Why Are Children's Songs Violent?
Pop Goes The Weasel
Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.
Listen to a lot of kids’ songs and you’ll find they’re about death, poverty, and violence. For readers of The Brothers Grimm this is not a surprise. But why do we sing such dark lyrics so cheerily? “Pop Goes the Weasel” etc.
My theory, less explanatory than Midrashic, is that children help us cope with life’s disturbing elements. By singing about “ashes” (demise) we transform something scary into something nonsensical and funny. In the presence of children we become child-like, able to view unsettling things with innocent curiosity.
What’s your theory?
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