Are nursery rhymes dead?

[Boopuff]

Years ago we actually did a nursery rhyme unit in our pre-K class... It was a lot of fun. Of course as time marched on the dreaded "curriculum nut jobs" took all that away. Of course we had a nutty co-worker who thought "ring around the rosie" was about the holocaust. Another sad fact is that so many children live their lives around technology. Heck when my kids were little we'd listen to "kid music" in the car and we didn't even have a tv/dvd player to entertain them! they sang along!

 

[Kittyblue]

I remember having a book of nursery rhymes as a kid, but I don't think I've shared any of them with my girls when they were little.

 

[penn19]

For a little gallows humor, I guess today's most popular nursery rhyme should be "Ring Around the Rosie".

I thought the same thing! Maybe in a couple hundred years we will have a nursery rhyme!

 

[ronandannette]

I thought the same thing! Maybe in a couple hundred years we will have a nursery rhyme!

What rhymes with "flatten the curve" and "meth gator"?

 

[GreatLakes]

Does Jack and Jill have some meaning that I'm unaware of? I thought it was about a boy that bumped his head....

I am not sure if it is factual or urban legend but many of them were always said to have hidden meanings, usually involving British Royalty.

 

[violina]

Parents reading to kids - does that even happen anymore? Or do they just push a video of someone else reading at them at bedtime?

I can't speak for every parent out there, but I certainly read to my kiddo. He's still very young, so we only can get through 2-3 books a day, if I'm lucky. I do play videos of other storytimes/reading to him as well, however that is in addition to my reading to him and not as a replacement. I do this because I'd like him to see other people and it helps me find new books to add to our collection.

Are children just not learning nursery rhymes anymore?

I think they are? But again, can't speak for all parents out there. I'm not great about singing, however I have a playlist of nursery rhymes that I try to singalong with. There are a few that I do know and I sing those to him. But there are a lot of variations out there, so it's hard to keep up.

 

[only hope]

I think several of them have some painful or negative component. Many aren't happy, fun rhymes. Humpty Dumpty is another one. Also Rock-A-Bye Baby, Sing A Song Of Sixpence, London Bridge is Falling Down, Ring Around the Rosie, Three Blind Mice, There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

Fairy tales are dark too, the original stories anyways. But so is life- this is a way of preparing children for that. Not that life is all doom and gloom for most people, but neither is it all rainbows and puppies. I still have my nursery rhyme books too, plus I was exposed to them on Barney (still can’t believe Barney isn’t on tv and saturated into culture anymore!), tapes I played in my kiddy tape player, and cartoons.

 

[mmouse37]

We sing Nursery Rhymes to our grandkids all the time....they know many of them. They also LOVE watching "Little Baby Bum" which is a TV show that has animated characters acting out all the classic nursery rhymes. The bright colors in the animation and songs hold their attention.

MJ

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I think people still recite nursery rhymes but only while the kids are too young to actually remember them. I think what allowed people to remember the rhymes as kids was watching our mothers/grandmothers recite them to younger siblings and cousins, but now families are smaller with kids closer in age--those large, close-knit extended families are a thing of the past. So nursery rhymes die. For instance, my son remembers nursery rhymes because he was 8 when his sister was born so he heard me recite them tohis sister, but my daughter doesn't remember a lot of nursery rhymes, she knows a few that we used to recite to her cousins.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Years ago we actually did a nursery rhyme unit in our pre-K class... It was a lot of fun. Of course as time marched on the dreaded "curriculum nut jobs" took all that away. Of course we had a nutty co-worker who thought "ring around the rosie" was about the holocaust. Another sad fact is that so many children live their lives around technology. Heck when my kids were little we'd listen to "kid music" in the car and we didn't even have a tv/dvd player to entertain them! they sang along!

I learned that “ring around the rosie was about the Plague, hence “ashes, ashes, we all fall down,” The rosy ring was a sign of the disease.

 

[Wendy1985]

We still do nursery rymes in the preschool setting

 

[ford family]

I learned that “ring around the rosie was about the Plague, hence “ashes, ashes, we all fall down,” The rosy ring was a sign of the disease.

In the British version it is "atishoo, atishoo we all fall down " as sneezing was a symptom of the plague.

My favourite was the bawdy American version of Jack and Jill that I heard.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
Each of them had a quarter
Jill came down with fifty cents
They didn't go for water!

ford family

 

[DVC-Don]

They are all pretty much politically incorrect now and if you recite one, it'll keep you from running for public office if found out.

 

[Wendy1985]

In the British version it is "atishoo, atishoo we all fall down " as sneezing was a symptom of the plague.

My favourite was the bawdy American version of Jack and Jill that I heard.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
Each of them had a quarter
Jill came down with fifty cents
They didn't go for water!

ford family

So jack did not fall down the hill jill pushed him?

 

[Magical2017]

I read and recited them when my kids were little. I don't like some of them (ashes, ashes, all fall down?). We still read to our 15 and 11 year old pretty frequently but they don't remember a lot of nursery rhymes. I kept a beautiful hardcover misery rhyme book from my baby shower that they did not manage to color in, Lol. I will pass it along to them someday.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I knew lots of nursery rhymes as a child and was generally familiar with all of the more popular ones. (For context, I’m 39.) The next time I had any use for them was at a baby shower 12-ish years ago. We were asked to play some game that involved remembering the words to the rhymes and, boy, did I lose miserably (as did most people there). I could hardly remember any of them, but what surprised me most was how many I’d never heard of at all. Fast forward to now, this thread made me realize I’ve never read/recited/exposed my children to any nursery rhymes. I’d completely forgotten they were even a thing. But, I also don’t see any compelling reason to start. The books I read to my kids tend to have some educational value (my son is into things like animal compendiums), or the stories teach a lesson or at least have a plot. Nursery rhymes just seem rather pointless to me, like reading gibberish.