Parenting Toddlers

We’re going through a stage at our house. Peanut is obsessed with Harry Potter. And why does a three year old know who Harry Potter is? Why is a three year old allowed to watch Harry Potter? Good questions these. Yes, we are a bit lax in our tv parental controls. Peanut loves to watch “grown up” tv with us. Her favorite is Survivor Man, which she watches with her Dad. This is the cutest thing because they talk about wild edibles and building shelters in the woods. Anyway, we let her watch certain things that maybe other toddlers don’t - I draw the line at the newer Harry Potter movies because those are a bit scary. The first two are tame but exciting enough for her. Enough excusing myself - I do have a point here.

Anyway, for a few weeks, Peanut was Hermoine. She insisted that she be called by that name. She’d find sticks in the yard and use them for wands. Now she has switched to Harry. She corrects people when they call her the wrong name (that is, her real name). I have had to put my foot down on that one. I told her I’d call her what I named her. Grandma, though, plays along more nicely. Yesterday in the car, she asked when we’d be home. I said, “Soon, baby.” Her reply:

“Why do you call me baby? I’m not a baby! I’m a big girl, I mean, a big boy. I’m Harry.”

My partner sometimes gets concerned that she’s out of touch with reality. But she definitely knows she’s a girl, she definitely knows she’s pretending. And in my mind, there is nothing wrong with that. I think it’s helping build her imagination, and I am really proud of her for being creative and fun. And for her sense of costume. Because Harry needs his glasses and scar. Her father drew a lightening bolt on her forehead, and her aunt got some cheap reading glasses at the drugstore, took out the lenses, and shaped them to look like Harry’s round specs. Very cute. She’s been wearing those glasses for three days. I make her take them off for bed - because that’s what Harry does. She periodically needs a touch-up on her scar too.

Kids go through stages all the time. When my youngest sister was a toddler, she loved to pretend she was a dog. She’d make you pet her and take her for walks. She was really into it. I think adults forget how to let themselves go that much and get really involved with their dreams. But kids, especially toddlers, can live in this world and in the “real” world. As a parent, I try to encourage this - short of calling her Harry all the time. I love that she pretends and experiments and is not bound by reality as much as adults. My other sister made a good point yesterday when I was talking about my little wizard. She said, “At least she’s not pretending to be Hannah Montana.” Thank God for that!

Here’s my little hairy Harry: