Nursery Rhymes....what are they thinking?

I'm sure I had listened to nursery rhymes as a kid, and I know I've listened to them as an adult, but I SURE didn't think about paying attention to the words until we were blessed with Junior.  My question is...What in the world are we letting our kids listen to?!?!?  Obviously people didn't think POSITIVE nursery rhymes would be the ticket, so we got some negative and even graphic rhymes....are you kidding me?

Here are a few examples with commentary to prove my case:

London Bridge:

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, Falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
Take a key and lock her up,
Lock her up, Lock her up.
Take a key and lock her up,
My fair lady.

Ok, so not THAT bad, I don't guess, but why do we have to sing about a bridge falling down?  To the rhymes credit it goes on by building the bridge back, but what really gets me is the "take the key and lock her up" line here...I know we are all smart enough to know "her" is the bridge....or is it?  And do the kids know this rhyme means the bridge?  Or are they gonna lock mommy up somewhere one of these days?  Just sayin'...

Three Blind Mice:

Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?

Wow!  Running after the farmers wife and cutting off tails....sounds like a good life lesson to me, eh?  Seems like we are teaching torcher methods to our kids....

This was a rhyme based on Queen Mary I, so called "Bloody Mary"...sexy eh?  Read about it here.

Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, And all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

Now that's a serious fall!  I'm gonna avoid this one to avoid that question, "Daddy, if I fell off the wall, would you put me back together again?"  My reply today would be, "No son, but Obamacare will even if the wall  had a preexisting defect."

Rock a Bye Baby:

Rock a bye baby on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Ok, really....lets try to put our kid to sleep by singing to him how his cradle is gonna fall outta the tree while he's sleeping...Come to find out, the injuns really used to do that to put the babies to sleep....HA, I thought the baby mile was tough, can you imagine climbing up in a tree and making sure that cradle was set just right?  And what did they do when there was no wind?.....read about it here.

Goosey Goosey Gander:

Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

So, we are teaching our child that if old men don't say their prayers we should take them by the left leg...not the right...and chunk em down the stairs?  Hot Mamma had the nursery rhyme CD going in the house one day and I walked by and heard, "take him by the leg leg and throw him down the stairs!"  I stopped and looked at her funny..."What did they just say?"  Hot Mamma, "I don't know" (pressing the back button)  After listening again, Hot Mamma, "Wow, maybe we need to skip that one."  Me, "Maybe we need to throw out this CD if its gonna teach Junior to chunk people down the stairs!"  HA

This rhyme came from the 16th century where Catholic priests would hide (wander), but if caught, they were executed.  Nice...Check that story out here.

Ring Around the Rosey:

Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down!

This one doesn't sound all that bad, but the ashes part got me wondering where this came from....yeah, it's about the plague....let's sing about the plague, doesn't that sound fun!  If interested, read the origination of this one here.

Jack and Jill:

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and lost his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up got Jack, and home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper

Mostly sounds like bad luck, eh?  Then after research I found out the meaning of "losing his crown" meant the King got beheaded and then the Queen (Jill) right after...The History

In closing,some of the TOP nursery rhymes are talking about falling bridges, cutting off tails with a carving knife, falling off walls and not being able to be put back together again, falling outta the tree while sleepin', throwin' an old man down the stairs by his left (not right) leg because he didn't say his prayers, singing about the plague, and be-headings.  I mean, what more could a kid need to have to go to a psychiatrist?  I didn't even talk about the Old Lady and the Shoe....she had so many kids, she didn't know what to do, so she starved them and put them to bed.....I mean, pump me up! 

 

Whats YOUR favorite nursery rhyme? 
I bet most of you are going to check the history of your favorite rhyme on the site just to make sure it's cool.....It's ok...I did and those sites linked above has alot on there.

I think I'm gonna stick to my favorite....Jesus Loves Me....enjoy below!  ;-)