Harry Potter
The Sabin Family (Phil, Lisa, Chris (our 16 year old son), and Natasha (our 13 year old daugther) all went to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie last night.
I will let Lisa write her own blog about the ordeal, but my favorite quote as she was sitting there suffering before the start was “I feel like I’m going to throw up”. For those who don’t know, Lisa gets up as early as 4:30am to go train people. She got up early yesterday, so it was a long day - and she had to get up early again this morning. Luckily for Lisa, she did get in a good nap during the movie - was I not suppose to share that?
Harry Potter and my family go way back. I started reading these books to my kids about the time the second or third book was available. I was in a six month leadership class at the time, and it explicitly stated as one of its objectives that it would disrupt your life. I wanted to make sure that my kids didn’t get left out in the process, so I took on reading to them. That led to Harry Potter.
It started as something my son was most passionate about. After I read the books to them, he would re-read them on his own. He knew everything about the books. Natasha was just a toddler back then, and my most vivid memory was her sitting on her head with her butt up in the air as I read. I kept thinking - she’s not getting anything out of this - but then she would always be able to tell us what had happened later. Kids are listening even when we don’t think we are - parents beware.
Today, the tide has turned. My son still is interested, but my daughter now lives for Harry Potter. She has read each book about 5 times. She owns every movie that is out in DVD (no guesses as to how many times she’s watched them). She and I stayed up until midnight when the 6th book came out to be among the first to get a copy. We will be doing the same again later this month as the 7th book arrives. And we will probably see the movie a few more times this weekend.
My most fond memory of Harry Potter was when book 6 came out. My kids were both teenagers (or near teenagers) at the time. It occurred to me that maybe they were to old to have me read it to them this time. But no - they wanted me to read it to them - and so I did. It will be no different later this month with book 7.
When my kids look back on their childhood, Harry Potter will be part of their memories. I will always be connected to those memories because Dad read every one of those books to them. I hope the memories carry over into how they connect with their kids.
Oh, and Karl - Lisa wants to know what is the proper definition of “daft”? She was still awake during that part…
Filed under: Family, Uncategorized |
Digg! this story.
|
Leave a Comment
6 Comments: :
Harry Potter
July 11th, 2007 1:52 pm
Harry Potter « Fitness Over Forty says:
[...] To read more, click here… [...]
July 11th, 2007 3:21 pm
karlmccracken says:
Fantastic - I love reading to Daughter (and can do all the voices for all the dwarves in The Hobbit)
Not sure about the ‘daft’ reference - if it’s from the film, I’ll let you know tomorrow afternoon . . .
July 11th, 2007 4:51 pm
Marsha says:
My older two daughters and I plan to see Harry Potter on Friday. I can’t wait.
July 12th, 2007 6:51 am
Lady Rose says:
We are HUGE fans too!
We will be seeing Friday, can’t wait! Then going again with some friends next weekend to see it on IMAX.
In May we had a HUGE Harry Potter Birthday party for my daughter’s 11 birthday - took a year to plan, we rented a big hall - had shopping at diagon alley, 9 magical classes, big feast, wizard tournament, honeydukes shopping, and a big castle cake! I have all the info about the party up on my Incredible Shrinking Ladies blog.
Health and Happiness, Lady Rsoe
July 12th, 2007 9:57 am
karlmccracken says:
Just got back from the cinema. ‘Daft’ means silly, odd, foolish, etc. It’s a variant on ‘daffy’ as in Daffy Duck. So the headline was kind of a leading question - of course he’s dangerous.
Lady Rose - I too went to a Potter Party last year - as Syrius Black on the run from Azkaban. There’s a photo on VonSmallHaussen’s MySpace page. Unfortunately, also I made like Rowley Birkin, QC . . . .
July 16th, 2007 9:26 pm
Jaymie says:
My kids are just 6 and 2 so for the longest time we’ve been reading all the little preschool books before going to bed. Thanks to you I’m thinking I can start my 6-year-old son on Harry Potter already!