My mother always use to hug me and say, "Well, kids can just be cruel sometimes". She said this as she applied ice to my head, or healing cream to my skin after I survived a day of bullying at school. That kind of reply was appreciated yet unacceptable to me. Now, I have young kids of my own. I watch closely all of the stories and songs that they hear because I noticed that some of them are just as cruel as those mean kids who chased me around the school yard. I wonder if there is a connection between mean children and horrendous nursery rhymes. If you don't believe that they exist, consider the songs and stories shared here. A hilarious thing happened with a customer at my job the other day. It made me think twice about how we create the educational road that our babies walking on.
I was on the phone with a customer at work. She had a little baby whimpering in her arms. The baby seemed to fall asleep quickly. I heard a song playing in the background. I asked the customer, "So, that song really relaxes your baby?" She replied, "Oh yes, she loves it and she calms down fast". So then I said,"Well, it's a good thing your baby doesn't understand the meaning of that song, or she would surely wake up with a terrifying scream". Then the customer blurted out laughing so hard, that she disturbed her resting baby. She was awake and crying before I could thank the customer for calling. For a couple of minutes, we both had a good laugh. I went home later that day and began to think about the words to nursery rhymes that we share with our children. I came up with at least 2 songs and 1 story that I believe we dont need to share with them. Above all, there are plenty of educational games and songs that can replace them. See if you agree with me.
The first runner up is: Rock-A-Bye-Baby. This song (correct me if I am wrong)…. is about a baby being left up high in a tree. As a matter of fact, I believe the baby was at the "top" of the tree. Right?? Ok so, what is the average height of a tree??? Certainly much taller than your house right? Ok. Then the wind blows and rocks the cradle. As if that isn't scary enough… the branch breaks. How cruel is that? So the cradle falls and down comes the baby. Are we seriously going to find the meaning of this song entertaining? Who wrote this hideous song anyway? Marilyn Manson?? It is as if Stephen King wrote this as a short story but never finished it. Then some idiot found it and decided to make it into a soft jingle. That is more dumb than taking Michael Jackson's "Thriller" song and turning it into a soft ballad performed by Johnny Mathis. God knows, what would happen if my 23 month old daughter falls out of the shopping cart in Walmart and hits the floor. Nancy Grace (the nationally popular television advocate for missing and exploited children) would turn my name into slime while she shows the footage over and over again because I turned my back for a second to reach for a jar of olives and Jasmine fell out of the cart and hit the floor- sippy cup & all . Honestly, why do we sing songs with horrible messages (about babies shaking, rocking and falling from a high tree) over our little babies?? People don't think about it, but if they do listen to the lyrics of the song…they would realize that singing about a sweet innocent baby falling to it's traumatizing, inevitable death is absolutely cruel, even if the baby doesn't understand the words.
The lyrics to some nursery rhymes are amazing right? Here is another one to consider: Three Blind Mice. This song is on my daugher's nursery rhyme cd. There I was, applying her lotion and baby powder, counting her cute little toes, and all of a sudden the next song came on. I heard, "Three blind Mice…. (repeated once) "See how they run… la la..la la". Then all of a sudden I heard, "They all ran after the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife…." Hold on, what?! So this song is wrought with 3 bloody mangled mice whose tails were cut off!!!???. It is bad enough that they are blind (needing assistance). Then they suffered further abuse by having their body part ripped off by a carving knife (more set backs imposed on them). Not only does that song resemble the plight of being poor in America, but is speaks volumes about how being cruel to other living things is taken so lightly. How lightly?? It is taken so lightly, that we make this stuff up into little cotton candy songs and sing them to the most vulnerable members of society… our young children.
Well, it isnt just in the kids music. What about the fairytales for children? Finally, I want to mention the story of Hansel & Gretel. I am totally in favor of teaching "stranger-danger" to our kids. However, here is a story from my old fairytale book. I have to ask this question: Since when, is cannibalism supposed to be entertaining for children?? In this story, a horribly disgusting woman kept two scared children in her house for hours, preparing chopped veggies, and seasoning because she was going to eat these lost children. First, she was going to throw them alive and screaming into her long hot oven to cook them!!!. I was told by a friend that this is not a typical American story. Perhaps this story was written because somewhere in the history of another country, this was a commom practice during times of famine. I am not sure. I do know that today, we have the nerve to gasp in shock when we hear equally gruesome stories on the news. Yet, we have all fed the story of Hansel and Gretel to our children as if it is perfectly normal and something to laugh at. I am glad that the story ends with the children in tact. But, my goodness, this story took me for a leap the first time I heard it as a child. If I do share it with my children, it will be for the purpose of alerting them to strangers and the cruel things that people can do. I will not introduce it to entertain them..
Sure, these are only innocent lullabies and stories for kids right? I suppose that because toddlers don't realize the meaning of these 3 examples, sharing them is harmless. However, I firmly believe that what we put into our childrens minds is just as important as the food we provide to nourish them. In a nutshell, if you ever see a little boy or girl pulling the wings off of a fly or terrorizing a poor defenseless lizard, think about how these cruel stories might have enabled them. You will be glad to know, there are plenty of healthy alternatives to making your kids enjoy learning through songs and stories. There are fun online educational games for kids that do not include mean messages. There is hope for people whose children do not like to read books. Fortunately, it is possible to teach a child to read, master mathematics and even think analytically while having pure, creative fun. In fact, my pediatrician even recommends educational online games for kids. She said it is fine to share healthy (non-violent) fairytale stories with children. However, using fun games for kids can sharpen memory and retention, social skill development and critical thinking. There's no denying that there is an appropriate place for fairy tales. Megan Wong, a well known creator of children's activity books wrote, "Nursery rhymes have a musical quality incorporating language rhythm, patterns and rhymes in every verse which fascinates children to develop their language". To go a step further with today's technology, growing up happily ever after can be accomplished without the inclusion of evil songs and stories. One of the best ways to ensure that is to include challenging educational activities online. After all, They are available for children as young as six months old.
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Mrs.Sasha Jackson is a mother and teacher. Outside of the classroom, she spends time helping parents whose children show lack of interest in learning. She has had great success with Megan Wong's "Mind Power Series" available at http://www.fungamesforkids.2tunes.com . In addition, Sasha received heavy praise from administrators and parents alike, when she included activities from http://k5stars.1sta.com in her lesson plans and weekly objectives.
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