Values in Children's Songs
Are nursery rhymes indicators or indoctrinators of a culture?
May 25, 2006 Katrien Vander Straeten
Fairy tales delve deeply into the subconscious fears and desires of humankind. Nursery rhymes do the same for a particular culture. As such they are rich in indicators of a culture's most precious values. But can they also be regarded as indoctrinators?
The nursery rhyme is certainly an ideal vehicle for cultural indoctrination. They are lessons in the cradle, soaked up by infants who do not even understand the words, and later sung without thinking (see a Dutch example). They come under the guise of clean fun and amusement: a song for going to sleep, a song for play, a song for the road.
But in most cases the lyrics go at least a century back, and they often promote outdated values. These may be harmless, outmoded maxims. Or they may be wholly unsuitable, even detrimental to a society.
Examples?
A mild example, or strong, depending on your views, is the condoning of corporeal punishment for children, which you find in songs in most cultures. Read this Dutch song, Klein Klein Kleutertje:
Klein klein kleutertje,
wat doe je in mijn hof?
Je plukt er alle bloemetjes af
Je maakt het veel te grof
Mamaatje die zal kijven
Papaatje die zal slaan
Klein klein kleutertje
Ga hier maar gauw vandaan
(Little little toddler / What are you doing in my garden? / You're picking all the flowers You're making a mess / Mama will scold / Papa will hit / Little little toddler, Get away from here quick)
A more recently destructive value is the rampant consumerism that is wreaking psychological, sociological and ecological havoc in the world. The first song that comes to mind is the American song Hush, little baby, which comically invokes the desperate parent who will do anything to soothe a crying baby, but manages to send an unabashedly consumerist message:
Hush, little baby, don't say a word
Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird
If that mockingbird don't sing
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring
Etc.
The society that sings these songs to its children may already have discarded them and laugh at the clichés. Or it may still be struggling to leave them behind... unknowingly singing to its youngsters the nursery rhyme, that innocent song, that ultimate conservative machine.
Related articles:
Nursery rhymes lost in translation
Some nursery rhymes are just shocking!
Should we revise nursery rhymes?
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