Practically Perfect in Every Way

I'm going to let you in on a little secret...my girls are in love with Mary Poppins. Here's another secret...I'm in love with Mary Poppins. When my little sweets desire to watch her on the tube I can't help but drop what I'm doing and plop down on the couch beside them. I am certain they love Mary Poppins for reasons which contrast my own.

For my girls, the attraction to Mary is based on some of her more apparent abilities. She has the ability to dive into pictures formed from chalk on a sidewalk and bring them to life, jump through chimney shoots, win horse races on a carousel thoroughbred, sing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (I nearly spelled that correctly without reference, by the way) backwards without flinching, out jig the best chimney sweep dancers on the rooftops of London, and lets not forget how enjoyable she makes cleaning a child's toy cluttered room with a simple snapping of the fingers!

For me, my attraction to Mary was invoked due to her more subtle attributes which make her "practically perfect in every way." If I was a mom like Mary is a nanny I believe I wouldn't be so disgusted daily by my inadequacies as a mom, nay, as a human being! Mary is fun, calm, and reliable, but still stern and rule oriented. She has a game and song for every life situation. She even possesses enough wits to proclaim Tuesday as her day off. No one dares to contest her list of demands and requirements because Mary Poppins does not make requests! She confidently states what she will and will not do and that is that! To me, the best quality about Mary is her ability to leave her emotions out of the picture. No tantrums, no fits, no explosions based on the actions of the children. She lets it all roll off her back and in response has the perfect motto or song to counteract the inappropriate behavior by the child. It really is a "jolly holiday with Mary."