I'm not even going to go into detail on this, but how do you feel about a 2 year old female being taught this song:

"Cute little face, (frame face with hands)
Nice little figure, (rub hips)
Stand back boys, (hand out in a 'stop')
'Til I get bigger."

DH & I both feel that it's inappropriate, so that's what matters, but I'm just curious how anal/overprotective/feminist we are!
Be honest, it's just a poll for curiosity!

By Colette on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 09:29 pm:

totally inappropriate.

By Tink on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 09:33 pm:

There is no way I would be OK with either of my girls singing this!

By Kaye on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 09:56 pm:

Not okay at all!

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 09:56 pm:

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
Keep 'em comin'!

By Juli4 on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 10:02 pm:

not okay with me. I would ask whoever taught her that to stop.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 10:04 pm:

Absolutely totally inappropriate. Good grief - how to teach a little girl how to be a •••• (OK - not very nice female, 4 letters, starts with s and ends with t)!!

Oh, and please - go into details. I'm really curious about the details.

By Hlgmom on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 10:11 pm:

Are you kidding me??? I would flip if someone taught my dd this!
You have to go into details now...we are too curious!

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 10:11 pm:

Agreed, inappropriate! I'm sure if my teens were here, they would agree, too. Yikes!

Not really appropriate for kids the age of mine, either.

By Heaventree on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 10:52 pm:

I agree, let me guess your MIL! I'm right aren't I?

But listen, there were lots of songs and games that we played when we were kids that probably are not politically correct today:

10 Little Indians - some people might be offended by this song

Cowboys and Indians

Enny Meeny Minny Moow catch a ....
The words have been changed on that one.

So I'm guessing that this is a song from the past and the person teaching it is just clued out.

By Hol on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - 11:10 pm:

Totally creepy and inappropriate!!

By Rayanne on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 12:10 am:

Totally inappropriate

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 06:15 am:

No way!

By Tonya on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 08:35 am:

Never. No way!!

By Dana on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 08:38 am:

Would not be sung around here, but it sounds like a song that was sung back in my parents day (they are in their late 70's). Reminds of "The Little Rascals"...I never cared for them either.

Just curious, who is asking a little girl to sing this, certainly not a school class.

By Fraggle on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 08:55 am:

Definitely not appropriate.

By Unschoolmom on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 09:01 am:

eww. Just eww.

By Tripletmom on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 09:08 am:

You're not anal!! Its actually pretty disgusting.If anybody ever taught my DD that song I'd be livid.Taking away the innocence at this age is sickening.Whoever taught a 2yr this song is a big IDIOT.

By Karen~admin on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 09:24 am:

Definitely NOT OK!!! Man, talk about setting a kid up for body image issues............all that makes me sick.

By Bellajoe on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 09:56 am:

No, that is not o.k.!

That reminds me of a song we sang when i was little, that i would never teach my dd:

It's totally not PC!
"Chinese, Japenese (turning corners of eyes up then down) dirty knees (touch knees) Look at these! (pulling shirt out to look like you have big boobs) I have no idea where i heard it, but i would never teach it to my dd.

By Dandjmom on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 10:06 am:

**** to the no, not at or nor at 11 what my daughter is now. I've never heard it , I'm not sure if it is a song that is from years ago or something current. I agree not just is it setting a kid up for body image issues( these models do enough of that ) everyone wants to be skinny, but the words sound just a little to suggestive to me. I hope no one has or has attempted to teach this to your daughter.

Come on we are all friends here you can tell us, please go into details.

By Eve on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 11:23 am:

Whoa. I would be a little shocked at that one too.

The Chinese, Japanese song I remember! OMG--yes, that was bad too!

By Eve on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 11:24 am:

Ok, do you remember Miss Molly had a steamboat? Where do these songs come from?

By Tonya on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 11:34 am:

We have to remember that back when we were our kids age those songs were funny and we didn't worry then about nasty people or anarexic models or the awful things we have to worry about now as reprecutions. Things were allot more free then.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 11:39 am:

Whether things were a lot more free then depended on who you were, Tonya. If you were a white male, they were entirely "free", if you were a white female and middle-class or higher, they were fairly free. Otherwise, not particularly free.

By Melanie on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 11:54 am:

It blows my mind that anyone would think it's okay to teach a child that song!! Absolutely inappropriate!

