Will you allow your child to watch Harry Potter?

If I remember correctly J.K. Rowling herself said that she would not allow her child/children to read the books she writes due to the same reasons! This was a long time ago when the first book or so came out. I think it's ridiculous. Granted, I don't have any kids and all I can ever base my thoughts on is from being a kid once myself, but I can tell you that when I was a kid I loved horror movies, I read R.L. Stine "Fear Street" books which were all about murder and such, I loved reading true crime stories. I have yet to turn into a serial killer and I hate killing even simple bugs yet alone a person! I don't think most kids become who they become just because they read it in a book or saw it on tv. I mean, how many murderers or rapists or thieves became what they are because they saw it on tv...they saw read it in a book, etc. I think you have to teach your kids to know the difference between real and make believe, reality and imagination. It doesn't matter what your kid watches as long as you teach them the rights and wrongs of life they'll grow up to be fairly normal.

Heller?! Is it only now that they(people complaining) are realizing that Harry Potter has a supernatural theme? If you don't want your children to be exposed to such, simply don't let them watch it. Besides its the responsibility of the parents to explain to their kids that the story is just fiction and witchcraft does'nt exist..blah blah...whatever your beliefs are. As for the scary parts, hmmm...i've seen the movie and its not scary per say, just 3 or 4 scenes that make you jump a bit. :) Overall, kudos to the director for not making this installment of Harry Potter a boring one.

My daughter has bee seeing Harry Potter movies since they first came out. She is 14 years now, & I'm not sure when they first started. I would have to agree that they can be fairly scarey. I don't like my 9 year old step daughter seeing these types of movies, as she is easily scared. But as she thinks she has tghe same rights as older children, & my husband wants to keep her happy, he lets her see them.

I will bring them to watch the movie if I have children and If they become obsessive with the story, I will buy them books to read.

Yes of course!!! My brother doesn't let his kids because he believes that it is promoting witchcraft. Not me, I am using it as an education tool to let them know it isn't real.

Wether you like it or not, sooner or later, your child will realize what are those things like witch craft and wizard and even monsters. If I were you, I will allow my child to watch such movie so he will not be surprised or be scared in the future. It is natural, some things like witch craft really existed so better to know him / her what are those things. Try to make him / her understand.

I am Harry Potter`s fan and think that i will recomend it to all children with pleasure. And even i will go to watch the film with the children.I think that we must not underestimate the inteligence of our children, they are not idiots who copy and accept everything too punctually.

As for parts of Harry Potter being scary, each parent has to decide for themselves if they think that their child will be frightened by Harry Potter. This is true for any movie that has scary parts. As for the supernatural themes and 'encouraging witchcraft'..this really makes my stomach turn when I hear this argument. I grew up watching a TV show entitled 'Bewitched.' As a young girl I got a thrill out of this show. I turned out just fine and was not turned away from my Baptist upbringing! I also remember watching Disney's Sorcerer and the Stone and other movies with supernatural themes. There is nothing wrong with a child's imagination being stimulated. Just my opinion.

I have no problem with my children finding out about witchcraft, it is part of life and deny its existance will just make them resent you for not sharing it with you once they get older. I personally don't like Harry Potter and haven't read any of the books, but I will do if my kids want to read them just to make sure they are suitable like I do with all their books at the moment.

actually, my husband and I have different views on this, he don't wanna see any harry potter movies because he said that yes it encourages witch craft..but as for me, I don't see anything wrong watching those movies because after all aren't any movies made for entertainment and fun? and harry potter is one good movie, the effects and all. good thing we still don't have kids..but my biggest problem now is How will I see harry's order of phoenix without my husband knowing it..hehe!

nothing wrong with encouraging Witchcraft. it's very positive. but Harry Potter certainly doesn't. it's so far removed from real Witccraft. anyone that got into it through Harry Potter would get bored pretty quick

I don't believe it encourages witchcraft. I believe it stimulates the imagination. Do the Chronicles of Narnia have such criticism? No way! It's all about making children pick up books, making them think, and taking a journey into books that may have never happened. Now, I won't bring my 5 and 6 year olds to the theater to see this new movie until I've seen it. It sounds like it may be a little intense for them.

