Having subjected myself to listening nursery rhymes so often for Stavya, I seem to have uncovered a pattern in most of the popular ones. I find them all to be running a thread of negative connotation.
To start with, consider Jack and Jill. The rhyme ends with Jack falling and breaking his crown and Jill tumbling after (though this version has been extended, I find it puzzling that you can mend your head with vinegar and brown paper). Why would they fall?
The moral of this rhyme seems to be that if you embark on a rugged task metaphorically similar to climbing a hill you will fail. You will harm not just yourself but also the people with you and people supporting you.
I would prefer Jack and Jill to be something in this effect: Jack and Jill go up the hill to fetch a pail of water, but instead to their astonishment they find an oil well. They sell the oil in a controlled, monopolized market and become millionaires. This was how the Middle East oil wells were capitalized and the Sheikhs were discovered. Jack was actually Jalaluddin (pre-oil well stumble) and Sheikh Sultan Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Mu'mina Khātūn (post-oil well stumble).
Contradicting to the original rhyme, my rhyme would teach the toddlers that embarking on rugged tasks could just have unexpected, unpredictable – something pleasant – outcomes. Work indifferently.
Three Blind Mice. Being blind is tragic enough and having the farmer’s wife cut off their tails with a carving knife for no apparent reason is horrific.
The mice probably didn’t know what they were doing wrong. In their defense they were blind. Instead the farmer’s wife should have built a small nest for them to eat in, rest in and feel safe in. In return to her kindness they would remain clean, healthy and respectful of their boundaries.
This will encourage the kids to be supportive of their less fortunate (health, wealth, mental and physical) peers. We should teach them to share what they have with the people who don’t.
Little Miss Muffet. Is this the reason why people have arachnophobia? This is singing to unexplained fear? Why couldn't Miss Muffet be courageous and fight the venomous spider or be courteous and share some of what she was eating and make a new friends that is “not like me”?
Hickory Dickory Dock. I find it similar to Miss Muffet. Fear of sound or suddenness or sudden change.
Rock-a bye Baby. When the wind blows the cradle will rock and if the bow breaks the cradle will fall. Why should the cradle fall with a slight blow of a wind? Didn’t daddy fasten the cradle well enough? Doesn’t daddy care enough?
Humpty Dumpty. In the original one, he falls and no one can put him together again. This is probably an idiom for death by an accident.
Its Raining, its Pouring. The old man hits his head and couldn't get up in the morning. This is another death idiom.
Miss Polly had a dolly. A song about a little girl falling sick and a doctor collecting his check. No mention of recovery? I can’t find anything positive in this.
I would vehemently disagree, if you say these are facts of life, the working on this world and it is important to impart these lessons to our children. This is not the age. This is the fairy tale phase of their lives and we shouldn't ruin it. There is no need to tell them, just yet, the truth about Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy.
Besides, if it wasn't was this entry would have thought of these rhymes in any different way other than being a few poetic lines, recited in pre-school and forgotten soon after?
Having thought of this subject, I checked Wikipedia on Nursery Rhymes and found this. It turns out most of my observations are right. Though speculations, there is one school of thought that believes there are hidden anti-authority meanings to these rhymes.
I feel there is a need to update these ancient rhymes to something fresh and current.
I almost liked the effort Super Simple Learning has put into Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Little Snowflakes. But then I realized they are a little too full of a love story – a lonely boy suddenly meets a girl, has a few fun filled memorable moments and falls in love.
To start with, consider Jack and Jill. The rhyme ends with Jack falling and breaking his crown and Jill tumbling after (though this version has been extended, I find it puzzling that you can mend your head with vinegar and brown paper). Why would they fall?
The moral of this rhyme seems to be that if you embark on a rugged task metaphorically similar to climbing a hill you will fail. You will harm not just yourself but also the people with you and people supporting you.
I would prefer Jack and Jill to be something in this effect: Jack and Jill go up the hill to fetch a pail of water, but instead to their astonishment they find an oil well. They sell the oil in a controlled, monopolized market and become millionaires. This was how the Middle East oil wells were capitalized and the Sheikhs were discovered. Jack was actually Jalaluddin (pre-oil well stumble) and Sheikh Sultan Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Mu'mina Khātūn (post-oil well stumble).
Contradicting to the original rhyme, my rhyme would teach the toddlers that embarking on rugged tasks could just have unexpected, unpredictable – something pleasant – outcomes. Work indifferently.
Three Blind Mice. Being blind is tragic enough and having the farmer’s wife cut off their tails with a carving knife for no apparent reason is horrific.
The mice probably didn’t know what they were doing wrong. In their defense they were blind. Instead the farmer’s wife should have built a small nest for them to eat in, rest in and feel safe in. In return to her kindness they would remain clean, healthy and respectful of their boundaries.
This will encourage the kids to be supportive of their less fortunate (health, wealth, mental and physical) peers. We should teach them to share what they have with the people who don’t.
Little Miss Muffet. Is this the reason why people have arachnophobia? This is singing to unexplained fear? Why couldn't Miss Muffet be courageous and fight the venomous spider or be courteous and share some of what she was eating and make a new friends that is “not like me”?
Hickory Dickory Dock. I find it similar to Miss Muffet. Fear of sound or suddenness or sudden change.
Rock-a bye Baby. When the wind blows the cradle will rock and if the bow breaks the cradle will fall. Why should the cradle fall with a slight blow of a wind? Didn’t daddy fasten the cradle well enough? Doesn’t daddy care enough?
Humpty Dumpty. In the original one, he falls and no one can put him together again. This is probably an idiom for death by an accident.
Its Raining, its Pouring. The old man hits his head and couldn't get up in the morning. This is another death idiom.
Miss Polly had a dolly. A song about a little girl falling sick and a doctor collecting his check. No mention of recovery? I can’t find anything positive in this.
I would vehemently disagree, if you say these are facts of life, the working on this world and it is important to impart these lessons to our children. This is not the age. This is the fairy tale phase of their lives and we shouldn't ruin it. There is no need to tell them, just yet, the truth about Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy.
Besides, if it wasn't was this entry would have thought of these rhymes in any different way other than being a few poetic lines, recited in pre-school and forgotten soon after?
Having thought of this subject, I checked Wikipedia on Nursery Rhymes and found this. It turns out most of my observations are right. Though speculations, there is one school of thought that believes there are hidden anti-authority meanings to these rhymes.
I feel there is a need to update these ancient rhymes to something fresh and current.
I almost liked the effort Super Simple Learning has put into Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Little Snowflakes. But then I realized they are a little too full of a love story – a lonely boy suddenly meets a girl, has a few fun filled memorable moments and falls in love.
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