To be politically correct...

The two munchkins are pretty indifferent to music. They'll stop and listen to it when it's there but they don't show as much excitement to it as they would say, their own reflection or a piece of tissue paper. Having said that, music does soothe the savage beast, or in this case, the cry-ful baby. I like singing them to sleep, in a soft whisper tone just by the ear. I usually sing them Sunday School songs because those ones I remember all the words. I tried nursery rhymes too but then decided some nursery rhymes were written by one who was macabre and sick in the head.

Let's see... there's Rock a bye baby who's on the tree top. Now why why why would anyone put a baby on the tree top? Then when the wind blows... obviously not an Asian parent because Asians are petrified of wind...the cradle will rock. At this point, wouldn't the wise thing to do be to take the cradle down since it's precariously rocking in the wind? But no, the bough breaks and the cradle comes down, with baby and all. All the parenting books emphasise the need to establish secure attachments in the baby and surely, leaving a kid on the top of the tree, to fall down at that is surely to keep the kid in therapy for a long long time. And this is assuming that the baby survives the fall in the first place.

I try extremely hard not to be tempted to sing Rock a Bye Baby to the kids even though it's got soothing tones to it. There are other songs I refuse to sing because of their macabre nature as well.

This Little Piggy as well is somewhat disturbing. The piggy went to the market. Why? Probably to get sold off to the other person singing "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig!" So, in my mind, I'm like why is the piggy going to the market if it knows it's going to become char siew? Or worst still, if the little piggy was going to the market to BUY the fat pig! What is a piggy buying a fat pig for? Hog servitude? Hog cannibalism? Singing about cannibalism to kids? No.

It's a pity though because the rhythm in it makes the kids chuckle. And then there's the inherently racist song about Indian boys that purports to be teaching counting amd numbers. I decreed it very much earlier on as a non kosher song much to the puzzlement to my in-laws whose repertoire of nursery rhymes consisted of that and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So I relented and told them they could use the tune and add in whatever they wanted. I demonstrated the UN potential of the song to them by going on abt Kenyan, German, Asian, Aussie etc boys and girls ( it had to be 2 syllables). I think at that point, my in-laws must have been questioning the wisdom of my parents educating me so much especially if I was going to be spewing all this pseudo intellectual crap at them when all they wanted to do was sing to my children. Just like how they, as well as their son, my husband and my children's father are puzzled as to why I have declared that my children's toy chest be a gun and sword free zone. He laments that the children will then have nothing to play with but I'm standing my ground on this one. No guns.

Now, to find more songs that would not offend any sort of sensitivity. Tough.

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