Scarred for life?

I think I've mentioned that we are a little bit Potter-tastic in our house right now. Bill is still Professor Snape and the girls roam around in homemade Hermione Granger outfits, spooking ghosts out of cupboards, casting spells on unsuspecting shoes, playing quidditch in the garden on fishing nets and turning every mealtime into a feast in the great hall. And when they aren't doing this, the Potter video is on. Now I've heard of too much TV being bad for the kids. Children, we are told, see incredible acts of violence and stupidity acted out on their screens and mindlessly recreate them at home without a thought for the consequences or an ounce of understanding about the difference between fantasy and reality. Alternatively, the argument goes, sitting in front of a screen all day weakens their capacity for imaginative play and stints their social skills. Well this is how it works in the May household...

I was engaged in a rare moment of domesticity the other afternoon, doing something dreadfully dull like washing up, or emptying the laundry basket, or something equally mind-numbing, when I heard a little squeal from the living room, where the wonderful babysitter had been keeping a watchful eye over the kids for me for half an hour. (We call the babysitter 'TV'. And I know that is evil, neglectful parenting, and I should be ashamed of myself, but that's life).

A moment later Lily appeared, dressed from head to toe like a mini Hermione Granger, and sporting a brand new pink scar to the left of her nose.

'How on earth did you do that?' I asked.

'The TV did it,' came the reply.

Now I don't know about you, but as a general rule I'm somewhat suspicious when children try to blame someone or something else for their own mishaps and misdemeanours. Especially when that something else is tucked away in a corner and really quite difficult to get your face within range of, especially if you want to come out of it with a physical lesion.

Bill's immediate reaction was of course to laugh.

'What were you trying to do?' he roared, 'kiss Harry Potter?' (needless to say The Philosopher's Stone video had been on at the time of the unfortunate event. Babysitter-TV seems to have a limited range of interests at the moment - Harry Potter and the Night Garden. We're happy with both in our neglectful-parent kind of way).

'No, she was trying to get onto platform nine and three-quarters' pipped up Poppy (quite funny for a four year old I thought!).

'Perhaps one of Harry's spells backfired and hit you from out of the television?' Bill queried.

'Lily's been marked with the curse of Voldemort!' I couldn't resist throwing my bit in by this stage as Lily's face had turned the same beautiful shade of pink as the now throbbing scar on her nose. She skulked from the room and went back to decorating a set of Harry Potter snap cards she is making.

So what was it, do you think? A stray spell rebounding round our front room? A poorly engineered attempt to join Harry on Platform 9 and three-quarters? Or is the Dark Lord really back and amongst us?

One thing I am sure of though, when Lily came to me later that evening and admitted in a very small voice that she had indeed been trying to get to Hogwarts, even though she knew it wasn't really the best way to go about it, I was proud that her vivid imagination could carry her far enough to even attempt the impossible.

Lily is having tea at a friend's house tonight and has taken her Harry Potter wand with her to show him, and I have every confidence she will have turned their house into Hogwarts by the time I get there to collect her, just like she has at home. I just hope he has the imagination to keep up with her... and their television doesn't have any sharp corners.

So despite Lily's latest escapade, I will continue to let my kids watch TV. As long as they continue to show me that their imagination can build it into (usually harmless) imaginative play.