Have you ever thought about the lyrics to "rock-a-bye baby?"
My toddler, Tot-Tot, has recently been asking me to sing "rock-a-bye baby" to him. I sing it, changing the lyrics from "down will come baby" to "mommy will catch you." Of course, I KNOW that this defeats the whole purpose of the song, which, in my shrink-ish opinion, is to serve as an outlet for maternal aggression. ("All your crying makes me want to throw you from a tree! But I can't, so I'll sing you this sweet-angry song instead," for example...) But, I don't feel particularly aggressive toward my toddler (since now he sleeps all night!), and I don't want to make him scared of falling objects, and I don't want to answer the million questions about how the baby got in the tree, and why he had to fall...so I change the lyrics.
But, now my son has adapted the lyrics even further. He asks me to sing that I am the one up in the tree, that I must fall, and that HE will catch ME.
Touche, Tot-Tot, touche!
Ahhhhh. Hopefully he'll be there when you fall all the time....
ReplyDeleteI have OFTEN thought about the lyrics to that song, as a matter of fact. (And when I sing it, I change them, too!) I completely concur with your opinion. Some mother was at the end of her rope and was all, "Either I sing a satirical song about infanticide, or I actually COMMIT infanticide." Good choice, mother of olden days, good choice.
ReplyDeleteGTM--YES! And it looks like he could be on the big side when he grows up...I should really take his offer seriously!
ReplyDeleteDH--I laughed out loud at your last line!! Excellent.
My mom re-wrote the lyrics to the song too...I wish I could remember what they were.
ReplyDeleteI never understood why it existed until I had a baby, and I agree with your maternal aggression theory 100%, I've actually said something to the same effect myself.
Maybe we need three versions: loving and soft, normal frustrated aggression, and ACTION MOVIE!
Rock-a-bye baby on the rooftop
Here comes a helicopter to pick up the cop
When the guys shoot, the cop will grab fast
And fly off while shooting, like a bada**