Yer a Wizard, Luke

Ever since the Star Wars prequels came out in theaters, I've been privy to the same conversation over and over again: in what order should our children watch the Star Wars films?  Personally, I don't really care, as I think the prequels are pretty bad.  But I realized there's another reason for my apathy: I don't have strong feelings about Star Wars at all because I first saw it incredibly young.

My family actually owned a VCR and had cable in the mid-80s, and they would tape stuff off of HBO.  A favorite of my older siblings was apparently the Star Wars films - but I wasn't even born when the first one came out.  Thus, some of my earliest memories are of that HBO "feature presentation" screen, and that black screen with the blue words: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

So I've always known that Luke and Leia were twins, and that Vader was their father.  It's never been special or shocking to me, because I knew the film backwards and forwards before I could even understand the concepts.  I've never approached it with fresh eyes.

So when it comes to Thumper, I'm torn between wanting to share my favorite moments from childhood as early as possible, and wanting to wait until he's old enough to really appreciate it.  When's an appropriate time to experience Disney World for the first time?  When should he read or watch Harry Potter - and should he read the books first, or read/watch each book/movie as it's developmentally appropriate?

That's the really tough one for me, because I was in college when the first movie came out, and most people who were children for the first Harry Potter books were given time to grow up before the later, darker ones came out.  It's uncharted territory.  But if I delay too long, will Thumper be going to school with kids who tell him "Snape killed Dumbledore"?

I know, he's only an infant now.  But I think about this sort of thing just as much as I think about the Santa issue (I'll talk more about that later but short version: have no clue what we're doing on that front).

Then there's another issue: I'm not interested in trying to create a clone of myself or the Yeti in Thumper.  So I know full well there's a chance Thumper might not care one bit about Doctor Who, or Harry Potter, or even science fiction and fantasy as entire genres.  He might think Star Wars is the coolest thing ever and we'll be sucking it up with a smile.  He might hate movies (I don't know anyone who actually hates all movies, but you never know).  I might be taking him to soccer even though I can't walk through a building without injuring myself.

But on the off chance that he actually would enjoy Harry Potter or Disney, I don't want to blow it by rendering it un-special, or traumatizing him by showing him something too scary at too young an age.  I'm sure when he's old enough for it to actually be an issue we'll just fall into an answer and I'm overthinking, but I don't mind puzzling over it hypothetically.

But if you're a parent with young kids, I wouldn't mind hearing what you've done.  Especially the Harry Potter issue.  Maybe it's the sleep deprivation, but it seems like getting three hens and two foxes across a river without anyone getting eaten.

Mickey ears or Jedi? You decide