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.

and no, I don't usually have a stick up my arse, so might well be overreacting.
Well, you do now, and yes you are.

@MauvePinkRose

I know where the OP is coming from with this.

Yes, people can eye roll and ‘oh, it’s a nursery rhyme’ but there are some traditional songs we don’t sing now because they are - unpalatable, referencing slavery and so on.

The farmer wants a wife comes from when farmers would actually BUY a wife (often underage) so I’m not sure it’s suitable. But to be fair I doubt the school have thought that much about it.

When did farmers buy wives?

BTW, if you're going to complain about nursery rhymes I wouldn't start there!
Lucy Locket is about hookers, Goosey Gander is about religious persecution, baa baa black sheep is about the medieval wool tax and rock a by baby is about the Glorious Revolution......

It’s great it’s actually become less sexist over the years. In the 70s/80s when we played it the farmer technically had to be male to have a wife (even if often played by a girl). Now no reason the farmer wouldn’t be female.

It was dusty bluebells.

The best think about ring a ring a roses was knowing where it came from. Same with Oranges and Lemons.

As far as this goes, many farmers want wives, many wives want children, and quite a few children want dogs. And I've never yet met a dog that doesnt like a bone! So not sure what the problem is.

@MauvePinkRose did farmers buy wives more than anyone else? And why under age? What age was under age when wives were bought?

Damn it I thought Love in the Countryside was back

@ManifestDestinee

BTW, if you're going to complain about nursery rhymes I wouldn't start there! Lucy Locket is about hookers, Goosey Gander is about religious persecution, baa baa black sheep is about the medieval wool tax and rock a by baby is about the Glorious Revolution......

Dont forget Three Blind Mice where disabled rodents are being maimed.

@GreyhoundG1rl

and no, I don't usually have a stick up my arse, so might well be overreacting. Well, you do now, and yes you are.

Yup

OP That nursery rhyme was made in 1826.

What we have too be careful of is scrubbing out texts, poems, songs, play and books because of the era we are living in when they were made centuries ago. We are going to get to a point where historic texts, songs ect are scrubbed from history because someone took it out of context and got offended.

The Tiger who came for tea was under scrutiny a short while ago.

Farmers may want a wife and the wife may want a baby. The farmer may also be female.

Honestly OP females are literally getting dragged to court for calling a man a man and you are stuck on this?

@ManifestDestinee that's what I love about nursery rhymes. They are bits of our history (often quite subversive) passed down the generations by women and children.

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

This is how we ended up with baa baa rainbow sheep…

@Sirzy

It’s a bit of fun! I really can’t get annoyed at it.

Convince yourself the farmer is a female farmer if it helps!

Yeah, agree 100%, bit of harmless sexism from a young age cannot possibly be a negative. And it's not like there are any kids songs that aren't sexist.

I'd quite like a farmer actually.

@AngeloMysterioso

This is how we ended up with baa baa rainbow sheep…

Exactly.

The farmer wants a wife comes from when farmers would actually BUY a wife (often underage) so I’m not sure it’s suitable

And your evidence for this is.....?

It has never been the U.K. practice to pay a bride price. Royalty and the aristocracy used to marry very young for dynastic reasons but, for most other sectors of society for most of our history, marriage in your twenties was the norm.

But don't let mere facts get in your way 😉

The farmer wants a wife comes from when farmers would actually BUY a wife (often underage) so I’m not sure it’s suitable. But to be fair I doubt the school have thought that much about it.

No it doesn’t. The “farmer wants a wife” is part of the song “The Farmers in his Den” which originated in Germany in the 1820s and was first recorded in Britain in 1898. The song goes from farmer wants a wife, to wife wants a child, to child wants a nurse, to nurse wants a dog, to dog wants a bone and we all pat the bone.

Long after any rural wife sales.

🤦🏼‍♀️

newspaper advert;

"Farmer seeks wife with her own tractor. Send photo of tractor"

It's always struck me as weirdly hierarchical.

Not as bad as mummies on the bus chatter chatter chatter, daddies on bus say shhh shh shh. That gives me the absolute fucking rage watching a bunch of women sing that to their kids in a preschool group. The day a daddy tells me to shh shh shh is the day that daddy on the bus gets told to fuck right off, fuck right off, fuck right off...

How about you sing the farmer wants a spouse instead?

on my!!! the attempts to be 'right on', on this forum, make me howl with laughter at times!