Outrage?

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Aina

Saucy, (not sure of the ages) Do you read HP to your kids/do they read it themselves? Do you have any worries that their age would affect their absorption of the "magic"? I mean, did it ever cross your mind?

My children are 7 (girl) and 5 (boy). I have not read the Harry Potter books myself and don't have them, and they are rather too young to be reading such books themselves yet, although we have seen the films. I would, however, have no concerns over the references to wizards, magic etc and I am perfectly happy for them to read the books. For the reasons that I have stated, it is just not an issue for me.

I have read The Hobbit to my daughter, and The Faraway Tree stories to both of them. The latter books, of course, have Elves, Goblins, Wizards, Witches and magic, but no religious context. Again, this doesn't concern me, because they set a good moral tone. The children and their friends in the Faraway Tree behave in a morally correct way (they do their chores, are concerned for the welfare of their parents and others and look out for each other) and "naughty" behaviour (for example, Ricks' greediness and Connie's spoilt behaviour) is shown to have appropriate consequences.

That is not to say that I am not alive to the possibility of the books influencing them in some way that I would consider wrong. For example, the children on occasion slip out in the middle of the night to visit the Faraway Tree in the Enchanted Forest. This was probably not an issue at the time Blyton wrote the books but I have no wish to encourage my children to be wandering around woods on their own at night, and so made sure that they understood that this was not something which they should ever consider doing.