Current strategy is "keep the house extremely well-stocked with non-banal, non-problematic age-appropriate reading material, and hope for the best." (Note to self: ask mother-in-law if she still has that Lemony Snicket boxed set.)
As a matter of principle*, I don't like the idea of banning a book from the house, so I would consider letting my daughter read it if (e.g.) she only wanted to read it because her friend's Christian mom says it's Satanic, but even then, I'm sure we could come up with some much, much better Satanic reading material than that.
*The principle at play here isn't :freeze-peach:, it's "as a parent you can only make a certain number of totalitarian gestures per year before they start to backfire."
no, i do not teach my children language so that they will be savage beasts in battle
do not let your kids read anything. they need to be lifting at all times
I already did when I was a lib, but as a Marxist I feel that they should read whatever they want, as long as we aren't spending money on anything associated with JK Rowling. I've already brainwashed them into being good little Marxists so I'm confident (for now at least) that they have the intellectual tools necessary to deal with reading reactionary material.
Every now and then we'll say something like "dobby likes being a slave!" to each other as a joke.
If you had the chance to go back in time and prevent them from reading Harry Potter would you?
I don't think so, but if they grow up to be little Kamalas / Mayor Petes I will reconsider.
does the upcoming generation actually read books? all anecdotal evidence i have points to no but i don't know that many kids
Children born after 2008 dont read books, all they do is charge they phone, watch tiktok, watch youtube and watch twitch
But more seriously either they're reading on their phones (completely possible), or theyre just reading less
No but it's not as bad as you might think
Also smut/erotica is becoming really popular if that counts
I would rather my kids read Hermione or gay Dumbledore smut than Harry Potter tbh
From my perspective kids seem to read a shitload of books—far more than adults, honestly.
They watch movies, do you think kids should be allowed to watch the Harry Potter movies?
My sisters are really into this series about a bunch of dragons, so I think the answer is "about as many as were reading books before".
Obligatory "Not a parent", but I would honestly. They're mostly harmless enough imo.
And what problematic stuff there is, odds are kids aren't going to read into it as much as adult fans have post-Rowling's fall.
not a parent but yeah, for the same reason i would let my kids play grand theft auto
if harry potter detracts from my ability to instill good values then im a bad parent or the kid is ronald reagan reborn and then at that point it's out of my hands
the kid is ronald reagan reborn
I just imagined a doctor delivering this news to the new parents
If they want to sure. I think any attempt to force kids into a box is doomed to fail, so what you gotta do is gently push them to be critical of their environment - in this case you could talk with them about HP and ask leading questions to direct their attention to some of the problems with the books, like how "good" characters act like huge bullies in several parts of them because Rowling decided that some people are acceptable targets.
In no way would I let any child read the Bible or mein kampf. Children shouldn’t be exposed to some things.
Have you read the Bible? Reading it would more likely push someone away from catholicism than convert
That’ll backfire. Making things taboo is a GREAT way to get children super interested in them
There are some parts of it that are good, like identifying with (some of) the oppressed and bullied, the emphasis on how our choices form us, the power of love, and the danger of fascism.
Still, there are many ways in which the series manages to be incredibly essentialistic. There's practically a stereotype at every corner, and while it claims to have an ethos of inclusion and making the choice to be good, there are loads of exceptions where this just doesn't hold up.
Overall it's okay. Unless you present it as something you should mold your world iew around, it's a harmless piece of fiction that can spark an interest in fantasy.
Not a parent now but yeah I guess but I wouldn't buy it for them or recommend it
I’m not a parent, but no. Even long before Rowling was outed as a giant turd, I’ve never read the books or seen the movies and Harry Potter always came off to me as dollar store Tolkien. If I had kids, I'd rather they read the good stuff instead of that garbage.
Tolkien had problems too but they were more problems related to his own white settler colonialist background than his own personal beliefs. Tolkien is a person who I’m sure would hold the correct beliefs today if he simply had access to modern knowledge.
Tolkien is one of the only people I actually give credit to “He’s a product of his time.” I really don’t see a better possible outcome for what views he could develop as an outcome of his life.
I agree, and I definitely don't think Tolkien (or any writer really) is perfect by any means. He should absolutely be critiqued as well. I just think it's a lot less obviously problematic (and better storytelling/worldbuilding) than Rowling's bullshit.
Rowling was always problematic from the beginning, it’s just that it took time for people to realize she was a fucking snake. There’s no reforming her, she is tried retcon bipoc and lgbt characters into her white book long after writing it. Tolkien’s books had problems with his characterization of orcs but they pale in comparison to the amount of problematic shit in Harry Potter. There’s the house elves and goblins being the biggest problem, but also the time she made the model minority Asian love interest for Harry all hyped up as a major character in the 4th book and she was nothing more than a plot device. Or that Harry was a fucking cop, or the excuse about why wizards didn’t interfere in ww2.
Harry Potter is a book that would have been allowed in Nazi Germany.
but also the time she made the model minority Asian love interest for Harry all hyped up as a major character in the 4th book and she was nothing more than a plot device.
Again, I've never read the books or seen the movies, but the fact that the only Asian character is named "Cho Chang" also seems like a pretty big red flag.
