A few months ago we had my wife’s 10-year-old great nephew staying with us for a week or so.

One night I came home from work and he is sitting in my chair watching television and all I heard from the speakers was: “It is my aim to spread AIDS throughout the world and I won’t stop until I do”.

Horrified, I went into the room to find out what he was watching and it was South Park, which to the uninitiated is a darker comedy cartoon version of The Simpsons.

Old mate was laughing away until I burst into the room and asked him did his father usually let him watch crap like that which he replied no, so I told him to turn it off.

After I took a breath and tried to recover from what I had exposed this child to while in my care, I decided to sit down and explain to him why that was so wrong what the character on the screen was saying.

But old mate was way ahead of me and he actually sat me down and explained to me that the AIDS that the guy was talking about was actually a community group doing good things that unfortunately picked the wrong four letters of the alphabet to call their group.

The young bloke completely understood what the writers of the bizarre show was on about, which calmed me considerably – not enough to let him watch it again but at least I had some comfort that he understood what was going on.

Now of course I am referring to columnist Mark Furler’s comments about Harry Potter and the influence it may have on young people.

I have a high regard for Mark and his opinion on many things but I find this particular opinion hard to agree with.

I personally think that most children understand what is fact and what is fiction and as per my comments above they really can surprise adults on what they can grasp.

I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden kids are going to be attracted to the occult by watching Harry Potter.

A recent study in England on why their youth were some of the worst behaved in the world revealed that kids were left far too much to their own devices, too much touchy, feely attitudes to organized activities rather than good old fashioned discipline.

I didn’t see any mention of Harry influencing their poor behaviour.

Now take me for instance and what I used to watch on the box when I was a kid.

The Beagle Boys were favourites of mine in the Donald Duck Show. Three brothers quite fat, unshaven with masks on in prison outfits continually robbing people and banks. Now apart from the fat and unshaven part I didn’t and haven’t gone around robbing banks.

The Coyote was another, I always hoped he would catch the road runner but did I go around with an Acme explosives kit blowing up everything in sight.

Of course the Three Stooges had a huge impact on me as a kid.

I tried to model myself on Curly and I think I have been quite successful in the looks department but I can’t remember grabbing anyone with a pair of pliers, although when I think about it Curly was usually the recipient, which may explain a few things.

Now on the darker side, the Munsters, The Adams Family or Bewitched were about the only thing from my day that could be compared to Harry Potter.

In the Munsters, Grandpa was usually blowing things up but I knew it was a comedy. The only damage the Adams Family did to me was I had a distinct resemblance to Pugsley, which my brother frequently pointed out.

As for Bewitched, it actually helped me as it gave me a healthy fear, and respect of mother-in-laws which became handy later in life.

So I guess as long as parents balance their children’s lives, explain to them what is right and wrong, I can’t see how Harry Potter is going to be any harm.

I would be more worried about my great nephew watching Question Time on the ABC, the politicians’ behaviour really could be damaging.