Last week my daughters and their friends helped to break a world record at the National Media Museum.

They were among more than 600 children and adults who played their Nintendo DS – a small, hand-held games console – at the same time.

It was expertly organised and a far cry from the records we attempted to break at home which usually involved eating Weetabix without milk or wolfing down as many Ritz crackers as we could without a drink.

Children are fascinated by world records – and it’s the nature of the book that feeds their wonder. The Guinness Book of World Records has changed a lot since I was young. Back then it was quite matter-of-fact – who jumped the highest, which animal runs fastest, where is the tallest building and who is the smallest man.

It was all very interesting, with what I would call admirable feats. Now the book – which quickly sells out at Christmas – is weirder and wackier. It’s a great read, but my bugbear is that it includes a growing number of what I would call rather dubious records.

The youngest gamekeeper, who led a shoot on his family’s (so he’s not the full-time employed variety) estate aged 11; the largest scorpion held in the mouth (I assume only one person has done this); the most TV sets thrown out if a window (only 61 – sounds like an easy one to beat, and there were quite a few old sets at my local tip on Saturday); and the largest gathering of zombies – which could apply to any out-of-town shopping centre on any weekend. Okay, it’s actually people dressed as them, and the record is only 894, so another easily-breakable one to have a crack at if you put the word out on Twitter.

Of course, my children like to find out about the more gruesome records, with accompanying photographs, such as the heaviest eyelid pull, in which a foolhardy individual towed a car for 10m (32ft) using ropes hooked on to his lower eyelids.

I suppose – although I’m assuming not in that case – it’s the fun of trying. A couple of years ago my daughter’s primary school attempted to break a record for a picture created using Smarties. I don’t know whether it was successful, but there were a lot of sweets everywhere and a lot of happy-looking children with chocolate around their mouths.

I might put myself forward one of these days. My daughters must surely stand a chance in the ‘most bickering in one afternoon’ category, and my husband might just clinch the ‘longest time in the shower’ title. As for me, I’m a dead cert for the ‘greatest number of trips to Asda in one day’.