my three year old; the trailer; explanations for young children../long

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14077

Well, my son is now three and a half....you can see his picture under 
Files, group members, JesseHarry.jpg...

He has known about HP for quite a while, having listened to tapes, 
and seen various books. He proclaimed last September that he wanted 
to be "Harry Powder" for Halloween, and of course, I acquiesced.

At three and a half, I felt that it was important that he see
the trailer so that eventually he would understand/not be upset by
the film that I will eventually purchase as a videotape.....I am of 
course entirely motivated by his welfare.....(all right, so we 
watched it ten times together)

So, anyway, he loved it..and got a lot of it immediately..
Owls!They send messages!
Harry is my favorite..
When we got to the picture of Dumbledore he said "Dumbledore. He is 
your friend and my friend" !!!!

What was interesting was that he wanted to understand the whole 
beginnings of the plot..so I had to explain that Lord Voldemort
(the bad guy) had killed Harry's parents and had tried to kill Harry, 
but failed (Jesse is now at dinner time saying VIVA! Long live Harry, 
the boy who lived!") I'm not making this up....

What was interesting was my explanation of the first part of the 
book....and his interpretation....(note: he has seen the Sword in the 
Stone and likes it a lot)...


My explanation:  Voldemort tried to kill Harry and failed.....and 
then Hagrid rescued Harry, and Dumbledore decided to send Harry 
somewhere where he would be safe until he went to Hogwarts....

But the problem was that he sent him to his Uncle Vernon and Aunt 
Petunia and they didn't like him...

Jesse says "Why? Why they not like him?"

Me: "Uh, well, because they were bigots..they were uh prejudiced 
against wizards and witches.."

Jesse: "They bullies?"

Me: " yes, that's right, sweetheart, so they didn't treat Harry very 
well...They thought that anyone who was a wizard or a witch was bad"

Me: So Dumbledore sent Harry to safety, but the safe place wasn't as 
good as it could have been."

Jesse: "Like King Arthur?"

Me: (dumfounded) "yes?"

Jesse: Merlin sent Wart to place they weren't nice to him (remember 
folks that in the Sword in the Stone video, Sir Ector and Kay were 
really awful to Arthur)

Me: yes, that's right darling...they wanted to keep Wart safe until 
he could become king, just like Dumbledore wanted to keep Harry safe..

Okay, so these explanations, discussions continued for several hours 
on and off......but I found it fascinating that my almost four year 
old son found a parallel I had not thought of, but should have, given 
that I've read the Once and Future King about ten times...

And what did Jesse like best?

"The goblins! But, Mommy, why goblins in bank? Why Harry go there to 
get money?:  

Susan