By Tarable on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 12:11 pm:

I can't imagine teaching my DDs that song now and they are 9 and 11. My oldest says that people at school call her fat and she is 5' tall and weighs about 70lbs... Not an ounce of fat on her body....
We really have to watch what we say and do with girls these days because they get weight complexes at very early ages now.

By Nicki on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 12:34 pm:

The word "tacky" comes to mind. :-(
Tell me Natalie wasn't taught this song! If she was, let's hope she forgets this one forever!

By Andyjoy on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 01:24 pm:

Sick and wrong. Now just dress the 2-year-olds in little shorts with "Hottie" across the butt to complete the picture.

By Mommmie on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 01:34 pm:

I wouldn't teach a child that but I wouldn't freak out if she heard it somewhere else, although I would tell her not to repeat it. I bet a lot of that goes over their heads, sortof like the Chinese one.

Ya know when I was in high school on drill team we did a high kick routine to Pat Benatar's song Hell is for Children about child abuse and we didn't think any of it. I don't know if kids overthink these things like we do.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 01:52 pm:

Well ladies...thank you!!!!!

Some of you guessed it...my precious MIL taught it to her. Mommmie- I wish it would have gone over her head but I happen to have an extremely bright 2 yr old who learns a new song every day, word for word. It was a great skill until now!

MIL started teaching it to her one day right before I left the house. (She was babysitting for about 2 hrs) I stood there SHOCKED and quite honestly speechless. I had never heard this song before and by Natalie's response, I knew that it was also new to her. (My MIL watches her every other week for about 2 hrs.)

Anyway, as some of you know the relationship with my in-laws is not the best and I *do* have a tendency to overreact to anything they do. I blew it off and thought to myself "She'll never hear it again and if she does I'll say something. Maybe she won't even learn it." WRONG.

She did the entire song for us about 2 nights later, in the middle of the family room. DH was like "WHERE did she learn that???!!!" I explained and we agreed that we wouldn't reinforce it all, ignore it if she does it, etc. She hasn't done it since, and MIL hasn't babysat since then either. We're hoping it will just go away, but I'm sure at some point that MIL will start that song up again and then I will stop her dead in her tracks and kindly let her know that we don't care for that song. I only HOPE and PRAY that DH is around when it happens so she doesn't go into 'baby' mode yet again and act like I'm being Satan himself. If she hears it from DH, she'll get the picture better, because I'm quite sure she just thinks I'm a b****.

Anyone who has ever read any other posts about my MIL knows that she's an idiot and has no clue whatsoever. Hence, this inappropriate song.

How can someone not see that as inappropriate?? I don't get that at all, but if you only knew HALF the things they have said about children you would probably fall out.

Thank you for your opinions!!! I wasn't sure it would be an overwhelming "no way", but I was curious. To some, we are a bit overprotective.

I said I didn't want to give details at first because some of you know that I can be hard on my MIL and I wanted an objective opinion!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 02:20 pm:

Good grief! She needs to get a clue! To me, that seems worse than my dad teaching my sisters and I, the bean song. (beans beans the magical fruit...) My mom was a bit miffed that he taught us that! LOL!

I think you are doing the right thing, just not paying attention to it!

By Hol on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 02:28 pm:

I'd be livid, too, if it was my MIL (or anyone else). What comes to mind for me is poor little Jon Benet Ramsey prancing around the stage dressed like a hooker. You might as well put a sign on her that says "pedophiles welcome".

What a clueless woman!

I, too, remember those un-PC songs in my childhood, especially the Chinese one. The adults in my family tended to be racists, but a lot of that WWII generation was. My Grandma had one of those "stable boy" lawn ornaments at the top of her driveway, and it's face was painted black. She also had an "Aunt Jemima" cookie jar. I also remember racist jokes and remarks among the adults. It's pretty disgusting, but at least today, we are more enlightened about many issues. Years ago, we also thought that it was okay to do horrible experiments on animals to test cosmetics and household products. I know that it still goes on, mostly for medical purposes, but at least we are more respectful and sensitive to the fact that animals have feelings and emotions, too.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 02:42 pm:

We had a bit of a scuffle last week, so honestly I'm just chomping at the bit to tell her. I know, it's mean, but I just hope she sings it again!!!

