First things first: Mary Poppins sets a pretty high bar. Whether you’re talking about the Disney musical from 1964 or the series of books that ran from the 1930s to the 1980s, she’s pretty much the gold standard for a magical childcare character. The movie alone has helped raise several generations; is there anybody who doesn’t know the tune to “A Spoonful of Sugar”?

Beyond all the magic, though, there are some important lessons that non-magical nannies can take away from the story. (For the purposes of the list, we’ll be relying on the Julie Andrews version.) Take a look:

Set clear boundaries.

Mary Poppins was a friend to the children in her care when they didn’t have any, but she was also very clearly in charge. She directed their days and nights, taught them to clean their room and made sure they understood that she had a job to do. When you’re dealing with your own charges, it’s important to make sure they know that, while you can be very friendly, you’re still in a position of authority. You’re there to care for them, and that doesn’t just mean giving comfort and support. It often means looking like the bad guy when it’s time to get work done.

Work with the parents.

On a related note: you’re there to help the family, and that means working with the parents. Mary Poppins provided a bit of a disruption in the Banks household, but her goal wasn’t to undermine their authority; it was to help them grow closer to their children. To that end, it’s important to remember to work with the parents and regularly talk about your goals for discipline, health, education and so on. If you wind up contradicting parental directives — say, if the parents ask you to limit the kids’ TV viewing but you leave the set on all day — you could cause a rift in the family’s relationship and make the children feel confused about whose rules they need to follow.

Stress the importance of education.

Mary Poppins taught her charges how to keep a clean house, cope with life lessons and spell what’s got to be the longest word ever used in a musical. You should do the same (except for the cartoon derby). Talk with the parents about their children’s education and any goals the parents have, and incorporate things like reading and healthy play into your schedule. Take trips to local museums, art fairs and historical sites.

Remember that health is vital.

Treats are well and good — and you should always communicate with the parents about what you are and aren’t allowed to let the kids eat — but, like Mary Poppins, you should remember that an important part of childcare is instilling healthy habits in the children. Healthy snacks, regular exercise, plenty of good playtime, proper amounts of TV, etc.: it all helps underscore how children can learn to take care of themselves. If you’re looking for recipe advice, this gallery from Parenting.com is a great place to start.

Encourage imagination.

This one’s obvious, right? Mary Poppins took her children to magical places, and she encouraged them to get out of the glum day-to-day routines they’d created and see the fun in life. She even had a song about turning chores into games. As you work with children, no matter their age, you should do all you can to encourage them to use their imagination as they work and play. Playing make-believe isn’t just for fun, either. Imagination has been shown to boost social skills, enhance language skills and even help children work through their fears.

Know your role.

At the end of Mary Poppins, Mary leaves. Her time with the family has drawn to a close, and the job she was hired to do has ended. Your job likely won’t be quite like that, but this lesson is really about knowing your role within the household. You’re a professional caregiver, but you’re also there to support the family; you’re devoted to your charges, but you should also be aware enough of your goals and their development to realize when it’s time to move on. Work with the parents to make sure everyone’s needs are being met — yours and theirs — and know that, sooner or later, you’ll be moving on.

Have fun.

As often as possible. Mary’s biggest lesson to her household was about the importance of fun, from energetic and healthy play to building lasting relationships. She was about joy, more than anything else, and that’s a role you’re uniquely qualified to play as a childcare provider. Being a nanny is hard; harder than most people know or could ever guess. But the key to succeeding at it is to have fun doing it, and to take pleasure in the job itself. It’ll rub off on the kids.

Life-threatening injuries are tragic when they strike families with young children, but the tragedy feels magnified when the accidents and injuries could have been prevented with a few simple precautions. As a parent, one of the smartest things you can do is take the necessary steps to make sure accidents like these don’t come into your life. You can’t control everything, but you can do a lot to stay safe. Think about these tips as you plan your home and care for your child:

Falling From a Window

A screen isn’t enough to keep a child from pushing through an open window and falling, even if it’s securely attached. They’re ultimately too flimsy, and they aren’t designed to do anything but loosely sit in a window frame and let air pass through. Even on the ground floor of a home, falling out of a window can be a life-threatening injury for a child. To avoid this situation, you’ll need to install high-quality window guards and locks designed to keep children from tampering with window openings. Window locks usually attach to the edge of the window frame and keep the window from being opened past the lock point, so you can keep the window from opening more than, say, three or four inches if you want to. This lets you open the window to let in air without having to worry about leaving a gap wide enough for a child to pass through. A window guard looks like a lot like a pet door guard, and it has bars that extend across a window opening that prevent a child from exiting through an open window. They’re childproof, but are still removable by adults in emergency situations.

Heat Stroke

It’s estimated that several dozen children die heat-related deaths every year after being left in hot cars. It’s never OK to leave a child in a car, even for a few minutes. The lack of air and the oppressive heat — in any weather — can overpower even an adult, leaving kids totally defenseless. Being absent-minded isn’t OK, either. To make sure you never leave a child in the car, always open your rear door and check the back seat when you arrive at your destination. This might sound goofy — how could you forget if your child was with you? — but it’s a worthwhile habit. Similarly, do mirror checks of the back and give everything a once-over every time you arrive at a destination to make sure you’ve got everybody.

While you’re at home, your kids might want to play in your car, not knowing how dangerous it can be. Always, always lock your doors and make sure your kids can’t get to the keys when you’re home. Your kids should never be able to access your car without your presence and permission.

Drowning

Pool and swimming safety is another area that requires solid supervision. Almost 10 people per day die from unintentional drowning, two of those 10 are kids under 15, and children between one and four years old have the highest drowning rate. It’s a major cause for concern, especially since so many life-threatening situations could be prevented. Be smart when it comes to how you and your kids interact with the water. Swimming lessons are wise, and you should always supervise all swimming activities, even if it’s a tiny inflatable pool in your backyard. Floating accessories (foam noodles, water wings, etc.) can help kids stay afloat, but these are not safety devices, and it’s not OK to think that the presence of these toys can mitigate disaster. Always, always watch your kids when they’re in or near the water.

Bumper Pad Suffocation

Crib bumpers were intended to protect against injury while sleeping, but the American Academy of Pediatrics says that bumpers don’t do anything to prevent injury and in fact pose a major risk for suffocation and entrapment. Infants don’t have the motor skills necessary to turn their heads or untangle themselves if they become stuck in the bumper pad. Other types of bedding, and even some mesh bumpers (which are more breathable), are much better alternatives and will keep your baby safer.

Seat Belt Accidents

Car accidents are, unfortunately, impossible to predict. You can do everything in the world to be a better driver, but you can’t control other people or tell when one of them might cause a wreck. To that end, it’s vital that you properly secure your child in your car when you’re driving so that, should an accident occur, they’ll be safely belted in and not at risk for serious injury or death. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a great resource for parents that goes over car seat basics, proper fit, seat evaluations and more. There’s also The Car Seat Lady, which has a wealth of tips, tricks, slideshows and other breakdowns of the latest in child safety protocols. For example, many parents make the mistake of fitting a lap belt across a child’s belly, when it should go snugly across the lap. It holds the body down, not back, putting strain on strong leg muscles and not weak stomach areas and internal organs.

The real lesson here: Plan smart, do your homework and keep a close eye on your kids. The saddest injuries are the ones you could have prevented.

Sending an email or text to the wrong person is embarrassing! Moreover, it can be a personal and, in some cases, a professional nightmare. You certainly do not want your boss reading an argument with your spouse or a friend reading something negative you said about her! Unfortunately, these types of messaging mishaps happen all too often. Almost everyone has their own story of hitting the send button and being filled with instant shame and regret. There are ways to avoid sending texts and emails to the wrong recipients, and implementing them can save you a lot of awkward moments, both personally and professionally.

Managing Email Contacts and Recipients

When it comes to email, if you don’t already, get in the habit of proof reading your words. Good writing should not become a lost art just because technology has made it faster and easier to send messages. Then, as you are ensuring your spelling and grammar are correct, also be sure to review your recipients in the To, CC and BCC fields. When you are inputting information into those fields, be sure to type out the person’s whole name. If you are depending on the system to automatically populate the field for you, you are just asking for trouble.

Many email services allow you to adjust settings in order to delay the sending of your emails. If you delay it, you can quickly cancel the message before your email server begins the sending process. Look for an “Undo Send” or “Delay Send” option under your email settings.

If you still send the email to the wrong person you have a few options. If you use Microsoft Outlook, and the recipient also uses Outlook and hasn’t yet opened your email, you can recall it. Granted, these are a lot of “ifs,” but sometimes, when all the stars align, you can get lucky and simply click to recall the sent message. If this is an inter-office goof, you can ask your IT department to remove the message for you if it is not too late. Finally, sometimes the only option you have is to own up to the mistake, ask the person not to read the email and let them know it was a terrible accident!

Managing Text Message Recipients

When it comes to texting, there are some handy apps that were created with the sole intention of saving you from feeling utterly mortified when you message your mother something intended for your boyfriend, or your boss something intended for your wife.

Some of these apps will work for both text messages and emails sent from your phone. They work by simply asking you if you are sure you want to send. Sometimes that brief pause is all you need to prevent a mistake you can never take back.

There are other apps that can be utilized where you can mark off potentially dangerous contacts such as bosses, co-workers and exes. The app will then hold off on sending the texts to these people until you review them. This is also helpful in preventing impulsive texts that could be regretted later.

Finally, some text messaging apps allow you to recall and even destroy a message after it has been sent. Users can even delete the message from the text messaging server, whereas with regular text messaging your words live on in that server for an unspecified amount of time. Many healthcare providers are using these types of apps to ensure privacy compliance, but it works well for everyday users as well.

Employing common sense is another way to prevent texting the wrong person. For example, do not text while you are driving.  Not only is it unsafe to you and to everyone else on the road with you, but there is no way you can ensure you are texting correctly while you are busy doing something else. It was not too long ago that people lived without cell phones at all, let alone text messaging, and they survived just fine. Waiting to pull over before sending a message does not mean the end of the world, your relationship or your career. When it comes to texting, waiting is a good thing.

As with email, always double check the To, CC and BCC fields before pressing that send button. Assigning pictures to your contacts is another helpful trick to ensure that you are sending to the correct person, assuming that you’ve assigned the photos correctly.

Many times, people use email and texting because they feel it is more efficient than a phone call or a walk to the next office down the hall. In this age of technology, many people feel so connected to their computers and smart phones that the thought of abandoning their work to speak to someone feels like a hassle and a waste of time. However, sometimes a quick phone call to relay information or hash something out can save you a lot of precious moments. Taking a break from screens is often just what the doctor ordered to rejuvenate creativity and your body’s circulation. It can also give you peace of mind that you are talking to the right person.