Harry Potter – Age Restriction?
I guess I’ve never really thought about the need for an age recommendation or restriction on Harry Potter books or movies because my kids have always been old enough to understand reality versus fantasy.
After reading an article earlier today from a woman who mentioned how inappropriate Harry was for her 2.5 year old, I had to wonder, how does one determine age appropriateness on such a thing?
The films are already rated based on the content – so wouldn’t you naturally assume the books would be similar?
If you were the parent of a child that might be at an age where they might or might not understand the difference between make believe and reality, what would you consider to be the deciding factors in what you read to your child or allowed them to see?
Tags: Harry Potter, books, movies, age appropriate movies, age appropriate books, fantasy
Actually, no, I don’t consider them the same at all. There are books I would definitely let my kids read but not let them see the movie interpretations. There is a huge shift in seeing vs. reading. The Harry Potter books vs. movies is an excellent example; my daughter read the first three books before she turned 5. (I cut her off before Goblet of Fire because the violence definitely escalated in that one.) She saw the first movie at 7 and was frightened. Same thing with Bridge to Terabithia book vs. movie. Seeing is much more real to children than reading about. When you are reading, you can allow yourself to imagine as much or as little as you want to, but with a movie it’s THERE and there’s no getting away from it, putting the book down, or skimming a paragraph.