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 02:42 pm:

Hol, you will be pleased to know that most of the testing for whether a shampoo or something will injure a rabbit's eye, and similar kinds of sensitivity testing, is now done on, of all things, zucchini. Isn't that terrific. I can tell you, because my son works in lab animal medicine, that there are very, very strict rules about how the animals are treated. Not too long ago Scott came home furious and in tears because an M.D. researcher had violated the protocols of his testing program and done something that had a dog in constant pain - and Scott had to euthenize the dog and then do the official autopsy so that the lab could learn what had gone wrong. That researcher is now barred from that lab, and I think his funding for that research program has been pulled because he was cited and his license to do animal research was pulled.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 02:42 pm:

Hope my MIL sings it, that is....

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 04:15 pm:

Tacky and distasteful... yes.

I actually think it's kind of cute, but that's from a adult point of view. Would I like it if my dd came home and sang it to me? Probably not...

But she is only 2, and while she may know it word for word, she doesn't understand what it really means, so my guess is that no harm has been done, unless she does it in public...

By Kate on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 04:42 pm:

Why not just have your husband call his mother right now and explain he heard Natalie sing the song and he doesn't like it and to not sing it again?

By Pamt on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 06:06 pm:

I have 2 different reactions to this. Just looking at the words I think "Absolutely not!!" Little girls don't need to be singing about having a hot figure. However, I vividly remember singing similar types of songs/rhymes and in particular the cheer....

Firecracker, firecracker boom boom boom.
Firecracker, firecracker boom boom boom.
Boys have the muscles.
Teachers have the brains.
Girls have the pretty legs, so
We win the game.

Scandalous, huh? It was innocent, albeit stupid childhood fun. I have always fancied myself a feminist of sorts and even as a child my heroes were Susan B Anthony, Amelia Earheart, and Elizabeth Blackwell, yet I did this inane cheer with the other girls and never thought a thing about it.

So, while I don't think I would teach it to my daughter (if I had one) or encourage it, it wouldn't be a huge issue either. I agree with Kate that your DH just ought to call his mom and tell her not to reinforce it and why.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 08:54 pm:

Yes, Natalie does not know the difference, it's true. I remember singing that same song Pam. It's just more the issue that I feel like she should KNOW that it's inappropriate.

We are going to tell her. She's coming over tomorrow!

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 08:54 pm:

I'm being very clear today...

I feel that MIL should know it's inappropriate!

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 10:28 pm:

I don't know... I think it would be offensive from my 4 year old daughter, but I remember singing little rhymes in school. Anyone remember "Miss Suzie"? It went "Miss Suzie had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell, Miss Suzie went to Heaven, the steamboat went to hello operator, please give me number nine, and if you disconnect me, I'll paddle your behind the 'fridgerator, there was a piece of glass, Miss Suzie sat upon it, and broke her big, fat ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies, the boys are in the girls' room, pulling down there flies are in the meadow, the bees are in the park, Miss Suzie and her boyfriend are kissing in the dark." There's more to it, but that song was definitely a bit inappropriate for elementary school, and we knew quite a few like it.

By Hol on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 10:35 pm:

Deanna - Even if your MIL thinks that the song is okay and thinks that you are over-reacting, (which, obviously we DON'T), the fact remains that she should RESPECT you and your boundaries. YOU are Natalie's mother. I think that your DH should set her straight, and not leave it to you, because she will accept what he has to say before she will from you. If YOU are uncomfortable with it, then that should be the end of it. He should take the initiative to set her straight on your behalf.

I may not agree with some of the things that my son-in-law feels are big deals where my grandaughter is concerned, however, HE is the Dad. Megan is HIS (and my DD's) daughter, so it is THEIR job to raise her the way they see fit. I just go along to get along, and keep my mouth closed. I don't violate their boundaries. That way, everybody gets along, and I am welcome in their home.

By Hol on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - 10:42 pm:

Ginny - I am glad to hear that animals are respected and that there are strict consequences for violations. Poor Scott...that would do me in, too, if I had to witness the needless suffering of an animal, and then have to end it's misery myself. I'd be devastated.

Somehow, I don't feel as sorry for a zucchini. LOL!

I WISH that NO animals had to be used for research. However, right now, I guess it is all we have. We owe SO much to animals, including our very lives, for life-saving surgeries, procedures and drugs. Also, we eat their flesh, wear their skins. Poor things. If anyone should go to Heaven first, it is them.

By Reds9298 on Thursday, October 5, 2006 - 08:07 am:

Hol - DH is going to tell her. We totally agree about the inappropriate nature of the song, so it's not just me.

By Andi on Thursday, October 5, 2006 - 09:07 am:

So sad! Why would she teach her granddaughter a song like that! I agree with you 100%. I would die if Taylor alked up to me and sang a song like that.