The Problem with Poetry…

The Preschooler was reading through a book of nursery rhymes she found in the car this weekend, and I listened with fascination as she recited her original version of “There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.” Here it is, in her own words:

She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

Wagging their tails behind them.”

I think she gets the gist of the poem.

I also think these nursery rhymes of old are highly overrated and tend to be a little on the tragic side.  Have you read any lately?  Consider all the misfortune…

• Jack fell down and broke his crown
• Little Bo-peep lost her sheep
• Little Miss Muffett’s meal was ruined by a “spider that sat down beside her”
• Georgie Porgie ran away
• Old Mother Hubbard had a bare cupboard (therefore, her dog starved)
• Lucy Locket lost her pocket
• Peter Peter put his poor wife in a pumpkin shell
• Humpty Dumpty had a great fall (after which he couldn’t be reassembled)

And, if the nursery rhymes aren’t sad enough, then there’s my least favorite children’s story of all-time…

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.  As you know, things only got worse after the fly, and the ending is catastrophic.

I think it’s time for some more uplifting and inspiring children’s literature around here… maybe some Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein tonight…