1975 Baby

Saw the movie 2001 read the first book same year. and hooked ever since.

I think I've posted my answer before but I forget so oh well

1989, three days before Daniel Radcliffe, I was born, much to the relief of my mother since I was two weeks late
Got hooked on Harry Potter at some point around my 11th birthday strangely enough and was a harmonian from the moment harry saved Hermione from the troll
My first Harmony fanfic, Popping the Question posted in 2007 immediately after getting approved as a portkey writer
I love this site

1989... Power to the nineteen year old Harmonians.

I was born Nov 25 1988. Remember it!!! lol I am almost 8 months older than my Dan lol or two days from being exatcly 8 months.

Febuary 26th, 1989

Read it from the second book and before it got BIG.

Was suprised to see kids wearing costumes and hats and chanting it's name when GOF and the first movie came out. I didn't realise it was some sort of starwars equivalent.

I liked stuff like Final Fantasy and stuff when I was that age but now well it's mainly well written fan fiction that floats my boat.

I Find it hard to stray away since it's so easy to find a specific fanfic tailored to your tastes since you know the characters and their different variants in and out.


Right on, bro.

I was born February 19, 1990.

I began reading the Harry Potter books around the age of eleven and have been a fan since. I think I started liking the H/Hr ship after reading the third book but didn't become a rapid H/Hr shipper until I read the fifth.

I am a 1991 baby. I started reading harry potter in the year of 2001, so I was ten when I started reading the series. Boy, that was such a long time ago!

It's interesting to see how broad the age range of the Harry/Hermione fans is.

I'm 24. I think I was 15 when I discovered Harry Potter. It was the year when "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban" was published. My mother recommended the first two books to me. She started reading them because the eleven year old son of friends loved the books.

I'm born in (late) -92, and have yet to turn sixteen. I got my first HP book when I was around 8 years old, on Christmas -99 or -00. I entered fandom somewhere around 2003, when I was around 10-11.

I was born in late '91, so I am 17. My first book was when I was about...oh...10, or so I think. It was the "Sorcerer's Stone".

I was born in August 3rd 1994, so I'm fourteen now.

I was born on April 6th 1990. i'm 18 going on 19 . i was introduced to harry potter through a friend and i read the book literally the week before the first movie came out. with the first book i was a non shipper because I wasnt paying that close attention. then for the second...i'm kind of embarassed to say this....i kind of liked Ron/hermione together. then ofcourse with the second movie and third book, harmony won me over.

I started reading HP in the third grade (I was seven-ish) and the minute I saw harry and hermione together in the movies, I became a proud h/hr shipper. I am no 12 years old and still am stuck to that ship!

I'm seventeen years old and I've been shipping Harry and Hermione since I read the 'books and cleverness' speech in Philosopher's Stone. That was, oooh, coming up to ten years ago now. I'm as much of a fan today as ever before, although I do miss the days of debating and the anticipation of each new book and all the Harmony moments it would bring.

*le sigh

Okay, I've written this post four or five times (every few weeks) and each time I delete it before I post because... I think I get cold feet *speaking of which Salamon2 covers his cold numb toes with a blanket*.



Anyway I'd like to for a moment explain what this poll says about the different Generational interactions here on Portkey as well as possibly give generational reactions to Harry Potter and give another explanation (beyond the obvious "we were all like the story") as to why different generations seem caught up with Harry Potter in general. So if this goes slightly: please forgive me, but I'm trying to give a reference for my analysis below so everyone can understand it.

First let me quickly explain the basics of Generational Theory, as according to Neil Howe and William Strauss in their 1991 book: Generations.

Mr. Howe and Mr. Strauss began looking through American history (especially history of pop. culture) and began to notice trends through it (it's very easy to see trends in history, but I digress).

They came up with this theory that there are four different types of archetype generations that cycle through history and the generations are born for roughly periods of 20 years. Not only that, but there are four different periods of "history" that a culture/society goes through as the order of these generations shifts and they age. The period from which the first archetype of these four generational archetypes until that archetype is repeated is usually a 70 - 80 year period and this period is called a "saeculum". Within the saeculum there are four smaller little historical periods that are created by the different interactions of the different generations as well as the absence of one generation from influencing popular culture.



