Acting their age (Was It's time to defend Ginny! (some SHIP)

[serenadust <jmmears@comcast.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52412

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve <bboy_mn at y...>"  child, 

> Jo, just out of curiousity is this girl in your daughters class an
> only child?
> 
> I think that is something that should not be overlooked. Ginny is 
7th
> of 7 children, and all the older kids are boys. Hermione on the 
other
> hand is an only child (as far as we know). 


Yes, she is an only child.  In fact, apart from her parents not 
being dentists (although they do run a business together), she seems 
to be Hermione's twin, right down to the bushy brown hair and large 
teeth (although she is in braces now).  She transfered to another 
school (no, not Hogwarts!) but we still see her quite often and 
another funny parallel occurs to me.  Her closest friends now are 
boys.  She never really did well with other girls.  My daughter was 
probably her only real friend while she was younger, and was 
constantly being pulled back and forth between the other girls and 
this one as a result.

I do see being an only child as a significant reason for Hermione's 
precociousness, as well as her inability to relate well to her 
peers.  I'm not saying that all only children are this way; I do 
know of others who do not follow this pattern at all.  That said, I 
do believe that spending most of your time with adults who encourage 
you to keep up with them rather than with siblings who require you 
to fit into a family dynamic where you aren't the constant focus of 
attention is most likely to produce a Hermione.

Steve:
<snip>
> We do see a similar difference between Harry and Ron. Harry is very
> serious and introspective (all for good reasons), where as Ron 
being
> the youngest of 6 brothers is more outgoing and much less serious. 
We
> could just as easily say that Ron doesn't act his age, but doesn't 
act
> his age compared to what; compared to Harry or compaired to kids in
> general.

I wouldn't really say that Harry does or doesn't act his age.  I'm 
sure his difficult pre-Hogwarts life has had a profound impact on 
his personality and may have resulted in his being more serious and 
introspective than he may have otherwise been.  Harry does seem to 
at his happiest when he falls in with the Weasley life-style through 
his friendship with Ron.  Unlike Hermione, he never seems to feel 
that there's anything wrong with a more carefree approach to life, 
and embraces it whenever he can.  Unfortunately, his sadly unique 
circumstances prevent him from being able to do this as much as he'd 
like.  If not for his special (and unwanted) destiny, he might be 
very much like Ron.  After all, he virtually never disagrees with 
Ron and seems to enjoy everything Ron enjoys, with the notable 
exception of arguing with Hermione.  Even then, it's always Ron he 
agrees with.

Jo Serenadust