It's not just on paper

Photo Credit: www.teacherspayteachers We have all grown up learning our nursery rhymes like verses of the Bible, unquestioning about their implied meaning and subtle reinforcement of conservative social structures - like the role of each parent in the family and the family's primary provider aka the father.  "Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.  And if that mockingbird won't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring." Notice how the baby is being soothed by promises of all the lovely things that 'papa' will buy for him/her.  While in most Indian families, it is mostly the mother who soothes a wailing child. Imagine the mother singing this to her baby, glorifying papa dearest and with nil reference to the mother who is painstakingly pacifying the child.  The next example is of the very famous and loved nursery rhyme - The Wheels on The Bus Go Round and Round. In this one, when the baby goes 'Wa Wa Wa', th...