KELLY BROWN Mum's The Word...A little bit of cartoon magic can still go a very long way indeed

And then seconds later he fell in love with all of the magical world in front of him.

Now before anyone says anything I categorically do not stick my little boy in front of the TV all day.

But I do let him watch little bursts of it, and it does come in handy to let him watch the telly while I have a shower!

So, on Sunday my hubby dug out The Jungle Book and we sat down as a family to cuddle up on the sofa and chill out at snack time.

It didn’t take long for the words ‘I don’t like it’ to be uttered by my little man, who obviously didn’t think the animation was up to his usual Bob The Builder standard!

But then seconds later this was followed with a ‘what’s that?’ and great excitement at the array of jungle animals appearing on the screen.

He was mesmerised by ‘the panther’ and found the antics of ‘the snake’ hysterical.

Of course a lot of it went completely over his head and occasionally we had an ‘I don’t like it’ followed second later by ‘where are the elephants?’.

We didn’t anticipate more than half an hour of his attention being given to the film but he was so totally lost in this world of animation that he watched pretty much the entire thing.

And then to cap it off the next day I came home from work to discover my husband and son cuddled on the sofa in their PJs and dressing gowns – with their milk – watching it again before bedtime!

I was really not sure what to expect, because animation and the stories have changed so much since I was a child.

I remember being taken to the cinema to watch Bambi and crying my eyes out, and being mesmerised by The Little Mermaid.

And even more recently than that, films like The Lion King were amazing – even if I were no longer young enough to officially be allowed to enjoy it.

Films can date so quickly, and with this modern world of CGI and 3D animation I think there is a limited window for us to share this much simpler world of children’s films and story-telling.

I most definitely don’t want to encourage him to be a little telly addict because he has such a brilliant imagination and can be lost in his own little world of play.

But being able to share some cartoon magic as a family and being able to share with him our own childhood world is most definitely an opportunity not to be missed.

** Poor children being pressured too early

Children are starting school before they are completely toilet-trained, screamed the headline.

Outrageous, I thought as I read a story revealing the results of a survey which included comments from teachers saying what pressure it puts them under.

How could a parent leave it that long?

Then, when you read on, you discover that it is fact NURSERY school, not primary school.

So these whinging ‘teachers’ are complaining they are being forced to accept three-year-olds who still have toilet accidents. Oh, poor them!

How ridiculous to put such pressure on tots and their parents. Some children are simply not ready when they turn two, and others will continue to have accidents because they forget or don’t quite get it.

The staff at my son’s nursery are brilliant and don’t apply any pressure or have a deadline for children, unlike those vocal people from the survey.

Quite frankly I would not want my child going to anywhere with such uncaring staff.

[email protected]