Mary Poppins

Everybody loves Mary Poppins -- I've easily seen it a dozen times. This was the first time seeing it with my daughter, who, of course, found it delightful. Every time I see it I notice something new. This time it really got me thinking about the fact that Mary's plan, all along, had been to engineer a situation where Mr. Banks would connect with the children -- somehow, this never sunk in with me before. Mary's standoffish attitude always makes me wonder what the best attitude for a teacher really is -- should one make genuine connections with students, or is an air of detached authority more useful? The movie is very good at raising questions... my daughter got to thinking during the film, and asked me, "Do all daddies have secret troubles?" and was surprised to learn that yes, yes, they do.