP series and certainly not the first few books (up to book 3 anyway; in book 4 a character is murdered and opinions will vary on whether that constitutes an objectionable level of violence). My suggestion would be to let her start reading the first book. She will either find something in the book that she does understand and enjoy, or she will get bored and stop reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will not let my precocious British wizard child read HP until he is at least 9 3/4.

lol