The archetypes

Idealists - A generation that is greatly concerned with the morals of society. Most often they are split generations and are extremely divided and uncompromising of their ideals. As children they were given time to be children and were valued. They were taught by their parents to look within themselves to solve problems and find answers. As teenagers/young adults they begin an Awakening and see the moral faults in society. These generations are very religious or hold onto their more secularized moral views as strong as religious faith. As parents they are terrified at what society has become and increasingly edit/censor things for their children, and implant their beliefs into their children.

Nomads - A generation that has two main concerns: living on the edge of life/getting a thrill out of life and surviving against all odds. These generations tend to be mostly conservative. As children they were "abandoned, neglected, and had to deal with 'devil/bad child' stereotypes". They weren't always physically abandoned and such, it could be they were emotionally abandoned and such, as the recent Nomads were raised: they just came home from school to an empty house and had to deal with a giant wave in divorced parents. Usually as teenagers/young adults they become intensely focused on the fringes of society as they seek to escape the emotionally neglectful society they've been born into where adults care more about themselves and their problems than their children. This causes this generation to have the least regard for parental authority towards them. This also tends to turn them into snarky sarcastic pessimists, always doubtful that things will ever get any better. They especially are drawn to the "thrill" of gangster life, and the escapist opportunities that drugs/alcohol provide are taken frequently. When they finally settle down as parents they are extremely smothering parents who take the censorship and conformity to parents trend of the Idealist generation too far when raising their children. Through the crisis they are often the grand leaders everyone turns to and expects to pull them through it all. Through the crisis their learned survivalist qualities from their abandonment from childhood are put to good use in getting the culture/nation to survive the crisis.

Civics - A generation that is focused on the world at large, are very technology adept/skilled, and when they band together are an unstoppable force. As a generation they are extremely energized and positive with a "can-do" attitude. On the negative side, they tend to be more willing to sacrifice individual liberties for the greater good, and can be very clannish. This clannish quality however will go away if the outsiders are able to "marry into" the norm. If they are manipulated by a power hungry Nomad, they can justify doing a lot of horrible things for a "better world". They are notorious for not asking "why" and sometimes not asking any questions at all. After all it interferes with getting things done, which is what they believe is most paramount--that it's time to get things done. They leave the questions to be answered by their parents, who instilled their beliefs into them. Whatever age group this generation is in, the government will focus on changing/improving that aspect of society--education when they're kids, worker's benefits and veteran's benefits when adults, retirement and old age care when elderly. As children, they mostly were children of Idealists and a few early Nomads. They were spoiled by over-indulging helicopter parents who fought their battles for them. These children were often left them in the care of Nomad babysitters/nannies as their parents went out to champion their own causes. This early interaction with Nomads in leadership positions secures the almost unquestioned idolization and admiration of the Nomads in the Civics' hearts, which can be a good or a bad thing when the Nomads become the leaders of the country. As parents, they take the pressures off their children and give them times to "just be kids" and "find themselves". Civic generations work together to tear down old orders and build new ones in the image of the ideals that their parents envisioned.

Adaptives - A generation that is focused on compromise, conformity, and improving the world they live in. These generations see the faults in the world that the Civics made and are constantly trying to fix the holes that the new Idealists shoot into it. They hope to find a way of satisfying both the old Civics and the young Idealists and are often left feeling stuck in the middle, seeing both sides of the coin and unable to bring either to a full compromise that would do more good than putting a band-aide on a hole in a dam. They try their best though, and find a better way of pointing out societal flaws through comedy. The best comedians that are funny without having to attack one group or another, but just are plain funny, usually come from Adaptive generations. As children they were smothered and told to follow the Civics' example. They have great respect for mom and dad, and do what they're told to do. As teenagers, they are the most naive and are very positive about the future. When they grow up and see problems in society that they hadn't before they try to resolve them first without causing much fuss. However when the next idealist generation comes along, their job of doing so grows increasingly harder. As parents these people continued to follow the norms that their parents laid down, but find that there is something wrong with them and that they don't quite work. They also become focused more on fixing the problems of the Civic generation that those problems begin to seep into their homes and they often inadvertently "abandon" their children in order to fix/deal with the societal issues. Although sometimes tensions over the traditions that had been handed down to them causes actual emotional/physical abandonment/neglect. As leaders they are so focused on compromising and fixing mistakes that everyone can live with that their solutions are weak and often ineffectual. By trying to please everyone, they end up pleasing no one.

