Do you remember how demeaning it felt when you first realized that the over-simplifications you learned as a child did not help but only hindered comprehension?

We hear the effects of such oversimplifications every day of the week in a music school where bar lines are more apparent than anything else.

There is no reason in the world why children can't learn rhythm as the endlessly variable phenomenon that it is, except that deep-down parents want their children to replicate their own bad experiences. If you have a better explanation please let me know.