I take spoken English classes at a school in Ooty. One morning, while teaching the kindergarteners, something happened that I can’t forget.

There were just two children in class that day. Two little girls, both cheerful, curious, and eager to learn. We began our lesson with a rhyme that almost every child in India knows — “Chubby Cheeks, Dimple Chin.”

It’s one of those rhymes we’ve all grown up with. I’ve heard it countless times. But that morning, as we started reciting it, something made me pause.

As we said the lines

“Chubby cheeks, dimple chin,
Rosy lips, teeth within, Curly hair, very fair, Eyes are blue, lovely too, Teacher’s pet, is that you? Yes, yes, yes!”

One of the girls stopped. Her smile faded, her voice went quiet, and she looked down.

At first, I thought she was just shy or didn’t know the words. I tried encouraging her to say it with us. She tried, but I could sense she wasn’t comfortable.

By the end of the period, it finally struck me — maybe she didn’t stop because she forgot. Maybe she stopped because she didn’t feel like saying it. Maybe she didn’t relate to the rhyme at all.

The other girl in the class fit the rhyme perfectly. She had chubby cheeks, fair skin, and curly hair. She sang proudly, with joy and confidence. But the quiet girl, she didn’t fit the rhyme’s picture, and it showed.

That small moment said so much.

It made me think — what are we really teaching our children through this rhyme? That only fair-skinned, curly-haired, “lovely” children are loved or praised? That being the “teacher’s pet” depends on how you look?

And what if there had been a boy sitting there, listening to this rhyme?
What message would he take from it — that “teacher’s pet” means a girl who looks a certain way?

We might think it’s harmless, but these words stick. For a four or five year old, they can quietly shape how they view themselves 

But as a young adult who’s just stepping into the world of adulthood, still learning the difference between right and wrong, it also made me feel bitter and even guilty.

Because I realized I had sung that same rhyme my entire life without ever questioning it.  I didn’t think twice before asking her to repeat it.

I thought I was just teaching, but maybe I was also passing on something that shouldn’t be passed on.

That thought hasn’t left me since.

“Chubby Cheeks” may sound harmless, but it quietly teaches children that only one kind of face, one kind of look, one kind of child is beautiful and loved.

It makes some feel proud and others feel small and all because of the way they look.

At an age when children are just learning to love themselves, we are unknowingly feeding them ideas that could plant insecurity or comparison too early.

It made me realise how much power small words hold, how something as simple as a rhyme can make a child feel unseen, different, or not good enough.

For a while, I didn’t talk about it. But the thought never left my mind.

And recently, when someone told me about Change.org, I knew this was where I needed to share it.

So this isn’t just a complaint — it’s a  hope. I’m asking the Ministry of Education, school boards, and publishers to review rhymes like “Chubby Cheeks” and others that carry outdated or discriminatory ideas.

Rhymes should make children smile. They should teach love, not comparison. No child should ever feel invisible while learning to speak or sing.