Did you know that nursery rhymes are more violent than TV shows by up to 10X!

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I have learned that traditional nursery rhymes have far more violent scenes than TV shows! A research team in England discovered that an hour of listening to nursery rhymes exposes a child to 10 times more violent scenes than an hour of watching pre-9p.m. programs on British TV. The researchers analyzed violence in more than 25 popular rhymes and in five UK TV channels for two weeks. The findings? There were almost five violent scenes per hour of TV viewing compared to 52 per hour of listening to nursery rhymes. Although the study approach was tongue-in-cheek, the researchers said it still shows that it is too simplistic to blame television alone for children's violent behavior. Examples of vicious rhymes are: humpty dumpty - nasty head injuries from fall, jack and jill - double hillside fall tragedy, simple simon - tongue and finger injuries and thrown to the ground by a cow, six in a bed - repeated bedtime tumbles, and rock-a-bye baby - cradle crashes to the ground from a great height.