A Grimm Reminder: Tales from the Crib
I often stumble upon news articles lamenting that children witness too much violence on TV. I’m not here to argue whether that’s true or not, but I do think the authors of those articles are hypocrites. I mean, children have always been exposed to traumatizing amounts of violence. Why start caring now?
Exhibit A:
“Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.”
What kind of sicko dreams up putting a baby in a tree and letting the wind play havoc? Surprisingly, this literal death threat has been around since 1765, and yet parents happily serenade their little ones with it, wearing grins like it’s all sunshine and rainbows.
I mean, close your eyes and actually envision what this nursery rhyme is saying. I imagine Jigsaw from the Saw movies rubbing his hands in glee, waiting for the cradle’s bough to snap. And in the background, Rob Zombie is belting out “Let the Babies Hit the Floor.”
What the hell did the baby ever do, anyway? It’s not like he deserved this horrible treatment. What crimes can a person commit at five months? Pooping in a diaper isn’t frowned upon until you’re at least thirty.
And did you know “Rock-A-Bye Baby” is touted as one of the first poems ever written on American soil? Well, sheesh. That was quite the promising start for the country.
But let’s get back to the point. Long before TV shows and video games were scarring children, we had Mother Goose, or as I like to call her, Murderer Goose.
Murderer Goose is also the mastermind behind classics like “Jack and Jill.” You know, the one where Jack severely injures his head and Jill spasms uncontrollably while plummeting to her death.
And then there’s “Humpty Dumpty.” The main character, the hero, takes a tumble off a wall, and bam! His innards go splat all over the King’s men. No little kid should be subjected to this. It’s cruel, and besides, the pain sounds egg-cruciating.
We’ve been force-feeding our children a diet of violence since birth. Maybe we should slap a legal disclaimer on these tales, just for laughs. How about: “Hansel and Gretel: Rated C for Cannibalism.”
All jokes aside, violence has been part of children’s lives for quite some time now. Television, ironically, might be the only opportunity for kids to see any happiness at all.
117 Comments
Olivia
Haha. Is that in any way influenced by my fairytale idea? 😀 If it is, I'm proud. I suppose humpty dumpty and hansel and gretel are fairytales.
Tiara .
I never really thought of it like that. I did once sit down and think of the nursery rhyme "rock a bye. baby". also, i don't know if you know of the barney hooker song? I saw it on youtube.
I don't sing rock a bye , baby to my little sister/brothers. lol I sing " twinkle , twinkle , little star ". Lol
Julia
Yeah. But I've just always wanted to know what it's like to host. And hey, it's fun! 😛 I only have 50 cents in my Paypal account (OMG, poor!) and I don't have enough to pay for the third year. 🙁 I really want to keep the domain, but I'm broke. 🙁
LOL, you so got that right. Why start caring now? I've seen more than enough violence. WOW, I never noticed that part in Rock-a-Bye-Baby!
Haha, yeah. Every "childrens' story" has some violence in it. Why have I never noticed it?
So far so good. 2010 isn't so bad. Well, now it isn't but I can't tell. I hate going back to school though. Ugh.
Fia
The New year's been merciful to me so far. I'm doing great. How about you? 🙂
Fia
Aww. This is my third attempt so submit a comment. I don't understand why they don't recognize the code I type in. Sucks.
I hope this one finally shows. LMAO
Pocci
Haha I'll promise to be mature under your watch x3
I don't have a vacuum but I just get tissues or something and wipe my desk over and over. It's a bit like OCD but I'm not that addicted to cleaning. :3
Thanks! You too!
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LOL. I don't really care about these things. Screw the media xD Seriously, the other day I was looking at magazine covers and they're all like, blah blah is half their size! Look how great they look! then the next magazine was like, Hollywood's obsession with thin. It happens everywhere.
I can imagine that nursery rhyme though. It's kind of disturbing.
Haha, I think everyone takes nursery rhymes lightly. TV is just…there. 😛
Janice
Whoa yeah, children are not supposed to see violent scene on TV. There are a lot of children in my country who saw those violence on TV and they followed that deed! And the result is: those poor innocent children died. 🙁 I pity them.
Alex
Oh my gosh, I was just talking about that! I was telling my mom how scarring Rock-A-Bye Baby is and she told me she started singing it to me once when I was extremely little, then heard what she was saying, and never sang it to me again. XD
They should create some kind of new super hero, whose arch enemy could be Mother Goose, secretly Murderer Goose, like the sweet old lady who is really evil. It would be action packed and not really kid friendly. XD
Hahaha! Your story you created with my generator thing was great! Did you just happen to be the magical pony?
I'm glad my parents never had to lecture me on the vices of drowning children at the aquarium. 🙂
Nancy
I would almost eat anything. Except for, the obvious. But I`m still picky with food :(. But then again, I stand out way too much compared to the other Asians in my school. Just because I take part in interest of opposite things. But it`s all cool. B)
Kathy
2010 actually isn't a great start for me. FIRST I brought home the wrong jacket from school and I don't know who took it. 🙁 How about you?
Haha I never thought about that with the song. Great song for children, eh?
Bonnie
haha i think the dolls are so cute ! i think youre talking about the turtles 😛
omg. this topic has been dicussed so many times in school. we blame the media for everything… kids don't follow EVERYTHING on tv. everyone's exposed to violence, doesn't mean everyones real violent.
Nancy
There`s 4 that I know of within a 10 mile radius of where I live. 🙂 Too many fast food`s here in the west 🙁
Basically, it is a white castle of tacos 🙁 but they`re some good tacos. Haha, an asian eating a taco :O! Not that common around here.
Nancy
King taco is this _ (idk if it`s American or Mexican) owned restaurant/fast food thingr that sells burritos, tacos& stuff. 🙂 Though the thing I hate about this, is that it sells small tacos :(.
Kendra
I know this is a serious topic, but lmfao you are hillarious! as is your site. hahah i love it!!!
and i agree all this censorship stuff is bullshit.
Chynna
The media are so stupid.
It's like this thing I saw about Tom and Jerry being too violent.
Ack, people these days.
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