Dear LPG readers,

I would like to talk about something   most of the people of an age to have any interest in reading the pages of this website will have not given a second thought to for many a year. 

I am talking about all the nursery rhymes which most of us have long since given up any interest in unless we have recently acquired a new grandchild, godchild or other association with a member of the very young. 

At least one is almost guaranteed to come to mind and to the tongue when you meet any baby for the first time, especially if your encounter is prolonged and the one on one ‘coochi coo’ session has run out of momentum.  

 
And now that I have mentioned them I am guessing that at least some of the people reading my words can almost hear the odd one going through their minds.

The latest addition to my family has resulted in my baby sitting skills being called upon on occasion; a chore that I am happy to reassume from time to time.   This is the reason that I found myself doing a little research into the subject of some of the classics.  Although, I have to admit to being a little surprised at what I found.  While most of the more modern mini verses focus on simple subjects designed to teach our little ones their Alphabet and other basic life skills, the internet recently taught me a few things that I did not know about the classic rhymes that so many of us learn as a matter of course. 

The internet informs that the ‘Ring of Roses’ tells the story of the 12th century black death or the great plague of 1666 while ’Contrary Mary’ and her garden, is a nod to Queen Mary 1st who, during her reign, was also known as Bloody Mary due to all the people she had put to death because of their religious convictions.  I read that many of the early ones started as ways of passing on news about 400 years ago when most of the world was illiterate and though, in true Chinese-whisper style, some of the words and meanings have evolved, the origins of many of those innocent little rhymes will take on a whole new meaning once you learn a little more about where they began.

As a grandma I have learned a few new ones and each new child grows up with a succession of them but the classics are still well known even among today’s little ones.  

I have to say that having learned a little more about their history there are a few that I will avoid the next time I feel the need to start a recital… 

OC, Crofton Park 

OC  offers some of the somewhat dark information she learned while writing her message…

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