Reply to S/O - reading Harry Potter in kindergarten

Forum Index » Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers

Reply to "S/O - reading Harry Potter in kindergarten"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

+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. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics