The farmer wants a wife

[Anothermothernamegame]

DD 4yo has just started reception, and has been singing this song, which they have taught her.

'The farmer wants a wife... The wife wants a child etc'.

AIBU to think this is a really old fashioned, and fairly sexist song to be teaching kids?

Just for the record, it's a fairly "progressive" school in a fairly "progressive" and sought after neighbourhood.

...and no, I don't usually have a stick up my arse, so might well be overreacting.

@WhoNeedsaManOfTheWorld

The farmer could be non-binary pansexual and the wife could be a demi-girl😇

I always sang it, "the farmer takes a wife," then "the wife has a child."

@Fetchthevet

I can remember a dinner lady doing up the buttons on my coat and touching them one by one saying "Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy, rich man, poor man, beggar man... Ooh, you're going to marry a beggar man!" Bet they don't do that now.

I know that rhyme although with sightly different words.

The same in the main though.

Never heard you're going to marry a beggar! I hope no one does that now!

@JackieChiles

Is this the farmer in the dell? Because the lyrics are the farmer takes a wife, the wife takes a child, the child takes a dog, and so on. Still not exactly 2021 values but as bad as you’ve made it sound.

I think this is the version i know.

Not heard it for about 40 years but yes that sounds right.

Just looked at OP version not a huge difference I don't think.

What I find sad about this thread is that for hundreds of years small children have learned these rhymes (and games) from slightly older children. But instead of playing out, children are kept indoors, or in age segregated class groupings, and are being taught bastardised versions of these old rhymes by overthinking adults.
It’s sad because we are breaking chains of children’s culture that stretched back for centuries.

It’s fun to debate nursery rhymes but even more fun to chant them, sing them in rounds, and learn the dances, claps and skipping patterns.

Ah man I though this was going to say that programme was returning.

For goodness sake, I don't understand why we have to change every single thing to be more "woke" these days. Absolute joke.

Yes, the majority of males would like a female wife and to have kids. No need to change it to suit the snowflakes.

Unclench, OP. FFS.

I thought you were talking about the tv show! Don't overthink.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow er you need to understand the reasons behind this.

Oh it's still going ! morning all!

It always amuses me how many comments are 'stop fretting / unclench / let it go / snowflake'.
It was just a brief eye roll I had, which I accept was a bit daft, I've certainly not lost any sleep over it so you can all be reassured that I'm not going to be writing a letter of complaint to the school lol.

It also had nothing to do with the sex of the farmer or wife, but thanks all for reminding me that the farmer could be any of the hundreds of genders or sexualities that apparently now exist in 2021.

Ha, I once took very little Gdd to a Rhyme Time thing at the library - didn’t know all the songs, but when it came to Miss Polly Had A Dolly I sang out lustily.

But 😱 I hadn’t realised that nowadays the doctor came with her bag and her hat - TBH I was surprised that they didn’t chuck me out on the spot and tell me never to darken their doors again. 😂

I've just come to the library and seen this in the Wheels on the Bus book and had to rush here to share 😂 chatter isn't just for mummies!

@MolyHolyGuacamole

I've just come to the library and seen this in the Wheels on the Bus book and had to rush here to share 😂 chatter isn't just for mummies!

Haha brilliant !

@NiceGerbil, I am proud to say that I believe I remember the whole damn lot of Found A Peanut (wasn't sure how it all remained intact in there but my DD is now of Brownies/Cubs/School Trip age, and so for a brief moment I earned her respect...)

One of the things I did like about updated/messed around nursery rhymes is the coda at the end of the sheep-based one, where the Master, the Dame and the Little Boy all bother to say thank you.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Ha, I once took very little Gdd to a Rhyme Time thing at the library - didn’t know all the songs, but when it came to Miss Polly Had A Dolly I sang out lustily. But 😱 I hadn’t realised that nowadays the doctor came with her bag and her hat - TBH I was surprised that they didn’t chuck me out on the spot and tell me never to darken their doors again. 😂

Oh, I'm a nanny and I sing this version to the kids 😂

Not RTFT but it is, or was, a TV show in Australia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer_Wants_a_Wife_(Australian_TV_series)

It’s fine.

It's a bloody nursery rhyme. Acceptable then is acceptable now- people are far too sensitive

It is really old fashioned, but I don't think it will hurt.
We brought a game called the Game of Life, I was surprised that it had a get married square, and one for have kids, but no divorce the cheating twat or any divorce options. You get money for getting married and your anniversary.
The pegs are pink and blue too, but when I play it with my son, I go, when it says get married, I go shall mum by gay to day and marry a woman or a boy.
I have done this since getting the game, it's supposed to be a game of life, but doesn't have, divorce or, job loss.

I go shall mum by gay to day and marry a woman or a boy

I do hope you mean a woman or a man!

Oh I loved “The Fox” haven’t heard it for approx 45 years. As a child, I had a vinyl record of Jon Pertwee (early 70’s Dr Who!) singing it.

“John! John! The grey goose is gone and the fox is in the town-o!

And the unforgettable

“He didn’t mind the ‘quack quack quack’ and the legs all dangling down-o”

Tattooed on my brain forever.

I would over analyse this too .