Scary songs for children

We’re still learning how to put Kai to bed, or simply to calm him down. Talking and singing softly is one of the things we find works.

We’ve been singing to Kai some of the songs we know from when we were kids. And yes, we already knew that ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep‘ and The Alphabet Song all have the same tune.

But it’s the lyrics of some of the songs that can be scary. Take the Chinese version of Frere Jacques (Are You Sleeping Brother John) for instance.

For one, it’s got nothing to do with a sleeping brother John, but two tigers with what insurance companies call total disabilities. It goes something like:

Two tigers
Two tigers
Running fast
Running fast
One has no eye(s)
One has no tail
How odd
How odd

Don’t bluff lah, what odd? You ate the tail and eyes for medicinal reasons, you Chinese children’s song composer! That’s why the poor cats are running!

Kai might sleep well after, but I’m more afraid of myself going to bed having nightmares of deformed tigers.

So I’ve taken to humming instead, but Naomi thinks that’s copping out. She’s chosen to make up nonsense lyrics which are not scary like Chinese songs are, and which incorporate Kai’s name somewhere, so they could go:

Something something Baby Kai, something something Baby Kai.

But she also found what someone called ‘the best and worst song I’ve? ever heard in my life’, and what’s probably gonna be the song we sing to Kai for until we get sick of it:

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17 responses to “Scary songs for children”

  1. Benjamin Lee Avatar

    From miyagi.sg: Scary songs for children http://tinyurl.com/mjckdx

  2. RT @miyagi From miyagi.sg: Scary songs for children http://tinyurl.com/mjckdx

  3. […] This post was Twitted by jolantru […]

  4. justin guarini Avatar

    Nice blog good content I enjoy reading it! thanks..

  5. hessie jones Avatar

    Hey there. This is a really hot tune and it’s getting a lot of pick-up. My name is Hessie Jones (http://twitter.com/hessiej) and I’m working with Taco Bell Canada. I just wanted to acknowledge you guys who are talking about us. We’ve just got @TacoBellCanada on Twitter and I’m looking forward to doing some really cool stuff with their brand in Canada. Thanks for the post. BTW, we created this really cool Burrito Blaster game on http://tacobell.ca. You should check us out!

  6. jen Avatar
    jen

    all this time i thought my three year old was singing the mandarin equivalent of 3 blind mice! running fast eventhough there's no mention of the butchers wife, but only 1 in 3 was blind and the carving knife only chopped 1 tail! how odd! thanks for clearing that up!

    as for sleep inducers…i found our old ACS hymn book to be an excellent resource. top hits, all of them!

  7. mutuelle Avatar

    my little kid does not fear when we tell him scary stuffs…I don't know why,maybe because he never felt afraid ,I hope someone will tell me something ;thank you

  8. Mr Miyagi Avatar

    I must find the hymnal. But ACS boys should never sing Chinese songs (unless they're Taiwanese pop sensation J.J. Lin, cos if you have $ you area allowed to be a disgrace to the school).
    You thought it was 3 blind mice? I thought there was a version about 3 types of tofu.

  9. mutuelles Avatar
    mutuelles

    thank you for your post

  10. […] Now that Kai is beginning to learn and mimic, we are starting to be more mindful of the songs we sing to him. Especially children’s songs. […]

  11. mutuelleassuronline Avatar
    mutuelleassuronline

    my little kid does not fear when we tell him scary stuffs…I don't know why,maybe because he never felt afraid ,I hope someone will tell me something ;thank you

  12. mutuelleassuronline Avatar
    mutuelleassuronline

    my little kid does not fear when we tell him scary stuffs…I don't know why,maybe because he never felt afraid ,I hope someone will tell me something ;thank you

  13. mutuelle Avatar

    Each and every time my son ever told me he is afraid of whatever non sense people has said to him , I always denunciate the lies to him. Fear blocked success. So why teaching and raising our children in whatever may be fearful.

  14. mutuelle_compareo Avatar
    mutuelle_compareo

    What is the use of living in fear and cultivating and upgrading fear

  15. Mutuelle Avatar

    I've seen this movie somewhere

  16. mutuelle Avatar

    that’s very nice

  17. mutuelle Avatar

    great article,thanks for sharing

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