Daddy Days: When the worlds of Harry Potter, home collide

The Harry Potter movies, like the books, become much darker in the second half of the collection. But since all the books and movies were made before our boys were born, they don’t have the benefit of aging into the series.

The two oldest boys recently started watching through the Harry Potter movies. The first requirement to watching any of the movies was that they had to have read all the books. I thought this would buy a significantly longer period of time than it did (there are seven fairly long books after all) but they were quite taken with the books and made their way through them quickly.

I let them watch the first three movies shortly thereafter, but in order to watch the fourth and subsequent movies, the second requirement was based on age. The fourth movie is rated PG-13 and more intense. They were asking about it so much I finally said they couldn’t ask me until 2023. That sounded a lot further away in March of 2022.

The movies, as do the books, become much darker in the second half of the collection. This mirrors the characters’ growing knowledge of the evil and danger they are up against and makes sense, but since all the books and movies were made before the boys were born, they don’t have the benefit of aging into the series. They can read through three years of Harry’s life in a week or, in theory, binge watch his entire life in even less time.

All this is to say there’s been a lot of wand waving, spell casting and wizard robe wearing at the house. I’ve heard many of these spells enough to know the difference between a defensive spell and the one that’s supposed to turn you into a slug. I know there are three spells or curses that are illegal to use and that you could probably sell any toy to Harry Potter fans by putting Firebolt in its name (it’s like the Corvette of racing broomsticks).

Even the 2-year-old is picking up on things. He will put on a bathrobe, get a stick or steal an older brother’s plastic wand and then run around the house casting a spell by shouting, “Abu Dabba!” I thought it was his way of saying “Abra Cadabra,” but the boys informed me it’s his version of one of the three illegal “curses” from Harry Potter. I’m going to have to watch that kid.

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In Harry Potter’s world, there’s a type of candy called a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean. They’re basically jellybeans but literally come in any flavor (cherry, dirt, banana, earwax — you name it). There are copycats in our world, and I have to marvel at the marketing genius of the idea. The boys love blind tasting a bean and having to guess what flavor it is. I hear that vomit flavor is quite tasty. Which is why I never partake.

About 15 seconds after the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1, the older two boys were asking to watch the fourth Harry Potter movie. “Dad, you said not to ask until 2023, and it’s 2023!”

I guess I’ll be watching “The Goblet of Fire” soon. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it and I’m not opposed to the occasional movie night. But I’m still not eating any of those jellybeans.Harris and his wife live in Pflugerville with their six sons. Please email comments or suggestions for future columns to thoughtsforcaleb@gmail.com.

Caleb Harris

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Daddy Days: When the worlds of Harry Potter, home collide