So here’s a question: Given that Harry Potter’s private school experience has basically been a never-ending series of brushes with death, and his friends haven’t fared much better, would you send your kid to Hogwarts? When I took a look, 88% of the people taking the poll said they didn’t have a problem with the idea, believing that “Harry Potter thrives in this specialized learning environment.” How very Nietzschean of them! Along with reader commentary, iVillage’s in-house experts Michele Borba and Sherry Davey weigh in with their own opinions: “Quidditch alone is too bloody dangerous for my child and that’s just an extra-curricular activity at Hogwarts!” Davey complains, and while Borba’s basically sold on a boarding school for gifted and talented kids, “I can see most of our kids having to have therapy for post-traumatic stress!”
Well, at least it’s not as silly as the therapist who’s all set to do media on how to talk to kids if one of their favorite characters dies. (I have no idea what happens—our copy still hasn’t arrived from England yet—and I don’t want to know.) It’s not like I’ve got a heart of stone. Hell, I got all snuffly two weeks ago when Bumblebee handed off the Allspark to Sam in Transformers. Still, there are limits. You want to talk to kids about death and Harry Potter, try explaining to them what happened to Dumbledore between the movies of Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban… Anyway, apparently the media feels the same way, because Google News is turning up nothing for the poor woman besides her press release.