![](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1262766024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Folding up the hand-scrawled note, I carefully placed it into the log burner and turned back to look at my two children, Theo and Immy, who were looking expectantly at me.<\/p>\n
\u2018Do you think she\u2019ll come?\u2019 Theo, five, asked, his eyes shining. \u2018I really hope she does.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Well,\u2019 I replied hesitantly. \u2018I think she\u2019s quite busy \u2013 but I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll love to see your letter.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I think she\u2019ll come,\u2019 Immy, three, said confidently. \u2018She\u2019ll fly here with her umbrella and help us tidy the nursery with magic.\u2019<\/p>\n
I opened my mouth to remind my little girl that we didn\u2019t actually have a nursery but before I could get the words out, Theo pointed at me. \u2018Close your mouth, Mammy,\u2019 he hooted, doubling over at his own hilarity. \u2018We are not a codfish!\u2019<\/p>\n
As a treat, me and my husband Tom had let the kids have a \u2018movie night\u2019 and put Mary Poppins on for the first time. I\u2019d had no idea it would make such an impact on them!<\/p>\n
The Disney classic had been my favourite film growing up \u2013 I worked on my Jane impression constantly, putting on my dressing gown and reciting the lines \u2018If you want this choice position, have a cheery disposition\u2026\u2019 incessantly.<\/p>\n
Even now, my mam can\u2019t watch it, because I rewound it so many times to start it from the beginning again. And again. And again.<\/p>\n
In more recent years, I\u2019ve fallen for the whole franchise. My tears fall without fail at Saving Mr Banks and, although I was wary, I couldn\u2019t resist dragging Tom to the cinema to see Mary Poppins Returns. We both loved it!<\/p>\n
Still though, when Tom suggested we put the original on, I had no idea how my children would relate to a movie made up of a magical nanny and a cheerful chimney sweep. In fact, I very much suspected we\u2019d be turning it off after the first 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/metro-parent\/img\/fallback.png\")
<\/p>\n
I could not have been more wrong.<\/p>\n
The two of them were just as entranced as I had been when I had first seen it, copying Michael\u2019s attempts to snap his fingers to join in with tidying the nursery and howling with laughter when Mary Poppins took him and his sister to see Uncle Andrew on the ceiling.<\/p>\n
As all of the chimney sweeps \u2018stepped in time\u2019 on the rooftops, Theo joined in, bending his knees and doffing his imaginary cap.<\/p>\n
But most of all, they fell in love with Mary Poppins. Absolutely head over heels, they were. They watched, google-eyed, as she pulled the mirror and hat stand out of her carpet bag, gasped when she held hands with the children and Burt to jump into the pavement picture and cheered when she won the race on her carousel horse.<\/p>\n
As soon as the credits were rolling, they were digging out their paper and pens to write a letter to summon her to our house.<\/p>\n
\u2018But we don\u2019t really need a nanny,\u2019 I pointed out. \u2018You have a mammy and a daddy \u2013 and you go to nursery.\u2019<\/p>\n
Theo shook his head solemnly. \u2018We don\u2019t need a mammy if we have a nanny,\u2019 he informed me. Charming\u2026<\/p>\n
In the end, their letter turned out to less articulate \u2013 and indeed, less lyrical \u2013 than Jane and Michael\u2019s. It simply said, \u2018Please come to our house, Mary Poppins\u2019.<\/p>\n
But we placed it in our log burner and the children went to bed, fully expecting her to sliding up our non-existent banister when they awoke the next morning.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In an attempt to alleviate their inevitable disappointment, Tom and I decided to write them a letter back. \u2018I popped by your house last night and saw you were both asleep, looking practically perfect in every way\u2026 I\u2019m very busy as those pesky Banks children are at it again\u2026 remember to keep your rooms tidy and to keep your mouths closed. After all, we are not a codfish.\u2019<\/p>\n
Sadly, \u2018Mary\u2019s\u2019 response only further encouraged them. They spent the next morning peering out of the window, waiting for the queue of nannies to appear, then blow away in the wind.<\/p>\n
\u2018She\u2019ll be here when we get back, I know it,\u2019 Theo said confidently, as we took them out to the park, laughing at both children\u2019s attempts to say \u2018supercalifragilisticexpialidocious\u2019 the whole way.<\/p>\n
The only thing to distract them from their grief at Mary Poppins continued absence when we returned was the suggestion that we watch the sequel, starring Emily Blunt. This didn\u2019t need a spoonful of sugar \u2013 it went down just as well as the first!<\/p>\n
In fact, a week on, Immy still hasn\u2019t stopped growling, \u2018The Royal Dalton Music Hall\u2019 wherever we go, much to the fright of our fellow shoppers in Tesco.<\/p>\n
We have since watched both films three times each and on each viewing, the children have become even more Mary-Poppins-mad.<\/p>\n
Tom and I discussed, only half-jokingly, that we get a lookalike to come around, dressed up as the no-nonsense nanny. \u2018We can\u2019t,\u2019 we decided, glumly, in the end. \u2018They\u2019ll expect her to do real magic.\u2019<\/p>\n
And I have a feeling, when we have to break it to them that she isn\u2019t real, its going to be a bit like Santa. Only worse. Because they know they\u2019ll never get to meet Mr Claus, but they\u2019re firmly convinced Mary Poppins will be turning up to look after them.<\/p>\n
So thank you, Disney, for creating a film that isn\u2019t just practically perfect \u2013 it is perfect. For grown-ups and children, alike, whatever the generation.<\/p>\n
It has made my family so happy, we could just go fly a kite!<\/p>\n