Have Nursery Rhymes Lost Their Way?

A recent survey from the Daily Telegraph newspaper in Great Britain apparently suggests that Nursery Rhymes have lost popularity in the ‘noughties'. It is suggested that over two thirds of parents no longer teach their children nursery rhymes or children's songs due to the fact they believe they have no educational value or that they have no time.
So Humpty Dumpty has fallen off his wall one last time, Jack and Jill are going through the process of separation, Old Mother Hubbard has finally filled her cupboard and the 3 Blind Mice have had laser surgery! Oh yeah?
If this has any foundation in the truth then what a massive shame, what a disappointment that today's generation of parents are missing out on this wonderful option of sharing time with their child, building a closer relationship and singing and having fun together. What a true shame that the child will not have such a lovely vehicle on which to base early language and music skills in the early years of their lives, what a pity that their imagination into the true gems of tales and stories will not be inspired.
Recently I was asked as the producer of The Nursery Rhymes Collection - 33 Musicians Create A Nursery Rhymes Masterpiece - to visit a local radio station (Heart 106, Nottingham, UK) as an apparent ‘expert in the field' to discuss this and defend this claim. I put to them that I personally believed that the state of children's music, especially the quality of production was partly to blame. The cheap nasty recordings and ‘twee style' vocals just don't appeal in today's age where the parent is used to listening to well produced electronic music and high class bands. The thinness of these products just cannot survive in this new world and as a result the parents refuse to listen to them; they shrug them aside in favour of a different activity, probably TV or computer games. The poor child of course has no choice and knows no difference.
A new collection of Nursery Rhymes, arranged and recorded in England, is actually (but accidentally) timed to perfection to address this new demand; with the desire to meet parents' expectations of quality and with classic and modern styles interlaced into the recordings the parents can actually think "Oh that ‘aint too bad; in fact it reminds me of something I know and love and oh look…my child loves it too"! I believe we are well placed to pick up the burning torch and wave it vigorously in the face of the doubters and be all ‘pro-nursery rhymes'. I believe the new Nursery Rhymes Collection can go some way to bring the joy of this medium back to children and parenting in a stress free way, allowing both the child and parent to enjoy a precious moment in time together over a tune or two in a high quality way - without the parent thinking to themselves that they just can't abide what they are having to listen to.
As for the accusation of "not educational enough" you can see on The Nursery Rhymes Collection there is an entire section of music purely addressing the learning effect of nursery rhymes; early introductions into the alphabet, the number system, English language, different languages, putting things in an order, remembering things in turn, learning to sing a tune and dance, learning rhythm, learning the animals and their noises (via the accompanying website) - learning the instruments; how they sound, what they look like and all before the age of four years old. Well if that isn't educational then I don't know what is!
As for the accusation of "not having time"; well as a parent of young children myself, well of course I can appreciate that, but come on; these people have to make that time; it's not easy…but always ‘possible'. So ‘no excuses', get on with it, make that time and don't miss out on what can be an extraordinary time with your child, watching them grow, learn, develop language and simply have fun all through the medium of the nursery rhyme. So buck up guys and girls, let's get on the case, lift Humpty Dumpty back onto his wall, listen to the free samples of The Nursery Rhyme Collection and explore the possibilities…let's face it - this is ‘tradition' and we all need some tradition in our lives!

For more information please visit The Nursery Rhymes Collection.