1/4/15

So I will not forget it... I'm feeling really proud of D for making a really good choice, and helping me to repair a parenting goof-up. 

A while back I let D watch the first three Harry Potter movies, fast forwarding through the scary parts at first, then eventually letting him watch those during the day, with the lights on, pausing frequently to check-in, and only with me sitting next to him. He then started asking to watch the fourth movie, which I consider too scary for him; so I explained that the fourth book is too scary and told him to instead try to read the first book. I said reading the book would make his brain stronger and help him be ready to watch the fourth movie when the time came. He interpreted that to mean that he could see the fourth movie after he finished the first book, and because I didn't think he would actually read the first book, I didn't contradict him. Then, for Christmas, the only thing he asked for in his Santa letter was the first three Harry Potter books. I really didn't think he would actually read them (they are waaaayyy above what I considered to be his reading level and he ordinarily has a veeeeerry short attention span). But since they were his entire Christmas list, and I thought maybe I would read them to him later on, and of course, we want to support reading, Santa brought them. Anyway, since Christmas, he's been diligently reading the first book and I realized yesterday that I have a problem because I'm pretty sure he's actually going to finish the first book pretty soon, and that would mean I would have to let him watch the fourth movie. So, just now, I looked up the rating and explained to D that it's rated PG-13 and we talked about what the ratings mean, and he decided that it's not a good idea to watch that movie till he's older. Instead, he plans to keep reading the first three books, and when he's done, if he's still interested, we will read the fourth book together.