Hi ninelives, gee it took me a while for your post to sink in, but I get the gist of it
The trouble is with those very old traditional English nursery rhymes is they were written by a very different society with a very different set of values and obviously where men were considered the archetypal figures of being the dominant force between the 2 sexes
I have brought up 2 sons also and tbh I never even once thought about the ramifications of the meaning behind the nursery rhymes
At my age especially they were a part of our upbringing and we just accepted them as innocent little ditties
Did they have some type of negative, sinister effect on me/us?
I can only speak for myself, but I don't believe they did for me
Sometimes I wonder if we try to shield our kids too much from the so called negative aspects of life
Life is quite often unfair, and cruel, and I think children need to understand that and not be cushioned excessively from that aspect of it
Both my boys obviously know all the rhymes very well, and I can honestly say imo neither of them have suffered from it
They are both highly intelligent and have come to their own conclusions re the messages in the rhymes and not been adversely affected by it
I have a lot of respect for you ninelives , not trying to be a smart backside, but looking at it like the example you mentioned with baa baa black sheep, could we not also say the same thing about 'Jack and Jill', where Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill didn't
I mean where does it end , really !!
Maybe I'm too preconditioned to these old rhymes but I think we overthink it all way too much
But that's just my humble honest opinion
The worst one obviously tho for me is 'Eeny meeny miney mo'
That's definitely a bit rough, but funnily enough my Mum used to sing it to me and pull all my toes and I used to squeal with delight, and thought it was all great fun
Was it all wrong by my Mum to sing that to me?
Maybe, but she was not a racist in any way, shape or form, so obviously she was brought up to think of it as a normal fun rhyme too
My dear Mum has now passed on, but thankfully I still smile when I recall her pulling my toes and singing eeny meeny, and you know what, it's the act or element of fun that it gave me that makes me smile still, and I cherish that, in spite of the racial overtones associated with that rhyme
Anyhow enough of my spiel, I don't know what to make of it all, maybe I'm too old to change my perception of all this, and I didn't have a daughter, but 2 sons so that's a difference that you mentioned, but I think when I was bringing up my kids , it probably wouldn't have made a great deal of difference to my thinking about it at the time
Just wondering if you've ever discussed this topic with your lovely daughter, and how she feels about it??
Anyway cheers ninelives
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