DVDs and kids

[elady25]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "muirnincocan" 
<MuirninCocan at m...> wrote:
> BTW... my daughters first multisyllabic word was "Wingardium 
Leviosa"
> she was just over 14 months old... so go figure...
> 
> Muirnin

imamommy:

I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a toddler who loves HP.  When I 
got Sorcerer's Stone on DVD, he was about 13 months old.  I got 
pregnant with his sister that month as well, and during my pregnancy 
I often watched HP with him, for the simple reason I liked it better 
than Barney, and oddly enough he likes it, too.  One of the cutest 
things he said when he was not quite two was, "Hay-ee Poller, 
Spooky,"  referencing the scene with Harry and Lockhart in CoS where 
Harry first hears the bodiless voice and says, "Spooky."  

Now, we did wind up going the rounds with some snake and spider 
nightmares, and occasionally now (he's three now, btw) he uses HP as 
an excuse to not do something, eg:  I can't clean up my toys because 
Voldemort's in the toy room.  To which mom replies, Here's your 
(Zonko's Joke) Wand, dear, go say Expecto Patronum.  

I worried that even though he handled the first two pretty well, the 
third would be too scary, so the plan was not to let him see it, 
but...it was the second movie at the drive-in when we went to see 
Shrek 2, and we had the idea that he would watch Shrek and fall 
asleep for HP, but he did just the opposite.  Now that it's out on 
DVD, the idea was that he wouldn't watch it but through a variety of 
circumstances he's seen it a couple more times.  Fortunately, he 
doesn't seem upset by it.  

Some folk have criticised me for letting my small chlidren see things 
like this, but I think it really depends on the kids.  My son really, 
really likes these movies, he gets totally engrossed, and of course I 
can't really blame him.  We have used the scary moments as an 
opportuntity to teach, so "Mommy, there's dementors!" turns into a 
discussion about how we can think happy thoughts when we're scared, 
etc.  He doesn't seem unhinged by it, it lacks sex, drugs, or major 
violence, for which I'm grateful, and it is something we have formed 
a bond over.  

imamommy
PS, on the original subject--my son actually handles DVD's and CD's 
pretty well, we haven't had any major scratches since he was about 18 
mos. old.  Plus, he's the only one in the family to know what all the 
buttons on the remote are for:)