So I’ve posted on Twitter about reading Harry Potter to Ara but I don’t think I’ve talked about it here. Alex and I are reading the first book with her every night and it’s been interesting. At first I would just read a chapter and then kiss her good night but when I started asking her questions I realized she was missing a lot of the important plot points. Not on purpose of course, when we read the story she sits so still and is clearly hanging on every word. But, some of the story is going over her head. So now I do a shorter section of book and we have a recap/discussion time. Which I am really loving. Today, for example we talked about the Mirror of Erised that she read with her Dad last night. She remembered that Harry had seen dead people and Ron had seen a ‘Head Boy”. So we discussed why Harry would want to see his family more than anything in the world and why Ron needed to feel special. She really seemed to get it so I asked her what she would see if she looked into the mirror. She would see her favorite stuffed cat “Wila” come to life. I love that answer. It’s so child-like and so honest. In my thoughts I wondered if what I would see would be me, reading this story aloud with my daughter tucked under my arm. Because in this moment, right now, that’s what I desire most in the world. To share this story, these characters, this experience with Ara is truly a dream come true for me.
I realize that may sound hokey to some people. It’s just a kid’s story about wizards after all. But, to some people this story is about so much more than that. So much more than anyone can possible understand from just seeing the movie. This is a story about the power of love and especially the powerful love of a Mother. It’s also a story that shows my daughter several strong female characters that do not compromise themselves to please others. Ara can read about the adventures of plain girls that are smart and clever and brave. There are no princesses here. Ravishing beauty and skinny thighs do not win the battles. I like that message, sorry Cinderella, you can’t eat my daughter!
Oh, and one more really serious reason I like sharing Harry Potter with Ara is that we can now make jokes like this one today;
Ara: “Kuku is a wizard cat and he’s hairy”
Me (in Haggrid’s voice): “You’re a wizard, hairy”
Hahahahahaha!
We are some funny girls, are we not? We’ll be calling our cat “Hairy” for a while. It’s funny because it’s true!