The history periods

High - society has/is recovering from the effects of the crisis. This is a time when older "grandfather-like" or "war-hero" figures tend to be presidents. Society/culture begins to reimagine itself and redefine itself as well as rebuild itself. A generation of old idealists die off and their children give birth to another generation of idealists.

Awakening - society is thrown into upheaval as the rebuilt society is found to have little or no moral concerns. The new society seems empty and like a hollow shell. Problems are found with the new society and are protested against. These problems however are not fully resolved and sometimes go ignored as the people protesting them become split in their opinions and realize that they're "out numbered" or so to speak. Usually a great religious movement occurs during this time period.

Unraveling - society attempts to return to the culture of the High, however the problems that were pointed out and unresolved (or were badly/temporarily resolved) begin to fester and start to slowly eat away at the society. Also people are no longer as "innocent" as they were during the High, and culture seems to undergo a long/slow steady rate of perversion, especially in young adult/teenage culture where gangster life, escapism, and such things all of sudden become the focused activities. Leaders are ineffective and morally deficient and continue to grow worse as the Unraveling continues.

Crisis - the problems erupt onto the society, and it can no longer live in denial of the situation its in. However which dream/vision of the future should be chosen to "redefine" society? The splits and diversions that emerged in the Awakening reawaken and threaten for the longest time to tear apart the country/culture at the seams. For a while society just seems to get worse, but then all of sudden, out of practically nowhere it seems, a glimmer of hope appears that people (most of whom protested in the Awakening, and their children who have been brought up to value their ideas) choose to work towards solving these problems.

The currently living Generations and their archetypes:

Missionary Generation (last remaining few just died recently) - Idealist - cultural contributions: FDR, Herbert Hoover, 1890s & 1900s culture, worker's strikes, Socialist movement, Women's Suffrage, Third Great Awakening, Spanish-American War, War on Fascism aka WWII, Prohibition, Henry Ford

Lost Generation (a handful few centenarians are alive, the rest are gone) - Nomad - cultural contributions: Jazz Music, WWI Veterans, Flappers & Dappers, Roaring 20's youth culture, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, 1950s adult culture, Eisenhower, Truman, McArthur, Patten

G.I. Generation (are the oldest folks in the nursing home, or are being buried) - Civic - cultural contributions: WWII Veterans, 1930s & 1940s youth culture, nerd-like love/faith in technology, CCC workers, Disney, JFK, LBJ, Carter, Nixon, Reagan, Bush Sr., Ford, Bob and Elizabeth Dole, Leonard Bernstein, Lillian Hellman

Silent Generation (are the folks they make fun of in DTV ads, they are the younger set in the nursing home or are just entering it) - Adaptive - cultural contributions: Shirley Temple, Ralph Nader, Rod Sterling, Sandra Day O'Connor, Barbara Streisand, Joe Liberman, McCain, 1950s youth culture

Boomer Generation (between mid-life and elderhood) - Idealists - cultural contributions: Vietnam protests, Consciousness Revolution, Fourth Great Awakening aka the Jesus Movement, Feminist Movement, 1960s & 1970s youth culture, hippies, yuppies, Clinton, Bush Jr., War on Drugs, War on Terror

Generation X (30s - Midlife) - Nomad - cultural contributions: Rap music, Indie culture, 1980s and 1990s youth culture, punk, goth, Atari, old school video games, Google, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Barack Obama (although technically he's a Gen. Jones)

Millennial Generation (10s - 20s) - Civic - cultural contributions: they haven't culturally contributed a lot beyond Facebook and MySpace. However a lot has been attributed towards them. They are stereotyped at the moment as those upbeat positive youth with iPods who can't seem to get off of the computer/internet. Nerds are suddenly acceptable and sexy! Current youth culture. Those who Harry Potter was marketed towards.

