Raising children: 5 parenting lessons we can learn from Mary Poppins

learn from Mary Poppins
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Before I start this post, I just want to be clear that I am not in the slightest suggesting we all become Mary Poppins. Raising children ain’t easy – as we all know – and the last thing we need is to start striving to become as perfect as old Poppins. However, there are definitely some things we can learn from Mary Poppins don’t you think? So I’ve teamed up with Brit Movie Tours to share these 5 parenting lessons we can learn from Mary Poppins.

Always be prepared

I always joke about how my bag is not too dissimilar from Mary Poppins’. It has pretty much everything you need in it. The day can turn to full on sun, to chucking it down with rain, to a child crapping their pants or insatiable hunger striking and all will be well if you are prepared. Okay, I’m not suggesting you pack a whole tea set in your bag (because what use would that be?!), but having a well stocked bag can stop you sweating a whole bandoleer of bullets when raising children.

Choose your tribe wisely

Mary Poppins did well to choose Bert as her bestie. He’s loyal, knows how to make her feel good, doesn’t take himself too seriously, never judges her, and is an all round good egg. We all need friends like these in our lives as parents, particularly on those days when we are doubting our ability to raise small humans

Go on a jolly holiday

So the lyrics go “When the day is grey and ordinary, Mary makes the sun shine bright”. What I mean here is not booking yourself onto a holiday as quick as you can (although having downtime is important too!). It’s about being more joyful and injecting some fun into even the most ordinary everyday tasks. We all know that being a sleep deprived, frazzled parent is one of the hardest things about raising children. But sometimes injecting that holiday vibe and joy into the every day humdrum of life can go a long way to lifting us out of the trenches of parenthood.

Switch things up

Is your day not going to plan? When you’re raising children, things can often turn from glorious sunshine to an utter downpour. Make like Mary Poppins – the queen of switching things up. No, I’m not suggesting you slide down a banister backwards or take flight with an umbrella. But you can definitely switch things up with a little rough housing, playing goofy, telling a stupid joke, or having a dance around the kitchen. You’ll be amazed at how effectively these things clear the air when you feel like you’re parent life is heading South that day.

Sprinkle raising children with a spoon full of sugar

Let’s be straight – this is not about literally sprinkling your little human’s food with a spoon full of sugar to beat the fussy eating brigade! But sometimes, thinking about how you can sweeten the parenting pill does having amazing effects. Case in point – the other day, I asked my daughter a question, only to be totally ignored. I asked her again, and was ignored…again. I could have started to lose my patience at that point. But do you know what I did instead? I sang the question to her. And do you know what she did? She sang the answer to my question right back, and we were done. Think of the sugar as the creativity in raising children!

What else do you think we could learn from Mary Poppins when it comes to raising children? Do leave a comment and share.

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*This is a collaborative post

9 comments

  1. Great post, I love Mary Poppins and yes I agree as parents we could all use some of her skills to wrangle the kids and make things run smoothly.

  2. This is great. I love your Mary Poppins takeaways. Choosing friends wisely, i.e. friends who are aware there are also kids around to consider and have fun with is so important. And adding that sprinkling of sugar – I’ll remember that when the downpour threatens. There will be lots of singing questions and requests today – I can already see my kids laughing with (at ) me!

  3. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments….I think we can all learn a lot from lovely Mary! x

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