It is not a question of what I teach my kids, but whether the depiction has a sensibility to it. If I watch Potter with my kids I can ask them why they think Harry didn't get punished for taking that broom, and we can arrive at conclusions.
Let's say you tell a kid not to play the piano when you leave the room. The kid sits down and plays like Chopin. What are you going to do? Reprimand the kid and send him to his room without his supper? Maybe YOU would, but typically, I don't think that's what's going to happen. So Potter is reflecting a reality that children will have to deal with one way or the other, and it is worth their consideration.
That reality is this: in the real world there is one set of rules for the truly great and another for the simply average. In the face of that, which do you want to be?
What I would do with my children has no bearing on the matter one way or the other. But I wouldn't keep them away from Harry Potter material. Even if I opposed it, I'd monitor it and encourage discussion about it, but I wouldn't restrict it.
It would depend on the reason I told them not to play it. And parents should be able to expect obedience from their children. Parents set rules for very good reasons and it's NOT up to a child to arbitrarily dismiss them.
That reality is this: in the real world there is one set of rules for the truly great and another for the simply average. In the face of that, which do you want to be?
Excuse me? Great people lie, cheat and break all the rules?! Who are your heroes? Does this mean you think the Clintons are "great"? Please think what you're saying.
So let me get this straight.... You'd let your kids do drugs, rape, abuse, and terrorise others all with your monitoring and encouragement? Please refer to what you've said before answering. That IS what you've said. I'd really hate to be your neighbor. Your kids probably have a record by now, considering the non-parenting style you've just espoused.
Great men don't need to obey rules, eh? Were our founding fathers great men, then? Especially since the rules that govern our society were put in place by them? Think before you speak, this will be so entertaining.