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4 Disturbing Childhood Playground Games

Thursday, March 07, 2019

Today, for some reason, I am reminded of a few childhood playground games. I never really got into them, but I remember I have always thought they were stupid and maybe even too childish for me. When I was in elementary school, I initially thought it was for kindergarten and first grade age kids. But I got into the tune of the song, and it kept ringing in my head in an annoying way, like some of these really annoying commercials. I started to actually read the words to see what I was reading, and I thought they sounded weird and disturbing. Then, I just ignored them, or just brushed them off at typical garbage for kids.

  1. London Bridge is falling down
    As a kid, I used to question everything. So, I was thinking why was the bridge falling down or is it going to fall down in the future, for some reason…who is my fair lady? The Queen? She stole something? Sending her to prison and lock her up with a key? I went further down the rabbit hole until I suddenly stopped thinking about it because as a kid, I didn’t know everything I know now.
  2. Red Rover, Red Rover, Bring (someone’s name from the other side), right over. This childhood game is about choosing two teams, which are like two countries fighting each other along the border. The kids on each side, hold hands and sometimes along the arms for my strength, in order to be able to keep the charging kid from breaking their arm clasp. It looks like a long sturdy border wall. I personally hated that game because I am small-boned and I have narrow limbs. Some of these crazy kids are big boned or chubby, and they come charging toward you like raging bulls with flared nose and red angry faces. Every time a kid comes charging my way, I used to intentionally let go. Also, this sturdy wall that both sides used to create now reminds me of the California/Mexico wall and Zionist Israel/Palestine wall.
  3. Cinderella went up stairs to kill her fella, made a mistake, kissed a snake, how many times did she kiss the snake…count 1, 2, 3, etc until kid misses the rope while jumping rope, or trips over the rope…
    When I was a kid, thought to myself this Cinderella must really be stupid if she cannot tell the different between her boyfriend and a snake. And, you have to count how many times you can stay jumping rope without tripped from the rope, falling down and probably skinning your knees. So, hopefully, the kid will kiss the snake many times. Who is this snake anyway? It must be someone very sly and evil to distract the stupid Cinderella away from her boyfriend and keep her interested its slimy ways. (By the way, I sucked at jumping rope, especially when others were holding the rope. I was a little better when jumping rope by myself. So, I am taking it as a positive sign that I am not easily beguiled by the slimy snake. I would rather trip, fall, and escape.)
  4. Ring-a-ring o’ roses

In the first one, I am only familiar with the American version. In Ring-A-Round-A-Rose, the kids holding hands in a circle, moving in one direction and chanting, looks like a witchcraft ritual for kids. Then, all of the sudden, they say, “ashes, ashes, ashes” and fall down. I was thinking to myself, why ashes. Is this really supposed to be a fun game? Does these ashes have to do with illegal wars depopulating countries, smoking tobacco killing of many people with cancer, or wildfires intentionally created to destroy certain areas?

In the British version, the say “tishoo, tishoo” before they fall down. Does these tishoos have to do with becoming sick and dying, such as with contaminated vaccines and created viruses?

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What do you think?