There are a lot of things out there that I don't really want to expose my kiddo to -- violence, hatred, clowns. Until she gets a bit older, I'm not telling her where Nemo's mom really went in Finding Nemo, along with Chicken Little's mom and most every other mom in the animated movie genre (right now, the moms had to go away on a loooooonnnng trip). Nursery rhymes are on that list too.
Yes, nursery rhymes. Why? Because they are creepy and violent and old. And that goes for some oldie-but-not-so-goodie lullabies.
Makes you wonder: where are the new nursery rhymes?
Look at the classics. You've got Old Mother Hubbard and her barren cupboard (animal neglect) as well as the old woman who lived in a shoe with so many kids that she whipped them (child abuse). Perhaps the most famous lullaby, "Rock-a-Bye Baby," has a cradle in a tree that falls down with the baby inside (child endangerment).
Seriously disturbing, odd, old -- many of these date back to the early 1700s, if not before. But they are still hanging around. You walk the aisles at Barnes & Noble or search Amazon.com, and there they are. Sure, bright and shiny new covers, but same old rhymes.
I say we need some new ones, folks. We have some great children's poets (Shel Silverstein comes to mind), but no one is really making up new nursery rhymes, per se. Maybe they no longer fit into a modern 21st-century kid's world ... hey, maybe they just need a makeover!
Take the princess story -- those fairy tales have been around just as long as nursery rhymes, but through the years, they have been updated, tweaked, revamped to appeal to the modern kiddo (thank you, Disney). Someone needs to do the same thing with nursery rhymes. We need Extreme Makeover: Nursery Rhyme Edition! Where's Ty Pennington and that bullhorn?!
Let's see, perhaps something like:
There was an old woman who lived in a Manolo,
She had so many kids, but she learned how to sing solo.
She went on Idol, she became a big star
And got three nannies, two Grammys, and a big car!
Okay, yeah, I'll keep working on them.
Do you like nursery rhymes?
Image via fairbrand/Flickr
Kim and Kanye's Baby Name Predictions!
Moms Love Birthday Parties, Too!
Father Knows Best - Happy Father's Day!
Are Cheaters Entitled to Privacy? - A...
Comments 41
Wow. Raise your kids in a bubble much?
So I enjoyed your article and agree that they're creepy and violent and old. My daughter still learned them though, some with sing alongs and some with hand movements, from our playgroup. She at 2 doesn't know what they mean but I suppose one day she'll wonder just like I did and find out (worse would definitly be some mean kid destroying her little world before she's ready to hear it) but I imagine when she's ready to find out she'll understand that they reflect the time they came from and then if you couldn't make sing alongs about reality, I think it would have been harder to live...I don't think I want to hear them from our generation though they'd be about consumerism and I'd have one more thing that disgusts me about society. So I'll stick to children's poems :)
So, would you rather your child read about the problems going on today in our world? I'll stick with the problems of old for my kids, thank you very much.
This reminds me when my mom was reading a fairy tale by the Grimm brothers, and she picked one that none of us have heard of "My Sweetheart Roland" and talk about violent! I was probably about 12ish? and my younger brother was around 7ish, so really it was for him, and I was in the room enjoying a story being read and my poor mom, bless her heart, was reading, and she didn't skip anything even when the girl cut off the old witch's head. She kind of stumbled and was thrown through a loop when she realized how violent it was, and apologized to us, but mostly we just laughed and now because of that memory, it is my favorite Grimm fairy tale.
Oh and Anon-if memory serves me correctly my parents used to drop me and my brothers on our bed during the rock-a-bye baby nursery ryhme and it made us laugh and giggle too.
We have a children's tape with a version of "Sing a Song of Sixpence" where the bird who pecked off the maid's nose returns it, along with a verse rationalizing his actions (he was just scared because he'd never been baked in a pie before). Really? Kids need to learn that life isn't all rosy and gentle, and that yes, birds are scary.
Oh also, to the author, if you think these are violent, don't ever pick up a Grimms fairy tales book. In the Cinderella story, the drops of blood from the step-sisters feet after their darling mother cut off part of their foot, sing. That is just Cinderella.....I won't get into some of the others. So take a chill pill and go sing rock-a-bye baby to your kid.