Homeland/Neo-Disney/New Silent Generation (being born - 10s) - Adaptive - Interactions with this generation is very limited, and knowing their generational personality is even more limited because they are still forming it. However "cute" anecdotes seem to appear/crop up everywhere. Such as: those cute little children who are so self-censoring that whenever they hear rap music or music with "bad words" in it they yell to turn it off and cover their ears.

Birth Years (provided by Strauss and Howe, who did not use birth rates to categorize generations, but trends in Pop. culture):

1860 - 1881 - Missionary
1882 - 1900 - Lost
1901 - 1923 - G.I.
1924 - 1942 - Silent
1943 - 1960 - Boomer (this generation is SO divided it has a sub-Generation between it and Gen. X called Generation Jones: 1956 - 1964; who want to have little to do/no connections with the rest of the Boomers)
1961 - 1981 - X
1982 - ~2001 - Millennial
~2002 - ~2020 - Homeland

Howe and Strauss also say they find similar patterns of Generational interactions in other nations, and that America's Generational interactions have their roots in Medieval England. Also noticing the other nations, they say that most of the world has fallen "in sync" with each other (America seemingly 5 or so years ahead of Europe because recovery from WWII took less time, although Bush Jr. might have slowed us down to be equal with Europe now). Most of the world is just starting to enter the Crisis. Russia is a full historical period ahead of the rest of the world, and is moving into it's High. The Arab world and a few South American Countries are moving into Awakenings, while a couple of African Countries are entering Unravelings.

Now since this book has been published, marketing companies have been exploiting this, and using Generational theory especially in advertising, and from how this poll and others like it elsewhere seem to be turning out exactly how they advertised Harry Potter: for the Millennial Generation.

The interesting thing though that they didn't expect was for the older kids, young adults, and some of the parents to get hooked on HP as well. Here's my explanation using the above theory to help explain the why of why "they like it".

Now looking at the descriptions of the different Generational archetypes, which one most resembles Harry's childhood?

If you answered Nomad, you can give yourself a slap on the back of congratulations.

Harry was emotionally and physically abandoned and neglected by the Silent Generation-esque Dursleys. There's even the typical "demon/bad child" stereotype that Dudley portrays, that Harry has to deal with. He wishes to escape the horrible life he leads, and then something happens: he does. Wish fulfillment in the form of finding out he is actually a wizard, allows him to escape from an adult/muggle world that is just beginning their Unraveling (but without the use of alcohol or drugs). A Nomad Generation's fantasy come true! So really it's no surprise that Generation X latched their latch-keys onto Harry Potter--cause they experienced similar things in their childhood, and could escape with him into a seemingly more magical and "better" world than the one they were currently living in. Perhaps this explains why Hermione's parents are so "disposable". Also interesting is that Generation X, once they realized Harry's world wasn't "perfect" (as of course these cynical pessimists suspected all along), they focused on the fringe societies of Harry's world, outcasts, and others who seemed to share their opinions or seemed to have similar experiences as they did: Snape (the most popular and most Nomadic character in the book), Luna, Hermione, Neville (to a lesser extent), James & Lily, Sirius, etc.

However once in the magical world, we quickly discover that they are farther along in their Unraveling than the muggle world is, because all of the children that Harry meets are quite obviously Civic children. From the way that none of them question the authority of adults who "know better" to the way they've been indoctrinated and most firmly agree with their parent's beliefs (unlike previous generations as Andromeda Black - Ted Tonks, Sirius Black, Snape, etc. show), as Ron and Draco both brilliantly display for both opposing viewpoints. Also the clannishness of this Wizarding Civic generation is best displayed in OOTP with everyone's exclusion of Luna and other characters who don't "fit the norm" such as the awkward Neville and the swotish Hermione in PS/SS. Their generation is the focus of censoring educational reforms as the censoring Idealist that Umbridge represents. The political leaders have already become the ineffectual bumbling fool types, as Fudge displays. Their power in groups is best displayed in the achievements of the trio and the DOM six. However Harry's upbringing as a Nomad in the muggle world allows him to be the influential "Nomad" leader of the Wizarding Civic generation. However Harry also has a few Civic tendencies (as his lack of wanting to question Dumbledore despite Dumbledore's obvious manipulations shows), which make him able to act in both roles when he wants to.

