Mom used to read the Mother Goose books to me until I was old enough to read them myself.

Here is something else to consider. I remember learning from other children a song that is sung to the Battle Hymn of the Republic that starts off, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school.” Perhaps you learned it as well. I doubt that this is something parents teach to children. My guess is that it is a part of children’s culture.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school
Something something breaking all the rules.
We will fight for rights and recess, and to keep our desk a mess….
I hit her on the butt with a loaded coconut (or met her at the door with a loaded 44) now she ain’t my teacher no more!

If first you invent the phonograph then it naturally follows that you sing Mary Had A Little Lamb

In the ages before television, they were stories to amuse children.
These days few people remember who killed Cock Robin.

I learned most of mine in school and when I was in school from K to 3rd grade or so, we use to have story time in the public library. Our teachers use to take us there one day a week to pick up a book and have a story read to us. Nursery rhymes are poems for children so they do have educational value as do fairytales. And fairy tales are often learned in school or by watching some children’s tale. We also use to have a book club in school where we could buy paperback books at a really cheap price. Oh, I just remembered. It was the scholastic book club. Apparently, they still exist.

I read somewhere that the old Ring Around the Rosie All Fall Down has been around since Medieval times and stems from the Black Death. Morbid…

They are all pretty morbid!

Yeah ‘specially the bastardized Disney versions.

No. Disney has nothing to do with the origins.

My grandmother used to babysit for me a lot, and she used to read to me all the time. This taught me a lot of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, fables and songs. It inspired my love of reading and books.

I credit that with the fact that I was so good in school, without having to study much. I should have studied more and tried harder in school, to really excel, but I digress.