Ouija for 11-Year olds?
 

Is a Ouija board suitable entertainment for a group of 11-year old girls on a sleepover? Please explain your reasoning

11 year olds and Ouija? I can't think of a better application. It's just fun, but it gives a young person that little "what if it really works" scare that I think they'll find thrilling.

Of course, I love scary...are any of the girls particularly skittish? You might want to also supply a game of Connect 4 or something. :)

I think it depends a lot on the girls and their parents. When my aunt was in middle school, she had a Ouija board. Both she and my grandmother later claimed that it had really worked and had unleashed a malevolent spirit into the house that took hours of prayer to get out, and swore never to let another board into the house ever again. When my grandmother saw that I had one as a middle schooler, she threw a fit and insisted that I get rid of it.

Depending on how many girls are at the sleepover, I'd check with their parents first to see if they consider it "good fun" or "the work of the devil."

For me, it's meaningless. Ouija I mean, not the question.
Like Shawnee I think it provides a thrill.

But looking back on my childhood/ tweens I admit it was never sanctioned by an adult. I think that might have given it more weight in my mind - and I believed in it enough as it was (blame Elidor by Alan Garner).

The only time we managed to get a real response was when we were 14/15 and drinking a bottle of Peach Canei (a hideously sweet peach flavoured wine) between four of us. I can't remember the name of the spirit we called up, but he was about 14, Greek and was killed by a goat. At which point I laughed so hard I broke the connection (and nearly wet the carpet) and Jules was really cross because we were in her little sister's bedroom and she said the spirit might come back in the middle of the night, angry, to haunt her sister. Baaaaaaaa.

Anyway.

It also depends on the opinions of the other parents. A poster on here (Onyx Cougar I think) genuinely believed that a Ouija Board she had destroyed and put in the bin managed to regnerate and get back onto the shelf in her room. Apologies if I have over-stated, but that's what I remember of the story.

Only if it's cool with their parents. You could really ruffle some feathers by having the girls play it.

You are atheists, so it probably means nothing more than fun to you, but to a religious family, having their child practice what they might view as a competing religion could possibly cause offense.

I'm of the "it's not a toy, it's a tool" school, and believe few have enough skill, protection, and training to use a Ouija board safely. We 'played' with one at about that age and I still have misgivings over what happened then and afterward, and there are enough negative experiences following others' use that I vowed never to stay in a place where one is being employed.:2cents:

If the girls think its fun and don't actually regard it as what it claims to be then its harmless regardless of what any of the adults think of it.

But why, of all things, would a Ouija board be the top choice for an eleven-year old sleepover.

I'm not as focused on whether or not its "appropriate" for the girls as much as I wonder about the agenda of the adult who is pushing the idea.

so, here I am NOT linking a page I found with that Harry Potter vibrating broom, because it would be in bad taste.

That was awesome. I forgot about that one.

Brilliant LJ.

I agree with Glatt here. Proper respect for the other parents must be shown. While the host may believe it is just good fun, she must know that other parents might have differing views. She should ask the other parents if it is acceptable to them.

When I was 9 and 10 I remember sleepovers where it inevitably came out on the table. I didn't really know what it was, but it wasn't something I was going to tell my parents about. I don't think we took it very seriously, though...all we wanted were the names of the boys we would someday marry. :blush:

It was wrong for me.

I wholeheartedly second Glatt.

*ahem* fixed.

Not the first, but an early rule of magick ...

Do not call up what ye cannot put down.

No like Ouija. Ouija bad.

Get them the kid version of Apples to Apples instead.

They'll love it.

so far