AIBU to not understand the appeal of Wind the Bobbin up?

[Greengage1983]

As in the nursery rhyme. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the Wind the Bobbin up. It’s fine. I have fond memories of singing it myself as a child.

But. I have 2 young children, and we have now lived in 3 separate towns in different parts of the country, and attended dozens of different baby and toddler groups, library singalong sessions, nurseries etc. over the years, and it seems like there are loads of very old traditional nursery rhymes from my childhood (in the early 90s) that seem to have dropped off in popularity that I never hear anymore, which have been replaced by more modern songs, while Wind the Bobbin Up seems to appear at Every. Single. Session. Of Every. Single. Group. Why that song in particular? Do children even know what a bobbin is? Why not, say, Sing a Song of Sixpence, which I don’t think I’ve heard once at a group? Or ring a ring o’ roses - great fun to dance in a circle? Or oranges and lemons - exciting with the arches and the “chop off your head” bit. Or the Hokey Cokey, which was so much fun but I hardly ever hear these days? Can anyone explain what Wind the Bobbin Up has that other traditional nursery rhymes don’t? Also feel free to mention any nursery rhymes from your own childhood that you never hear anymore.

YABU - wind the bobbin up is better than other nursery rhymes and it’s perfectly understandable that it has stuck around when others have not. OR, I have not noticed this phenomenon.

YANBU - I have noticed this, and I don’t understand it either.

Why not, say, Sing a Song of Sixpence, which I don’t think I’ve heard once at a group? Or ring a ring o’ roses - great fun to dance in a circle? Or oranges and lemons - exciting with the arches and the “chop off your head” bit. Or the Hokey Cokey, which was so much fun but I hardly ever hear these days?

Probably because there is almost nothing that an over-sensitive PFB syndrome can complain about in Wind the Bobbin up.

Sing a Song of Sixpence- Animal cruelty (4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie)
Outdated gender roles (King counting money, Queen eating, Maid doing laundry)
Violence (pecked off her nose)

Ring o' Roses- Plague connotations

Oranges and Lemons- Violence (chop of your head)

Hokey Cokey- "My child was crushed in the melee!"

No playgroup leader can be bothered with all that.

“…my sensitive 4 year old is possibly only just ready for the hideous trauma of Oranges and Lemons.”

Hideous trauma? 🙄

Im 52 and had never heard of Wind the bobbin up until I took my dc to playgroups. I never liked it, very dreary but I can see that the actions are easy for very young children

Let's face it, it's better than 'ring a ring a roses' and 'oranges and lemons' because you can stay sitting on your arse while you're doing it, the gold standard for any activity with small children surely?

He struggles with suspense! See also: What's the Time, Mr Wolf.
Also refused to let me read the Gruffalo, and made me turn off Zog and the Flying Doctors because 'how is Princess Pearl going to get out of the castle???'.

Seriously, I loved Oranges and Lemons and was also happily reading the old-fashioned versions of fairy tales where they roll the wicked queens down a hill in a barrel studded with nails at his age.

Easy tune, easy actions and slightly educational.

I went to a playgroup that always ended with the Hokey Cokey. 30 kids and mums, dads etc all Hokey Cokeying. It was actually very good fun. Luckily it was in a big hall.

😂😂😂

Why ever not We used to as small kids. None of us chopped anyone's heads off as adults

I dint get it either. Though I had never heard of it until I was an adult.

It's not seen as appropriate these days

People complain about music today encouraging knife crime etc, but the folk songs I listen to are full of murder and knife crime!

Ridiculous

In my (recent) experience they're about 3 when they start talking about death all the time, and also when their arms get proportionally long enough to do arches. Library rhyme time etc. has a younger demographic.

Totally. One of the folksongs I grew up with from my early childhood, sung at family occasions etc, was a particularly graphic account of infanticide.

When did it become so popular? I’d never heard of it until about 10 years ago - definitely didn’t sing it as a child.

What actions can be done to the other songs compared with WTBU? Do you also believe that baa baa black sheep is banned?
What relevance does Oranges and Lemons have up north?
Sleeping bunnies was a favourite of mine.

My DD is called Poppy and when she was at nursery she misheard the words and thought it was a song called “wind the poppy up”. Must have felt like quite the pile-on with all her friends singing about winding her up!

It was around when my eldest ( mid 30s) was little

😂😂😂

None of them are banned, but playgroup leaders tend to be risk averse and avoid anything that might cause offense. I have heard all of them fairly recently, despite being "up North" but never at a playgroup.

It's a really good rhyme with actions which support fine and gross motor skills, spatial awareness and develop understanding of spatial concepts. Proplecthink nursery rhymes are a bit "throwaway" but they are extremely important in language and speech development. There is research demonstrating that children who regularly sing/ recite nursery rhymes in early years settings are more school ready and learn to read more quickly.

It wasn’t Long Lankin was it? Scarred for life by that one.

I agree OP, I’d never heard of it until my friend had his first child and they got obsessed with it, that’s only about 5 years ago. DC’s nursery seems to do a lovely mix of the old ones too - currant buns in a baker’s shop, 12345, five little ducks and all.

My personal “modern” favourite is “what shall we do with a bouncing baby?” to the tune of drunken sailor. Talk about a crowd pleaser.

YANBU - it is first now if you ask alexa to play nursery rhymes. I am not even sure what a bobbin is - sometimes it is hard to find a window, ceiling, floor and door in short timing if you are not familiar with the room.

I was singing this to my 17 year old the other day and she had zero memory of it, even though we sang it 3-4 times a week at one point. Didn’t stick!