Parent's Perspective of Harry Potter: Whimsical or Wicked for Children?

With the recent publication and launch of the latest, and supposedly final, Harry Potter book plus the impending release (July 11) of the fifth Harry Potter movie, that Harry Potter is one hot ticket across the country right now. I want to write about Harry Potter from a parent's perspective, and being the parent of 14 and 12 year olds, that hot ticket hits squarely home for me.

There are many, many articles, comments, editorials and the like written about Harry Potter-about the books, the movies, the details. There are also many discussions among parents of these young Harry Potter fans. Some parents are merely glad their child is reading the Potter books, glad to see their child enjoying the movies as a result. Other parents take issue with Harry Potter as they take issue with the topic of witchcraft. It is those that fit in neither category that I represent in this article.

While Harry Potter is a young wizard in a school full of other young wizards, while there are countless spells spoken and wands woven, while it is all about magic, it is all fiction. All fantasy. All imagination. I am writing this article in representation those parents in the middle, those who might taking issue with witchcraft and wizardry as it pertains to real life and yet wonder how that truly factors in with the Harry Potter phenomenon. Granted, some youngsters cannot discern the difference in fantasy and reality-therefore said youngsters should not be watching movies such as Harry Potter where the concept in fiction is not something a parent wants carried over into reality. It is the parent's responsibility to make these decisions regarding their offspring.

I have found that, by enjoying the Harry Potter craze with my two children, we have in turn learned many things along the way. For example, to address the wizardry and magic element, we first enjoy Harry Potter for the fantasy. The fact that Harry Potter is not real, in any way, shape or form lends our imagination some serious and wonderful flight. People of all ages have been fascinated with witches and wizards, from childhood on up, for centuries.

Another angle in which we learned many things in our enjoyment and participation in the Harry Potter craze, was the opportunity to discuss witchcraft and wizardry as it pertains to our reality, our day-to-day life. I am not going to specifically discuss our beliefs here except to say Harry Potter-type magic is something that is firmly and wonderfully fantasy for us. Harry Potter opened up many comments, questions and discussions in our family. Things that may not have come up otherwise, if not for Harry Potter.

Lastly, a major aspect of the Harry Potter saga that brought great discussion to our family were the challenges faced by Harry and his friends along the way. The decisions to be made by youngsters in Harry Potter's world, in good versus evil, light versus darkness. Big issues such as friendship, loyalty, responsibility and trusting in who you are at heart all come into play with Harry Potter. I found it interesting how Harry Potter's teachers at Hogwarts understood when rules were bent or broken, but yet they never condoned that rule-breaking. While, as a child in making decisions to break rules, your reasons may be good, those rules are there for reasons you may not quite grasp and they stand regardless.

I am all for parents taking stands on what is right for their children, however, the blind avoiding of books or movies that could be fun and that could offer a lot of learning points merely because of the fantastic, unreal nature of said movies such as Harry Potter is such a loss. Lots of things are unreal in our day-to-day life, we do not hide from them, we address them as such is appropriate for our families. Simple avoidance is the easy way out, there should be conversation,discussion and learning. Such openness encourages steadfastness in beliefs and thoughts.

There have been countless stories of imaginative creation shared in storytelling, then later written and loved for centuries upon centuries. Wonderful flights of fantasy involving fantastical, imaginary beings, actions and situations. Harry Potter's fantastical, fictional world is no different than that of the Hobbit, of Lord of the Rings, of Star Wars, of Narnia-and the list goes on.

If you are already a Harry Potter fan, enjoy the newest book, the latest movie. If you are considering seeing what Harry Potter is all about, check out the books, borrow the DVDs and enjoy a fun, exhilarating flight of fantasy.