Gentler Times

As my children are both nearing their teens and I have less control over their lives, I think more and more about the choices they will be making. Let's talk music for one.
I love and enjoy all types of music and encourage my kids to " try it before you say you don't like it". We all listen to and give a fair chance to classical, rock, folk, jazz, blues, opera, hip hop, pop etc etc. They both have ipods and I ( because I pay)download songs for them. They tell me the songs and I download them. Now, I download the clean versions of the songs and they have no problem with that. That in itself got me thinking.....
There's alot of "explicit" music out there. Pretty soon my kids will be buying their own music and listening to whatever they want. I was a little worried about that and it got me thinking to a more gentle time when I had total control over what my children heard. Here's some of it......

Rock- a - bye, baby, on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down will come baby, cradle and all. (Sweet dreams!)

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kinds horses and all the kings men,
couldn't put Humpty together again. (Oh well. They tried)

Goosey, goosey gander,
Whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs,
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers.
I took him by the left leg
and threw him down the stairs. ( wouldn't you?)

Rub -a -dub- dub
Three men in a tub,
And how do you think they got there?
The butcher the baker, the candlestick maker,
They all jumped out of a rotten potato,
"Twas enough to make a man stare ( huh? It doesn't even rhyme!)

Sing a song of sixpence,
a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie ( yuk!)
When the pie was open'd
The birds began to sing ( ah! hot! hot!)
Was not that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in the counting house
Counting out his money ( three for me, none for them, five for me, none for them)
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes ( sigh)
When down flew a blackbird,
And pecked off her nose.

What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And all things nice,
That's what little girls are made of.

What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails ( cut off tails?!!)
That's what little boys are made of.

So, I rethought the censorship thing. There's not much that I can think of that's more horrifying than the gentle nursery rhymes of yore!!!