Have you seen Mary Poppins? The original I mean. The ‘practically perfect’ nanny flies in with her umbrella ostensibly to look after the Banks children, Jane and Michael, but really it’s about teaching them – and their father – that life ought to have a little fun in it. Nurturing one’s inner child, if you will – embracing the whimsical and silly for no other reason than that it makes you happy.

I think this is a lesson that’s hard to learn. After all, we can’t ignore our responsibilities, can we? We have to earn a living, we have to take care of our families, we have to do the things we’ve promised to do. But what if, maybe, we ranked having fun as highly on our lists? I’m pretty sure every child who’s ever watched Mary Poppins and then ridden a carousel has either wished or imagined that their horse would break free and take them galloping over the countryside… why aren’t grown-ups allowed to wish for that kind of thing as well? Fair enough, we know that we can’t click our fingers and the house will tidy itself – but who says we shouldn’t go and feed the birds, fly a kite or dance with a chimney sweep broom if we want to?

Doing something silly…

But this is the trouble with grown-ups, I’ve decided; we’ve all stopped believing in magic.  Perhaps it starts when we stop believing in Santa. Or perhaps when we go to school and books become ‘work’, things to be studied and analysed instead of escaped into – and in the process we learn to take more and more of the world in but to let less and less of ourselves out. The inner child remains locked in the cupboard under the stairs when it is bursting to break free, to go outside and draw on the pavement, discover a door to a secret garden or explore the hidden stairways and turrets of an ancient castle.

Time for an adventure?

Or time to explore?

But why shouldn’t we do those things? Personally, I am a big fan of the ‘spoonful of sugar’ method. Just as you would reward a child for completing an unpleasant task, why not ourselves? For example, if you’ve got some nasty filing to do, or an unpleasant phone call to make, or a cupboard that needs sorting out that you’ve been avoiding for a long time, you make a promise to yourself that when it’s done you’ll reward yourself with a cup of your favourite tea and an episode of your favourite program. Or perhaps if you’ve got a long and unpleasant shift ahead of you, you promise yourself that you’ll stop for a treat on the way home. If it’s time to file your tax return, reward yourself afterwards with a trip to the movies or a visit to a museum – whatever works for you. Some of my favourites are visiting stately homes, cosy pub lunches, walking or driving around pretty countrysides, shopping in charity shops, a good fantasy novel, playing board games and decorating Christmas trees. I could go on, but you get the idea. The most important thing to remember, as the parent to your inner child, is that you must follow through with the reward once the job is done, lest your inner child becomes bitter and stops trusting you.

Making a snowman on the beach… why not?

My sandcastle, complete with drawbridge and battlements

Don’t let yourself think: “No, that would be silly” – that’s the point! Because here’s what I think – that just as every child longs to find a magical land in their wardrobe, drive though a phantom tollbooth or be whisked away by a giant on a motorcycle, why shouldn’t grown-ups be allowed to climb trees, build sand castles, make daisy chains or throw snowballs if they want to? When did we become scared of having fun?

This isn’t the human you’re looking for…being silly  with a Stormtrooper

I went to see the new Mary Poppins film the other day, and I thought it was wonderful. In a way, it was a bit like having a bucket of nostalgia dumped all over me. Michael Banks, all grown up now and in possession of the family home, is about to lose it because he’s had some trouble repaying a loan to the bank where he now works. He’s a widower with three children and it’s all falling to pieces. In flies Mary Poppins, with a bit of magic and her spoonful of sugar to see if she can put it all to rights. Meanwhile, Jack the lamp lighter adds a bit of warmth to this cold and foggy scene by singing and dancing his way around London. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to be a child again just so you can believe that it all might be true. After all, who hasn’t ever wished, on the days when life gets tough, that some more enlightened being might fly in, wave a magic umbrella and fix all our problems for us?

By the time I came out of the cinema it had started snowing. Perhaps it was because there was a lamplighter in the film, or because it was set in winter, or maybe the magic hadn’t quite worn off yet, but as I walked towards my car I looked up and saw a lamp post, glowing orange in the dark and illuminating a small circle of snowflakes that floated down past it – and for that moment I could have been in Mary Poppins’ London, or in a forest in Narnia, or even the main street of Hogsmeade. My inner child jumped for joy.

Before I finish, I would like to clarify that I know those places aren’t real. But my inner child is happy believing that they could be, and as long as my inner child is happy, my grown-up is much happier too.  And so, if you’ll excuse me, as I’ve finally written that blog I’ve been meaning to write for ages, I’m off to reward myself with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit. And since the magic of spring is in the air, I might go and pick myself some flowers.

Do you believe in magic?