Why did Georg fall in love with Maria?

There are several discussions under the "movie observation" folder talking about when they fell in love. Why they fell in love though..well, I think any prior serious relationship in Georg's life would have been with someone from his social class, and therefore someone sophisticated.  I don't think he would believe that he could fall in love with someone like Maria, until it happened. She is so different from anyone else in his life. She stands up to him, but not to battle for superiority, just so that he realizes he needs to make changes to be a better father. He's intrigued by her, then grateful to her. She gives him back his children, his happiness, his pleasant household. She is his friend, and for all intents and purposes, she is acting as the children's mother. I think they talk about the children together often.  Plus, he's attracted to her.  Her background and status start to not matter.  Maybe part of it is that the world is going to war, so why should he care about appearances anymore? Or maybe he has lost the love of his life once, and so he doesn't care if society thinks them an unsuitable match, he is going to be with his new found love, a love that he never thought he could have again. I don't know if this answered the question at all! In short, I don't think he could help himself. She is so charming without even trying, and such a perfect fit for his personality and his family that nothing else mattered. 

I have never thought about this before. I'm going to say no, he would not have fallen in love with her if it weren't for the children. If she was just an employee and he was acting like a tyrant, she would probably just roll her eyes and break the rules when he wasn't looking.  The boiling point came when he was more concerned about his children't appearance than their happiness.  Sometimes people can handle a bad situation happening to them, but can not tolerate it happening to someone they care about.  Maria was fighting for them, not for her. I don't know that she would ever get to that level of anger if it had just been her not wanting to follow the rules of the house she worked in. Plus, the children singing is what really melted him.  So even if she did get up the courage to tell him off, she would just be fired. 

I wonder if he was ever attracted to someone with lower social standing and didn't go for her because that wouldn't be proper. I wonder if Elsa ever did.