Politically Incorrect

Monkey See Monkey Do Because of a general feeling among many parents and teacher that some topics are politically incorrect for toddlers and young children, I have been thinking about re-writing a few nursery rhymes such as Three Blind Mice, perhaps as follows:

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.

See how they run. See how they run.

They cut off some cheese with a carving knife,

Then ran away from the farmers wife.

Have you ever seen such a sight in your life

As three blind mice.

The part in question from the traditional version are lines:

They all ran after the farmers wife

Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.

The last line of the pair is a bit gruesome.

But then, I thought: as much as we, as parents and teachers, would like to protect our children every day from everything around them, it simply isn't impossible. 

But we can take advantage of nursery rhymes such as Three Blind Mice, and situations like it, to turn each into a teaching moment. 

After reading or reciting Three Blink Mice to the child or children in your care, you may follow with a short discussion. Perhaps the discussion could start something like this, "Cut off their tails? Those poor little mice. Wouldn't it hurt?" Then ask the children for their opinion. 

You may want to repeat the poem periodically for about a week or two, but without the discussion. After a short period, bring up the subject again. And one more time a week or two later. 

Later, if your child or one of your students brings up the topic or does something that reflects the actions of the farmer's wife, at least in a small way, you might want to initiate the discussion again. Otherwise leave the teaching to the natural process of learning and only read or recite the poem. 

Over do a teaching moment, turn it into a habit of moralizing, particularly toward a specific child, and you run the risk of stimulating that child's desire to rebel. 

But leave teaching more in the realm of play and the natural process of learning will follow. Every time you read or recite Three Blind Mice, most children will replay the essence of previous discussions in their minds or subconscious minds. This will naturally lead to good results and better behaviour. 

What is discussed above is not only true of toddlers and questionable nursery rhymes, but is also true of older children and other poems and stories with questionable themes. Catch a child young enough, give him a safe and playful environment to learn in, and he will naturally learn to act humanely.