Harry Potter has cool friends

July 9, 11:33 AMParenting Humor ExaminerAnnette van de Kamp

“I don’t have a Harry Potter costume!” She yelps; hands raised, voice quavering, tears close to the surface. You can say what you want: this one knows drama. “Of course you do,” I say, “you have a closet full of dress up clothes”.

I see a panicky expression on my husband’s face, and I know exactly what’s going through his mind: Think fast, quick, come up with something, anything, before the dam breaks. Somehow my brain responds to his wordless plea, and I yell “Professor Trelawney!” My daughter’s voice returns back to normal, and she asks: “Who?”

I explain to her how incredibly cool Professor Trelawney is, with her flowing robes, jewelry, and fortune-telling teacups. How Isabella will wear a dress, and scarves, and lots of baubles, and she can bring her own pretty cup with tealeaves in it. She can pretend to tell her friends’ fortunes, and maybe we can dig up a crystal ball somewhere, and we’ll have to watch all the movies again so she can get into character right away. I’m so excited, she doesn’t dare to protest, and the matter is settled. The best way to ward off a seven-year-old’s anxiety attack is to get really enthusiastic about something.

“Oh yeah,” she says, as she finally remembers who I’m talking about. Isabella has not yet made it through the Potter books. Although she is an avid reader, something about that huge pile of books intimidates her. She is perpetually reading the first one; although I have no doubt she’ll get to the rest of the series eventually.

In the meantime, we have the movies, which provide a fabulous fantasy world for her, and a never-ending ‘remember when’ exercise for us. Although she has been in many things, we mostly remember Emma Thompson from ‘The Young Ones’, back in the day. The thought that our daughter gets to go to a party dressed like one of her movie characters is fun. I couldn’t have predicted that while watching University Challenge.

That thought is, of course, closely followed by ‘God-we’re-old’, but we’ll ignore that for the time being. Besides, the next Potter installment will be out on July 15; there’s nothing like cool wizards, witches, and flying broomsticks to get your mind of getting ‘old’.