Yes they love that movie and I know it's a good movie...

My daughter began watching Harry Potter when it first came out. I really don't understand the big deal in it all. Even disney had a movie about 3 witches...can't remember the name of it but my girls loved it. Fairy tales have been around for generations and look at all the magic and sorcery that goes on in those tales! Its a truly ridiculous argument. I give my child more credit. she has a great imagination but she does know the difference between reality and fiction.

" it "encourages witch craft". " When I hear ppl talking like that I just have to laugh...I really do..It was the same when Pokeman was a big thing too....Fundimentalists all over the place were all up in arms about it and I just find that to be so ridiculous....MIND YOU I'm a practicing Witch myself so I KNOW that whats in HP is strictly hollywood for the most part ya know...I mean sure they may use proper terms on occasion or have correspondances right but thats as far as it goes...Same with shows like Charmed or movies like The Craft or Practical Magic etc.. My kids LOVE the Harry Potter movies so yes of course they'll be watching it....Harry Potter encourages Witchcraft about as much as horror films encourages ppl to turn into serial killers or video games encourages children to be violent...If a child KNOWS AND IS TAUGHT the difference between real and entertainment there is no issue as far as I'm concerned...

If we had kids we would let them watch the Potter movies. I was reading deeper things than Harry when I was a kid. It will get the kids to ask questions. There is nothing wrong with the Craft. It gets the kids to open their minds and let them think, form their own opinions. I have seen a lot of parents take their kids to watch these movies. Kids are not stupid, by not "allowing" them to see it, what kind of reason/excuse do you give them?

People that call censorship on a book really tick me off. If you don't want your child exposed to it, simply don't let them read it. Don't ruin the lives of other people by trying to get it removed from libraries and what not. Just because you're a prude and have issues with children using their imaginations doesn't mean other children should be deprived of the fun. Secondly, I love Harry Potter, and if I had kids, I'd let them read it if they wanted too. How is encouraging play and creativity a bad thing? And, I'm really scared, that educated adults assume that children are going to be able to pick up a twig from the tree outside, point it at something random, saw a few words and blow something up. Come on. And, if your children assume they can, you obviously aren't doing your job as a parent. That said, real magic and witchcraft does exist, but it is NOT like Harry Potter. I blame the church, and other religious leaders for the ignorance and the hatred, and the pure stupidity that exists in the world. I don't see how a church can claim something is evil, when they're some of the most corrupt institutions in the world. Sickening is what it is.

I remember when shows like the Munsters and Bewitched came along. Before that we had the 1930s movies such as Frankenstein and Dracula and later the Hammer Versions that showed Dracula with all his teeth, and the horror shows about Satan taking over a girl's school, the Exorcist and stuff like that. We knew that evil was and never would have allowed children to watch. I do not approve of Harry Potter for kids. Older children and teens are more knowledgeable, but are they? They watched the Munsters and Bewitched with their parents, some of them even watched Charmed about nice witches. And what the wizards and witches have to go through in the movies, nailing down cups and saucers so they not get away, being careful not to say the wrong word or someone would explode, not to mention the horrible idea of fashion they have, and what if one of the children decided to use a broom and jump off a roof after saying the 'magic word'? That is what I have against Harry Potter. It is okay for those who are able to see it as a good story, but not for young kids.

I wish people would realise that Harry Potter is a work of fiction and that there have been tales of witches and magic since the dawn of time. There is nothing wrong with Harry Potter or other books like Lord of the Rings, no way do these entertaining books and films encourage *witch craft* and as a pagan I find it very difficult to understand why some people feel this way. I see no problem with children watching these films at all.

All my kids watch all the Harry Potter movies. They watch them with their dad.