How to Use Harry Potter to Teach Your Children About Bravery

Harry Potter provides the perfect antidote to the seriousness that engulfs our children as they become young adults. Whether we are doing it intentionally or not, our children learn to believe what we believe because they watch what we do even more than listen to what we say.In this article, Dr. Kuhn teaches you how to use a lesson his son stumbled upon.

If a child's fun comes naturally why do they quickly learn to be afraid as they grow older? We adults are responsible. We, of course, are merely teaching our children the "rules" as we were taught; passing along our fears to our children comes as naturally for us as being too serious (and being too serious, in turn, comes from our fear).

Watch children. Left to their own devices a child's fun comes naturally, they are not inclined to be afraid. We instill it in them. I'm not referring to being afraid to cross a street, touch a hot iron, or play with matches. Those are good, healthy fears that our children need. The fear I refer to is the illusionary variety; fears like scarcity, failure, and unworthiness only exist in our mind and, therefore, are only real if we decide they are.

Seriousness Holds Us All Back...and Eventually Kills Us

Fear is the root cause of the single greatest debilitating force in our society - seriousness. Seriousness is all about taking yourself too seriously and it is a deadly habit deeply ingrained, unfortunately, in a majority of our society. The major symptom of seriousness is stress and, to be convinced, one only need see that over 80% of all doctor's appointments are now stress related. In fact every major disease plaguing western civilization (depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, chronic pain, obesity, arthritis, cancer, etc.) is directly related to stress.

Fortunately, my decades of research and medical practice have identified the single most effect treatment for seriousness - The Fun Factor. My own experience with The Fun Factor has revealed the deceivingly simple but powerful nature of this lifesaving tool. I have helped patients use The Fun Factor for decades, with results people rave about. I now share The Fun Factor with people all over the world. Its rapid success formula is just what the doctor ordered.

My son, Greg, has become an expert with my unique prescription, The Fun Factor, using it to banish the killer seriousness that fear produces. Free from seriousness, he is employing fun to escape the illusionary fears that have haunted him since young adulthood. Just as it did for me, The Fun Factor has opened doors of opportunity that he never dreamed possible. Primarily the opportunity to live a life of love, hope, and abundance instead of a life of fear and seriousness.

Greg, in turn, wants to pass the gift of The Fun Factor to his three children - my grandchildren. Recently, my grandchildren's love of the Harry Potter book series gave Greg a great idea that his sons have embraced. I hope this report will help you introduce this concept from Harry Potter just as Greg has done. Imagine the successful life that awaits a child who has grown up with the keys to escape having seriousness and fear instilled in them!

How Can Harry Potter Teach Us About The Fun Factor?

In the third Harry Potter book we are introduced to scary creatures called Dementors. Dementors are as frightening as their name implies. Invisible apparitions capable of more than merely haunting you; Dementors will suck out your soul, leaving you worse than dead. Don't Harry Potter's Dementors sound just like our illusionary fears? Our fears haunt us just like Dementors, appearing without invitation and leaving us despondent and immobilized.

Also in the third Potter book, Harry Potter learns a powerful spell called the Patronus, which is capable of chasing away Dementors. When Harry chants the incantation and thinks a positive, happy thought, a beautiful, helpful spirit appears from his magic wand to banish whatever Dementors are bothering him. Harry's ability to conjure powerful Patronus' increases the more he practices this spell.

Doesn't Harry Potter's spell remind you of how I teach you to use the powerful natural medicine of humor? In The Fun Factor, I reveal not only your power and ability to think positive thoughts, but also your responsibility to do so. As you learn to use your humor nature to develop positive attitudes, you are, literally, conjuring a Patronus to dispel your seriousness and fear. Harry Potter's Patronus is a real thing!

It's Easy to Use Harry Potter's Magic

As adults we can revel in two pieces of great news:

We cannot hold two conflicting thoughts simultaneously.

Since our fears and seriousness are illusions, we can easily replace those thoughts if we choose to.

As a child's fun exemplifies, wouldn't you love to live a life where fear and seriousness didn't dictate your choices and decisions? Learning to use more productive and effective attributes like your sense of humor, self-awareness, and imagination is as simple as using The Fun Factor. As simple as deciding to change what you're thinking about on a moment-to-moment basis. Are you willing to conjure Harry Potter's Patronus today rather than suffer from a haunting, immobilizing, and imaginary fear?

You know from past experience that a Patronus is a real thing, in the sense that a positive attitude dispels a negative outlook. What a gift you can give to supercharge your child's fun by teaching him/her this skill at an early age! And Harry Potter is a great, and easy, way to do it.

The Introduction of the Harry Potter Lesson

According to Greg, his introduction of the Harry Potter concept to my grandsons went like this:

Greg: Hey guys, do you remember the Patronus spell from Harry Potter?

Jordan and William: Yes.

Greg: What does it do?

J & W: The Patronus comes out and chases away the Dementors.

Greg: What is Harry's Patronus?

J & W: The spirit of Harry's dad.

Greg: That's right. Harry's Patronus is a beautiful memory he has of something very important to him.

Greg: Did you know that the Patronus spell is real?

J & W: What?!

Greg: Yes. When you are being bothered by fears or worries of any kind, if you think about something you love, or are excited about, or that makes you happy, your worries or fears will disappear.

Greg: What are some things that you love or that make you happy to think about?

J & W: You and Mommy...Christmas...Halloween...Nanny and Pop Pop, Grandgapop and Baba (Grandparents)...our kitties...Ms. Hardin and Ms. Miller (teachers)...our cousins...our friends...our toys...going to the movies...going on vacation...etc.

Greg: Those are all wonderful thoughts. Anytime you are scared or worried, if you think about things like that - you are actually performing a magic spell! You are conjuring a Patronus! Because your worries and fears are just like Dementors and thinking about Mommy and Daddy will make the Dementors go away.

J & W: You mean, like if we have to go to the bathroom at night and we think there is a monster in the hallway? All we have to do is think about something we really love and we won't be scared anymore?

Greg: Exactly! Or if you're worried about what someone thinks about you or if you're scared that something bad is going to happen to you. Almost all of your worries and fears are of imaginary things. And if you think about something you love, that imaginary thing scaring you will go away.

Greg: And remember how Harry's Patronus got more powerful each time he cast the spell?

J & W: Yes.

Greg: Your Patronus will get more powerful too, each time you do it!

I have had numerous follow-up conversations with my grandsons about this topic and they have really taken the lessons of Harry Potter's Patronus to heart. I hope you can use this powerful lesson with your children and start them on the road to fun, success, health, and vitality.

Not all of us were lucky enough to encounter The Fun Factor at an early age; our fun was, to our detriment, quickly replaced by the seriousness of adulthood! Give the gift of The Fun Factor to your young family members and help them hold onto their sense of fun, avoiding the missteps that spring from our adult fear and seriouness.

About the Author

Discover the secrets of a (formerly) stressed-out physician. A psychiatrist, and a stand-up comedian, Cliff Kuhn, M.D., dispenses his unique prescription for using humor to turbo-charge your health, success, and vitality via his website, http://www.natural-humor-medicine.com. Here you will find tons of fun, free ways for you to maximize your sense of humor and enjoy a life others will admire.