I've talked about this before but it's been many years since I've brought this up. Gavin is incredibly gullible and as a parent, that scares the crap out of me.
I was reminded of this today.
We went to a Harry Potter thing at our local library yesterday. I didn't particularly enjoy it but Lizze and the boys did. I always say that *it's not so much what I'm doing but who I'm doing it with. *I love spending time with my family and this was a chance to do just that. ☺
When the kids walked in, they were lined up and the sorting hat put them in their houses, just like in the books/movies.
This was an actual hat that actually sorta moved around and would speak the name of the house they were "chosen" for. It was obviously a toy hat with electronics inside to make it move and speak. The names called out were random as I watched many kids placed in their houses and there was no pattern.
Anyway, the kids had fun and that's what mattered.
Afterwards, we celebrated Lizze's Dad's birthday with dinner and cake. While we were eating, Gavin was talking about how the sorting hat assigned him to Gryffindor and that was probably because he had his Harry Potter wand in his hand.
The kids got wands from Harry Potter world at Universal Studios last year and Gavin chose Harry's wand. They brought their wands to the event.
When Gavin made the above statement, I wasn't sure where he was coming from. I explained to him that the wand had nothing to do with anything because it was a toy hat that simply said random house names.
I honestly thought he was joking around but if I'd thought about it a bit more, I would wouldn't have said anything because I would have remembered that Gavin never jokes around.
The long and short of it is this. Gavin had initially thought the hat was a toy, at least part of him thought that. One of the girls working there told Gavin that it was actually magic and it put him in Gryffindor because it fit his personality. She was just goofing around with him a s had no idea how seriously he would take that.
He didn't question her words at all and instead, took them to heart. He walked away believing that the hat chose him personally to be in Gryffindor because of his personality and because it knew he had Harry's wand.
I tried explaining to him that this was all just for fun and it wasn't real. I did that for two reasons. The first reason was he that was rubbing it in to his brothers, who got placed in houses they didn't like. It was upsetting them and I was trying to explain to him that it was just a toy.
The second and more important reason was because it concerns me that he be so easily swayed into believing what a complete stranger tells him.
I get this was innocent and fun but he needs to understand that he can't just believe what strangers tell him.
This is very concerning because it makes me wonder what else he would believe.
Would he believe someone telling him to climb it the back of a sketchy van because their puppy is hurt and needs his help? We have to be careful because Gavin is very gullible and extremely trusting. We live in a world where soulless people would exploit that.
I thought we were good in this area but perhaps we need to revisit some basic safety rules.
We won't single him out and instead use this opportunity to review safety rules with all three of the boys.
I'm not gonna lie to you. I was sorta at a loss when Gavin explained how the hat was real and it chose him for Gryffindor because that's the best fit for his personality.
We're going to need to have a talk with him.