So another reason why the Millennial generation love the book can be concluded they see themselves and the world they're growing up in, in Harry's friends and the Wizarding World.

Very much it's a story about a Nomadic leader (Harry), who leads a Civic generation (his Wizarding peers) to tear down the remnants of a world order built by the last Civics (Dumbledore and Walpurgia Black's generation--who either have "retired" from society like Dumbledore or died like Walpurgia) that has been torn apart and constantly weakened by split Idealists (Umbridge, Weasleys, Voldemort) who acted on the problems/issues that Adaptives found and had either tried to fix but only worsened (Fudge, Scrimegeor), and the Nomads of the Wizarding world either escaped into its fringes or were killed (Potters, Snape, young Blacks). Essentially Harry completes what his parents' generation could not. Partly because Harry is a Nomad/Civic combination leads to his ability to accomplish everything.

Quite frankly, the appeals to Generation X and the Millennial Generation are both there, because they can see themselves in the different characters. Generation Jones seems to like it more than the older Baby Boomers, as the general tendency is to vilify older Boomers (Umbridge, Voldemort), while sanctifying the younger Boomers/Gen Jones (Mr. & Mrs. Weasley). Also it's of little surprise that the Silents aren't amused at being portrayed as ineffective or weak (Fudge, Scrimegeor).

Generational interactions... I definately don't think JKR had any thoughts on it when she wrote her books. I just think they're in there, because she likes to parallel things in the real world, and these things can be found in the real world. I also like looking at books/ads/etc. in this manner because it's funny to see what Generation they're railing against or for. Oh, and JKR I believe is the British equivalent of a late Boomer/Generation Jones if I recall the British years accurately. So of course she gives us an edited Nomad dream (can't have the little Millennials getting ideas now can we?).



~Salamon2

I was born in Sept.19,1989 so I'm 19
I Read the first hp when I was 11 and became a h/hr shipper right away.

Very interesting, Salamon2. I love reading those sort of theories. It's all pretty spot on.


1989. I'm 20. I get told I look younger but act older. GO FIGURE.

I'm turning 19 this year. I read the first HP book when I was about 11, and I always love Harry and Hermione. But I knew about 'shipper thing' when I was about 13, that when I became H/Hr shipper. But I love H/Hr since I read the first book though.

And I think I'll be H/Hr shipper for the rest of my life <3

I'm 21. 22 on Thursday, I keep forgetting my birthday is coming, though I think somehow that may be deliberate *looks around innocently*

I never wanted to grow up as a kid, and I am still stuck there!

xxLollie

Wow Salamon2, what an interesting perspective. I'm a GenXer (29) but I've never really understood what that meant, it's interesting to see how accurate it all is.

Last time I posted I said I was turning 15. Haha, I'm turning 16 in eight days now & I'm still a proud H/Hr shipper (as well as a Twilighter).

I'm 16 now, but I will be 17 this coming June!
I am a proud HHr shipper even now!
Alas, almost all of my friends are R/Hr shippers!
So, basically I am alone.

I have just came back to Portkey again after almost 2 years of absence (many reasons ~ I post those in the Welcome Back thread). Oh, I am so happy to read Salamon2's post.

inserted link - PK mods

I HAVE MISSED YOU, SALAMON!!! You were one of my heroes when I was active here in Portkey way back then. Have always loved your take on things especially because you always put your analysis within theoretical & historical contexts.

I smiled all throughout the pages as I read everyone's posts. See, ALL of you are younger than me!

