Mary Poppins was a nanny with pull. She knew which strings to pull to keep her charges in line and, even when she introduced them to risky situations, she worked hard to keep them safe. She knew how to shape Mr. and Mrs. Banks into responding to the needs of their children and she frowned upon their constant absences. What a shame the parents of the Mary Poppins author were unable to offer the same level of care and child protection.
Mary Poppins was not merely a spoonful of sugar! Written by a woman who had experienced a childhood that no child needs experience, Mary Poppins was originally written as an externalization of families gone wrong. The central unit of the story, the Banks family, was a glossed up representation of the author’s own family of origin and the story line reflected the author’s own deep fear of abandonment.
A little about the Mary Poppins author: P. L. Travers
Born Helen Goff, in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia in 1899, the celebrated author of Mary Poppins was the daughter of a bank manager who drank himself to death by the time Helen was seven. Helen’s mother, Margaret, dithered on for a few more years before also giving up on life and attempted suicide in a local river. One thundery night, Margaret Goff announced to her three children that she was off to kill herself. Helen, the oldest (age 10) was terrified. She was left, alone, to settle her younger siblings and she coped by putting them to bed, all three together, on the lounge room floor. In an effort to divert their attention from frantic thoughts around their mother’s impending violent death, Helen made up fantasy stories about magical flying horses in faraway lands that would ride them all to safety.
Although Margaret returned, unsuccessful in her suicide attempt, Helen withdrew from the hurt caused by her family and instead found solace in the strength of a spinster aunt. Helen’s dysfunctional family predicament haunted her for the rest of her life. She was never able to rid herself of images concerning the appalling fate of children whose parents were unable to care for them.
At 21 years of age, Helen changed her name to Pamela L. Travers. At age 25, she moved to London to make a new life as a writer. She never married, wore trousers when she wanted, had an affair with an older married man and eventually entered into a long-term relationship with another woman. Ever desperate to protect children, at age 40, a single parent, she adopted and raised an Irish orphan.
Mary Poppins did not start life as a Protective Factor.
Travers wrote Mary Poppins as a piece of anti-nanny propaganda. Angered by the middle classes who shunned their children, Mary Poppins character was essentially a therapeutic catharsis for Travers wounded inner child. Mary was designed to bring the middle classes to their senses by reflecting their own weak ethics and inability to provide emotional stability to their children. The moral of the story was that the Nanny got the chop because she was no longer required: the middle classes would awaken to children’s needs and would forever more parent appropriately.
It is Walt Disney who is responsible for the rewrite of the book as a sreen play (1964) and the now immortalized personification of Mary Poppins as the all rounded protector of children. His movie made Mary Poppins synonymous with love, magic and umbrellas – a protective accessory.
Protective umbrellas.
Just as Mary Poppins is synonymous with an umbrella, umbrellas are nowadays synonymous with a protective support network that all children need. Each spoke represents a person that your child can turn to for support, cover from the elements of life, and protection from external dangers.
During October (Sexual Violence Awareness Month) consider telling your child the sad tale behind Mary Poppins and use the structure of her umbrella to ensure your child has enough safety folk in their network to talk to at any time about any issue that may be bothering them: a spoke for speak.
P. L. Travers died in 1996, aged 96. Pamela, may you finally rest in peace. Even though you did not like what Walt Disney did to Mary Poppins, I do, and I will continue to use her in my fight to help protect children.
Related families.com articles about protective behaviors: BITSS of Support Networks
Related families.com reviews about Mary Poppins: Mary Poppins: A Film Classic Oft Overlooked
Walt Disney Pictures Mary Poppins (1964)