In My View - Once in a lullaby

So why do they last? Because human beings love rhymes, especially when they are combined with song. Simple words put to repetitive melodies with strong beats stick in our heads. We use them to express emotions and ideas to others and in doing so we create group identity and bonding with others. Nursery rhymes work in the same way, to nurture and strengthen the bond between a child and its carer. When a mother sings 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' to her baby, she doesn't worry that her baby has never seen a sheep, or will most probably never talk about 'masters' or 'dames' or that some scholars claim the song is a description of the medieval wool tax of 1275. Rather than the actual words the relevant message being imparted to her baby as she sings is, 'I love you, I am looking after you, you are safe.'

Sadly, a Booktrust survey in 2009 revealed that 'the UK is falling out of love with nursery rhymes', with parents claiming that nursery rhymes are simply 'too old-fashioned' and not 'educational'. This highlights the fact that we need to provide parents with songs they love and enjoy singing and help them understand how music can support their child's development of key skills, in particular speech and language.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Michael Gove's education reforms will not hit children's centres, where practitioners continue to value singing as an activity that promotes bonding, confidence and communication skills. Who knows, maybe he will even ringfence funds to be allocated to music training for pre-school practitioners. In the words of another well known song, 'Somewhere over the rainbow!'