Most [well, many] of you were not even born when I graduated with my first degree [in 1987].

How old am I? VERY OLD chronological-wise. My mental age, however, is supposed to be college-age [well, according to some questionnaires I used to do anyway].

However, most of you beat me to the Harry Potter world. I am a REALLY late comer to this world. And so I bow down to your knowledge of the Harry Potter world.

First read Harry Potter book: around 2003
First HP book read: Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix [see, I even got the reading order wrong!]
First time knowing there is a HP fandom on the Internet: around 2005/2006

So there it is.

It's amazing that the age range of HHr shippers is so wide. So, age obviously is not a factor in why we ship them. There must be other psychological/cultural factors that form the basis for our shared shipping preferences.

~ winnie
[Yes, the avatar is my pic. Thanks to Pen who explain how to do the avatar thing].

You are not alone. I got my first college degree in '88.

But I did find the Potter books early, around 1998. Didn't find online fandom until 2000 and didn't get deep into it until around 2002.

I'm 19 ... picked up Philosopher's Stone at age 8 and finished Harry Potter and Death of Every Minor Character two days after it came out.

Oh dear, it seems to me that most of the people here are in their early to mid twenties (I guess this is where the saying Childlike comes from =p)

am turning twenty this year (hooray! though my friends say that I look like am 5 years past that. I blame stress, school, and facial hair xD)

I first picked up the Potterverse when I was about 12ish? I finished what the post above me aptly named Harry potter and the Death of Every Minor Character, about a week after my birthday. (it was the only time me and my friends, who are also avid fans, would get together and me getting enough leverage to borrow their copy *evil grin*)

-TW

I was born 1996 and I was 5(I think) when I started shipping H/Hr... umm... I watched the movies first. But I started reading the books this year and I'm still a H/Hr shipper.

Ooh, joy unbridled! I'm in the middle-age group at 27. There are people around my age and older on here, that makes me feel less strange!

I dont think I'll ever stop shipping Harmony though, its simply too naughty and x-rated not too!

Wow...I feel so old now. I remember being in the younger age bracket of PK a couple of years ago. As of June, I'm 19. I was given SS for my 9th birthday, and have been an avid HP fan ever since. A couple of years after that, I started shipping H/Hr, and a few years after THAT, found PK The rest is lovely, shippy history.

I'm 54. Graduated from Princeton in 1978 and I've been a lawyer for over 25 years. I had no interest in HP until my daughter started reading it. She's a genius, and thus I identify strongly with Hermione. I started writing H/Hr fanfic for my daughter to read in 2003, when she was 12 and had long since read and reread everything in the series until then. She's graduating high school now at the end of this year, and I'm still writing.

- Bexis

I'm 50. Started working in computers in 1978, and was one of the last people in the UK designing and building traditional dinosaur pens (old fashioned computer suites).

I got into Harry Potter when I was teaching at a secondary school (High School for you transatlantic types). Apropos of nothing, I was teaching Wizardry (computing).

I started writing Harmony fics in 2003 when I got fed up with the horrors of RW/HG.

I do write original material as well (and hope to publish, one day.)

I'm 27. Graduated with a BS in Meteorology from Texas A&M in 2006, then worked in the environmental industry for a few years and am now going back to school. I hope to obtain my Master's in Environmental Engineering by 2012.

I have a wonderful wife whom I married this past July on the beach in Cancun, Mexico.

One of the reasons why I love H/Hr so much is because Hermione reminds me so much of my wife. They have the same level of determination, love of learning, and can both be quite bullheaded at times. Also just like Hermione does with Harry, my wife pushes me constantly to do the best I can in everything and is upset when I don't put everything I have into something.

I personally identify with Harry because he always seemed to be a natural at everything he ever tried. That was me growing up in both sports and school, though it later bit me in the ass in college since I never learned how to properly study in high school.

Now I feel so little. D:

I'm like the only 13 year old(Okay, I'm 13 in December xD) here.

Holy crap, you are only 12? Jeez I forget how young some of us are sometimes!

Yes, I'm only 12. And all the other HP fans in my school ship R/Hr >.<.

