Good and Bad Children — Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

Children, you are very little,
And your bones are very brittle;
If you would grow great and stately,
You must try to walk sedately.
You must still be bright and quiet,
And content with simple diet;
And remain, through all bewild'ring,
Innocent and honest children.
Happy hearts and happy faces,
Happy play in grassy places--
That was how in ancient ages,
Children grew to kings and sages.
But the unkind and the unruly,
And the sort who eat unduly,
They must never hope for glory--
Theirs is quite a different story!
Cruel children, crying babies,
All grow up as geese and gabies,
Hated, as their age increases,
By their nephews and their nieces.

Explore Words From This Rhyme

Find Rhymes

Look Up Definitions

More Nursery Rhymes

Browse all nursery rhymes →

Learning from "Good and Bad Children"

Nursery rhymes are some of the best teachers of rhythm and rhyme. "Good and Bad Children" uses 20 lines to create a memorable verse — proof that effective poetry doesn't need to be long. Pay attention to the meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is what makes the rhyme stick in your head.

Songwriters and poets can borrow these patterns. Try writing your own lyrics using the same rhyme scheme and line length as this nursery rhyme. You can also use words from the poem above as starting points — click any word to find rhymes or look up its definition, then build from there.

Create your own verse

Inspired by "Good and Bad Children"? Try writing your own rhymes:

Generate a verse

Frequently asked questions

What are the words to Good and Bad Children?
The lyrics to Good and Bad Children are: Children, you are very little, / And your bones are very brittle; / If you would grow great and stately, / You must try to walk sedately. / You must still be bright and quiet, / And content with simple diet; ... Read the full 20-line nursery rhyme at Rhyme Buster.
How many lines does Good and Bad Children have?
"Good and Bad Children" has 20 lines of verse.

Explore More Word Tools