Many/most adults don't have memories that stretch to these songs. AFAIK, most parents have to learn the damn things themselves first! So if the current educational strategy is that sing-songs are a Good Thing (and as folk musicians, I guess we all agree with that one!) then parents will need some advice on what's appropriate. They can either go down the shops and buy some random tapes/CDs, not knowing what the songs on there are like, or they can get a head-start from something like that site.

Sure, it's an attempt to say what's good for kids. In the exact same way that 12/15/18 ratings on films are an attempt to say what's good for kids. I damn sure wouldn't rate "Pretty Polly" as a song to sing to kids, and even "Clementine" could be pushing it a bit for young/sensitive kids. Given the size of the list, they sure as hell aren't being overly restrictive about it - there's hundreds of songs on there. The philosophy seems to be simply that if you're having a sing-song with kids, you sing happy songs or songs which aren't going to upset them or teach them stuff they "don't need to know" (eg. "Eskimo Nell" ;-) Do you think that's a bad idea? If so, why?

I don't see any trace of religion, proselytising (sp?), etc in this site. As you (inadvertently) pointed out yourself in your first post, the criteria for accepting a song on the list do *not* include any religious elements. Is this still a basis for your objection? If so, why? and how? given that there is no religious influence in the list?

Graham.