Magical Nanny: Difference between revisions
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A '''Magical Nanny''' is [[Always Female|a woman]] who is hired [[Parental Substitute|to look after children]], but ends up having a profound effect on the whole family. She may have genuine magical powers or she may just have a magical effect on the household. Even [[Royal Brat|children who have scared off a number of previous nannies]] can be tamed by a Magical Nanny.
Magical Nannies come in two flavors:
#A [[Blithe Spirit|free spirited]] nanny will often be seen in households with strict parents, who are [[Parental Abandonment|often cold and neglectful]] toward [[Lonely Rich Kid|the children]]. She will encourage them to [[Be Yourself|be themselves]] and talk about [[The Power of Love]]. Eventually this message will spread to the parents, drawing the family together. This type of Magical Nanny is often musically talented.
#A sensible nanny will usually work for [[Parental Abandonment|aloof]] or [[Doting Parent|ineffectual]] parents with [[Spoiled Brat|rambunctious children]]. She will be strict, but fair and impose a sense of structure on a family that badly needs it. Before long, the parents will be in awe of
While Magical Nannies are often threatened with the sack, they are not easy to get rid of. When their employment ends, it will be on their own terms. Typically they will decide that [[But Now I Must Go|their work here is done]] or they will stay and marry the head of the household. (Note that they ''never'' become the [[Wicked Stepmother]].) The latter is particularly common in the [[Romance Novel]]; indeed, the heroine may become the stepmother first and still fulfill the role of Magical Nanny.
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** Being the Addams Family, they consider this a very respectable lifestyle and are mainly irritated with her choice of Pastels as a color palette.
* MBA graduate Jennifer "Jenny" Morgan in ''Au Pair'' becomes the second type after mistaking a job opportunity as an executive assistant. She tames and befriends the two rambunctious children of their single, CEO father whose job duties prevent him from taking a more active role. She gets him to spend more time with his children and falls in love with him. Yeah, it's a Disney Original Movie, of course.
* The two [[Ur Example
** ''[[The Sound of Music]]'': Maria Von Trapp of is the guitar playing free spirit who ends up marrying the head of the household.
** ''[[Mary Poppins]]'': Poppins is the no-nonsense nanny with magic powers who draws the family closer together, tames the unruly children, then vanishes into the sky.
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* ''Bob The Butler'': Bob; sorta. Bob's actually totally incompetent as a butler (he's actually not even a real butler, he's never had training). The only thing he manages to do is to get the kids to like him and bring their mother closer to them. They end up getting married of course.
* ''[[Adventures in Babysitting]]'' could perhaps be considered a one-night-only version of this, as some life lessons were learned and it's a miracle neither the babysitter nor her charges got themselves killed.
* Subverted in ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'', as its
** By the end, the kids and the witch will stay together, while the con man goes off to war.
* ''[[Big Momma's House|Big Mommas House]]'' series: Played straight in the first two films where Big Momma becomes a member of the family and draws everyone together.
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== Literature ==
* ''Nurse Matilda'': Nurse Matila herself was a sensible nanny with magic powers, which tended to be more disturbing than in the movies.
* ''[[Discworld]]'': Susan Sto Helit is naturally sensible and, upon leaving school, does a brief stint as a
* Polgara the Sorceress in ''Polgara the Sorceress'', ''[[The Belgariad]]'', and ''[[The Malloreon]]'' is a powerful sorceress that is well recognized as such when she isn't tending to more than two thousand years of little boys as their "Aunt Pol" who cooks, cleans and manages their lives for the better. Like Mary Poppins, she isn't necessarily free spirited, but is an extremely competent and magical nanny.
* ''[[Mrs. Piggle Wiggle]]'', whose cures for bad behaviors like selfishness or not wanting to go to bed are based on the philosophy of "give bratty kids what they want, [[Radish Cure|and make them regret it]]"). If used in real life, such cures would probably result in a lawsuit and/or emotional scarring rather than making anyone good little children
Interestingly, while some of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's ideas (like the [[Radish Cure]]) involve fairly reality-based (if improbably) foundations, she also has a number of magical powders, candies, pills, and liquids which can make children turn invisible, lose their voices, or literally become idiots. The only explanation as to how she got this is that her husband found them from his days of pirating. In the series ''Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm'', the kids are mostly cured by being dropped off at the titular farm and spending a few weeks learning to adapt to life there. This inevitably leads to a situation in which the child must overcome their issue.
* ''[[Jane Eyre]]'': Jane is a sensible nanny who ends up falling for the head of the household.
* Subverted in [[Saki (author)|Saki]]'s "The Schwartz-Metterklume Method" where Lady Carlotta behaves like a Type 1
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''Michael O'Halloran'', a magical tutor straightens out two violent [[Royal Brats]] in about a day.
* [[Mary Poppins]], although perhaps not so much as her film counterpart.
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** Not in the slightest bit magical, but she's able to connect with the kids in a way they'd be missing, and she specifically helps neurotic youngest child Grace.
* An episode of ''[[Amazing Stories (TV series)|Amazing Stories]]'' had one of these from Jamaica who managed to be a [[Magical Negro]] as well.
* ''[[Supernanny]]'': [[Truth in Television]]: the appearance of a sensible
* ''[[My Wife and Kids]]'' spoofs this in one episode with a [[Parody Sue]] nanny (played by the always awesome [[Betty White]]) who evokes a mystified "Wow..." from everyone around her.
* Mentioned briefly in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "A Christmas Carol". Having gone back in time to try to change the life of a scrooge-character for the better by destroying his [[Freudian Excuse]], he briefly claims to be his new baby sitter.
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But you're all a bunch of apes,
And so I must be leaving yoooou!"'' }}
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'': Dr. Henry Killinger could be considered a
* Invoked by Blastus in ''[[Robotomy]]'', with Blastus dressed as Mary Poppins and driving a motorcycle through Thrasher's house before jumping off as the motorcycle heads for the window. Unfortunately, this does nothing to help the kids behave.
* In ''[[Sabrina the Animated Series]]'' Uncle Quigley leaves the girls and tells them he's hired a nanny to look after them. They assume it'll be a
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