Pop songs threaten nursery rhymes

[Miaow]

Hmm have to say i sing a few Wiggles songs to EJ as well as nursery rhymes :)


Pop songs threaten nursery rhymes

Nursery rhymes are in danger of dying out - because parents are singing pop songs to their children instead.
A new survey suggests 40% of parents with young children cannot recite a single rhyme all the way through.
Of the rhymes people did know, most popular were Jack and Jill (19%), Humpty Dumpty (17%) and Ring a Ring o' Roses (12%).
Three quarters of parents surveyed agreed singing to young children was a good way to help them to learn to read.
But 44% of parents said they were singing pop songs and TV theme tunes instead.
Ian Davidson, of the pollster MyVoice, which questioned 1,200 parents for the survey, said that the nursery rhyme was falling victim to market forces.
"It all seems to be to do with choice and relevance. Twenty years ago there were 100 different breakfast cereals to choose from, now there are 300. The old brands such as Kellogg's Cornflakes remain, but there will also be many other options.
"It's the same with nursery rhymes. They will never die out among a core of people, but they are facing more competition in popular culture and they no longer have a clear field any more."
But Janine Spencer, a developmental psychologist at Brunel University, lamented the decline of the nursery rhyme, which she said was of enormous educational value.
"Not only are nursery rhymes an important historical part of our culture, but by singing them to young children you can help speed up the development of their communication, memory, language and reading skills," she said.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2406218.html

[Cordelia]

I agree that nursery rhymes are invaluable to young kids! And the tradition seems to be dying out to singing them... at 7 months my DD recognizes lots of nursery rhymes and reacts to all the funny parts....(humpty dumpty falling down, row row row your boat etc....)

[Sazeby]

I love nursery rhymes.. i sing nursery rhymes to my DD and she loves them esp rocka-bye-baby..i'd hate them to be replaced.
I just can't imagine singing.. avril lavigne's -boyfriend instead of humpty dumpty :rolleyes:

[mysonroger]

i sing nursery rhymes, but alot of them are so negative and horrible and depressing - when you think about what they're actually singing about.

its nice to have some new happier songs to chose from.

[reAllytee]

Boof knows heaps of nursery rhymes not just from me singing them but its something my mum does with him. Its their special thing.

He actually prefers to sing them over the wiggles etc which is funny considering how mad he is about them !

[mum2bubba]

Hayley knows a few nursery rhymes but also alot of songs on Nick Jnr, she is happy either way.

[Beany]

I'd like to know why nursery rhymes are supposed to have more educational value than pop songs ... most of them make no sense whatsoever and aren't any more or any less linguistically challenging than pop songs.

It seems like another neophobic thing.

[SassyMummy]

I only sing a few nursery rhymes to DD... because I can't remember that many of them! Some of them I know the words to, but can't remember the tune... so it sounds really weird when I sing it.

I can't honestly see what the difference is between nursery rhymes and any other song... all are just words put to music. I mean, I wouldn't sing some "let's get naked and shake our booties" type of song to DD (lol - actually, that's not true. I sing that "Shake your booty...Shake your booty," thing by KC and the Sunshine Band to DD all the time...:p ... but you know what I mean...), but some songs don't really seem to be much different.

DD's fave songs are actually the songs from Dora - like theme song, a song Boots sings about his boots, the songs map and backpack sing, and the song the troll always sings.

[bipster]

i sing nursery rhymes, but alot of them are so negative and horrible and depressing - when you think about what they're actually singing about.

its nice to have some new happier songs to chose from.

Just what I was thinking, ring-a-ring-o-rosie is about dying from the plague. Seesaw marjory door is about child labour and what about Rock-a-bye baby - 'and down will fall baby cradle and all' :eek:

Instead of singing traditional English songs over and over forever why shouldn't we be introducing more up to date yet child friendly Australian songs to our kids?

[mysonroger]

why shouldn't we be introducing more up to date yet child friendly Australian songs to our kids?


yeah, like kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.....least he's a happy bird.

[mum_inlove]

Well, i dont sing too many nursery rhymes. Originally from another country, i know almost nothing of the traditional nursery rhymes. But im learning and getting good at it. Lloyd loves row row your boat and incy wincy spider, as well as many pop songs..But basically lloyd just loves my singing, even though i totally make my own nursery rhymes. Lol..Our local library has this thing where mums or dads bring their babies and we sing nursery rhymes together, the little ones absolutetly love it.

[youngones]

I agree that most nursery rhymes are pretty horrific if you actually listen to the words, but I sing them anyway. I'm sure Lily is just laughing at my lame attempts to sing.

When my oldest niece was 2, she told mummy not to sing, as she'd upset the neighbours. My sister was mortified, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious...

[Miaow]

Found this opinion article which gets into the nursery rhyme issue.


Toddlers love Lily Allen, but what about the lyrics?

By Zoe Taylor
July 12, 2007 12:00am



CAR journeys have become bearable for me and my little passenger lately thanks to the help of another lovely lady.

I can barely get out of the driveway without a voice behind me making a familiar request: "More Lily Allen, mummy."

Allen's CD has been a permanent fixture in the car stereo. We clap, we sway and we sing along.

When there is a pause between tracks, the voice assures me: "More Lily Allen in a minute, mummy", and is usually followed by: "Like this one, mummy".

Road trips have become bearable for us girls, and dad has to grin and bear it.

I do, however, have doubts, mainly about Lily's choice of subject matter and vocabulary.

I suspect our Lily CD will mysteriously break. Hopefully, this will occur prior to questions about why Lily sings about smoking weed, chatting ****e and having another line.

I am hanging out because the alternative might be a constant diet of nursery rhymes.

We love nursery rhymes, and their value in terms of developing memory, language and reading skills cannot be underestimated. But I do not love it when the "wheels on the bus" are rotating continuously in my head.

Apparently, we are not alone. There were warnings this week that the tradition of singing nursery rhymes is in danger of dying out.

Four out of 10 parents cannot recite a single nursery rhyme all the way through, according to the British research.

While three quarters see the benefit of singing to youngsters, the same proportion admit replacing traditional ditties with pop songs or TV theme tunes.

The line should probably be drawn somewhere before Ms Allen. It is only a matter of time before I hear some of her less savoury lyrics are sung back to me by my toddler.

While it is fine when Lily sings "Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why, would I wanna be anywhere else', she also refers in the same song to "a pimp and his crack *****".

Expletives aside, does it really matter whether she is learning about language by reciting traditional rhymes or the theme to the Teletubbies? (Yes, it does still occasionally come out of its box).

After all, the nursery rhymes themselves are far from sweet and innocent. Take, for instance, the man who went to bed and bumped his head and didn't get up in the morning, or the woman who lived in a shoe, whipped her kids soundly and sent them to bed.

My most vivid memory of nursery rhymes is Oranges and Lemons, with its climax of: "Here comes the chopper to chop off your head; Chip, chop, chop, chop; The last man's dead", believed to originate from public executions in London in the 1780s.

Maybe Lily Allen isn't so bad after all.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22060768-5007146,00.html