We were singing Rock-a-by-baby to Naiya pretending she was a baby. Swaying with her in our laps.
Rock-a-by-baby on the treetop
When the wind blows the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall
Down will come baby cradle and all.
She doesn’t like this song. When it comes to the bit where the baby falls she starts screaming, “Don’t sing that song! Dooooooooooooon’t!”
It's odd that in all the years of hearing and singing that song, I have to admit that I never noticed how tragic it is.
She also has an aversion to illustrations where the teeth of animals are prominent. “Stop reading that!” she’ll cry or “Don’t do that page!” Mostly dragons and alligators. Wolves are another.
With our household love of predators, we don’t know where she learned this. I've heard that children are innately afraid of only one thing - falling. It makes sense for survival though that we'd fear giants (relative to our own size) with sharp teeth as well. Doesn't it?
