Have nursery rhymes gone out of fashion?
Categories: Babies, Toddlers, Fun & activities, Places to go / holidays, Development
Many parents no longer sing nursery rhymes to their children because they are too old-fashioned, according to a survey.
Apparently only 36% of parents regularly use nursery rhymes with their kids, while almost a quarter admit they have never sung a nursery rhyme with their child.
I'd love to know how these parents survive long car journeys.
After a five-hour trip back from the in-laws with our 11-month-old this Christmas, my throat was hoarse.
I had been singing all the way home to keep our daughter entertained – and it made me realise I need a bigger repertoire.
According to the survey carried out for National Bookstart Day this year, the nation's favourite nursery rhyme is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
The rest of the top ten were Incey Wincey Spider, Round and Round the Garden, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The Grand Old Duke of York, If You're Happy and You Know It, Humpty Dumpty, This Little Piggy, Ring a Ring a Roses and I'm a Little Teapot.
But believe me, that doesn't cover more than a couple of junctions of the M25.
When my daughter was tiny I sat down and learnt all the words to Teddy Bears' Picnic, which is another good long one.
I've also stolen quite a few songs from the brilliant Rhymetime sessions which take place at our local library – and at libraries across the country.
When I run out of nursery rhymes, pop songs also make an appearance. The Beatles are good for babies – nice tunes and rhythms. Yellow Submarine is usually a hit.
I've even been known to sing the whole of American Pie on one particularly long, tortuous car journey.
Recently Christmas songs have been popular – Jingle Bells is a particular favourite. But this has made me realise that actually I only know a few words of most Christmas songs and carols.
Sleep deprivation is an issue for many new parents, so what's needed are songs that are easy to learn, preferably repetitive with only a few changes for each verse. That, I reckon, is the ideal formula.
So what are your favourite songs to sing to your children?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Janine Clements 1-05-2010 @ 6:42AM
That's really sad. I'm always singing nursery rhymes with my two year
old. She loves singing and we've got loads of nursery rhyme CDs. It's
a sad sad day when, instead of singing Madonna in the shower, you
sing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!
I like a few of the old favourites like Twinkle Twinkle and Row The
Boat, but mostly prefer the newer nursery rhymes. I get really bored
with the long ones and avoid them.
Favourites include:
Wind the Bobbin Up
Sleeping Bunnies
Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Sing a Rainbow
Dingle Dangle Scarecrow
http://21stcenturymummy.wordpress.com/
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Damian Edwards 3-08-2010 @ 6:09PM
We started singing nursery rhymes soon after the births of both our children, and although our son is only 19 months he happily sings along with Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep and many more. He may not know all the words but it's really helping his speech and I can't imagine his bedtime milk without rhymes.
Last summer we were faced with a six hour journey to Devon and were debating the pros and cons of an in-car Dvd player to pass the time but decided it was the easy option and much more preferable (albeit harder work) to stick to our rhymes and songs.
When my daughter was little she loved to sing and dance to Dingle Dangle Scarecrow but my son's a typical boy and it has to be The Wheels on the Bus... anything do with vehicles!
http://blog.artadventure.co.uk
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