Ali has a new “musical nursery rhyme” CD that is her new favorite obsession.

When we got in the car yesterday, Ali begged me to “please play new CD!!”, so I put it in, and the following song started off . . .

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread,
Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

Ali, thrilled that I was playing her new CD, broke in at this point and in her most thankful voice, said “Thank YOU Mommy!!”

Next song:

Goosey goosey gander, whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs in my lady’s chamber.
There I met an old man who would not say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

Ali: “Yay New CD!!”

Besides these two, other features of the CD are:

  • the knave of hearts getting beaten until he was full sore,
  • a baby falling from the tree top, cradle and all,
  • a dog starving to death because the cupboard was bare,
  • two kids falling down a hill and breaking their crown,
  • an egg falling off a wall and smashing to pieces,
  • and kittens crying because they lost their mittens and were punished by getting no pie.

Maybe the strategy here is to tell your kids these horror stories called “nursery rhymes” to let them know how good they have it?

“See, Ali? Mommy has never whipped you soundly and sent you to bed without any food because she felt overwhelmed.”

Or, when Ali starts asking for a little sister – “But you don’t want Mommy to turn into the old lady in the shoe, who had so many kids she didn’t know what to do. . . “

5 thoughts on “Who Needs TV To Teach Kids Violence?

  1. I did read somewhere that those nursery rhymes and fables were written to “scare” children into submission. But I don’t know how well it worked, because I know I never picked up on that stuff as a child, and all children love nursery rhymes, which means they must not be too threatening. I bought a book of nursery rhymes and was also appalled at what they were about. I now have a Christian Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes book that is MUCH better!

  2. Get the Mother Goose Nusery Rhymes and lose the one you have please. I thought nursery rhymes my Mom said to me were like; “Fuzzy wuzzy wuz a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, fuzzy wuzzy was’nt very fuzzy was he?” or Mary had a little lamb. LYB, kitty

  3. It’s just all in fun. These are very important moral lessons for Ali to learn. You don’t say your prayers, you get thrown, by your left leg, down the stairs. I cannot, will not, miss out on teaching Ali that valuable lesson!!

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