Thats okay its good to be different.

As of 00:46 minutes, I am now at twenty years of age.

And not a single soul in sight >.>

Happy birthday to me xD

Happy Birthday mate, welcome to age twenty.
Power to us twenty year old Harmonians.

It seems so long ago that I've started reading PS/SS, so much time and so little action >.> It was only recently that I've officially shipped H/hr.

-tw

Welcome to the 20s. They're not much different than the 18-19 years nowadays, the way people are behavin'.

~Salamon2

^I think it depends where you are, the people in their 20's here are more mature than I am >.>

Although other people say that I'm mature, I tend to disagree, I'm more childish than any of my friends

-tw

LOL, I'm almost double your age. Happy bday/bmonth, guys!

This is why you have to love PK. There are literally thousands of us on here from all ages and places in the world. Diversity is awesome and its so neat that we all share at least one thing in common.

Orly? (its not that effective without the owl honestly >.>)

lol.

Hmm that's cool. Although She could've meant INTERNET AGE. I mean if I remember correctly I was mistaken for a 25 year old during my days playing WoW (which was 2 years ago lol.) They told me that I was so organized that leadership suited me. I told them that was just a phase and well they didn't believe me. That same year I was made a guild officer >:3

Also my internet age is 12 =p

-tw

No it ain't.




Nah, I meant calendar age.

Most people are more mature than me...

At 50, I generally say:
"Second childhood? I'm just really getting to grips with my first!"

^Well at 20 I say

"What childhood?"

Seriously kids today are trying too hard to grow up. Why can't they savour their childhood.

Because Boomer and Xer (Mod and Hooligan for UK) generation parents who had "time to be kids" thought that they missed opportunities while having all that time to be a kid and don't want opportunities to pass their Millennial and Homeland children by.

Same thing was happening in the 1910s - 1940s when Missionary & Lost parents did the same to their darling little GIs and Silents. It wasn't until the 1950s, when GIs and Silents started having kids, thinking that they never had enough time to be kids when young, that the trend reversed itself. So from 1950s - 1980s when Boomer and Xer kids were growing up they had time to be kids, by the end almost to the point of being "neglected".

This trend in protective parenting started in the late 1980s and I expect it to last until the end of the 2010s, when Millennials start settling down.

And the cycle will continue.

~Salamon2

I'm 21, and first READ HP a few weeks ago. But I was introduced to the fandom when a was 14, when I first watched SS/PS, it wasn't until PoA that I became a fan (only movie-wise though) and a shipper (H/Hr of course).

Actually I decided to read the books this years after the release of the HBP movie, when I watched the G/H kiss and I was "WTF? when did that happen?" I thought the books would have the answer for that, as it turns out, they didn't, it was as sudden in the book as it was in the movie.

Yeah, me too. I mean, it was apparent during the first two movies. D/E got chemistry. We cannot, in any way, deny that. So yeah, I saw them and then I said, okay, you two look great together. No big deal for me because many people looked great together and I'm sure they'd end up in a long 'happily-ever-after' anyway. But when I was watching PoA and saw D/E as H/Hr, I was like, O..M..G! They look amazing together! And then I 'heard' they won't end up together in the next books so I was like, "what?!" and then I decided to be an H/Hr shipper obsessively.


Well, with how hard it is to be a kid in a somewhat screwed up world (no offense to anyone here. We must admit, the world is pretty screwed up), I'm not surprised. Most kids tend to just leave the horrors (and not to mention embarrassment) behind and start over seeing the world in a different light.

But you know what, I left my childhood, like, eight years ago. I was 10 years old then (well, duh!). That's too early to be leaving childhood (in my book anyway) but it isn't exactly a choice I got to ponder for a long time before deciding. I'm a kid who gets sick way too often, barely has friends, read too many fairy tales, had too many embarrassing moments to deal with, and knew so many things that at that age I was better off not knowing.

But that didn't exactly stop me from being immature. I think it comes with the package of being a spoiled rotten daddy's little girl ( )and being the youngest in the family.