But in honor of this occasion we'll take a quick look at some famous fantastical nannies. In traditional folklore, there are hardly any nannies. The poor people of the tales could hardly afford to pay someone else to raise their children. Sometimes babies of royalty will have nurses, like the prince in the Russian tale who was told by his nurse of the most beautiful girl in the world, and set off to find her when he was only a few days old-but nannies in general are a relatively recent thing.
So the more famous magical nannies are more recent. The movie Nanny McPhee is based on the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. I haven't read the books but love this movie-the actors (even the kids!), the music, the magical scenery, the plot-it's just overall a quality family movie. But in a way it irks me that the only way Nanny McPhee can control the children is through her magic stick. If only I had that stick I could control any situation too, but I don't.
My ultimate nanny hero is Mary Poppins. She uses magic too, but I like to think that her magic is really just getting the kids to use their imagination. And talk about quality films-EVERYTHING about this movie is excellent. Also based on earlier books (the Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers), many prefer the movie to the books (and I'm so glad Disney hasn't attempted to remake a more modern version of this movie-*shudder*).
And just for fun...one of the best recut movie trailers is definitely Scary Mary Poppins.Never before has Mary Poppins seemed so sinister...
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