It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. We Make It That Way.
“When Sesame Street ended, I was out the door. Watching Mr. Rogers was so boring.” My husband loves to tease me for watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as a child. I’ve always known that the mere mention of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood evoked strong feelings on both ends of the spectrum. As a child, it was a show I admitted to watching only in company I trusted. But at a deep level I found comfort in the absence of bright colors, fast-moving action, and loud, rambunctious characters. What Mr. Rogers lacked in thrill, he made up for in depth and substance. Not only am I (and many of our teachers) now a proud and vocal supporter, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood is what All Seasons Preschool aspires to be: a place that values and epitomizes what young children need.
Like Mr. Rogers, our teachers maintain a comforting sense of routine and predictability. Like Mr. Rogers’ TV neighbors, our seniors set a slower pace for us and devote time to doing quiet, simple activities together. Unlike most places in society, this slower tempo does not exceed the demand threshold of a young child who is away from home, often for the first time. On a child’s best and worst days, when their feelings can be bigger than they are, our emotionally attuned teachers provide children a soft place to land and a safe community in which feelings can be expressed. Classroom discussions about sharing toys are given the same solemnity as a discussion about the death of a senior or family member. Like Mr. Rogers’ home, the physical space inside our school is intentionally uncluttered and subdued, emphasizing child-created works of art and the natural world. Like Mr. Rogers, our teachers know that to thrive we need to be part of and contribute to a real community. They go out of their way to create that within and beyond their classroom walls, inviting and welcoming our familiar grandmas and grandpas into our neighborhood. Not only do the seniors contribute to our preschool community, our preschoolers make an undeniable contribution to the seniors’ world. And like Mr. Rogers, our teachers value and apply the research about child development. These adults understand that play is the serious work of childhood.
However one feels about watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, it is unquestionable that the world he created was good for young children. His soothing voice, his comfortable pauses, his intentionally slow way of moving through a fast-paced world, and his willingness to gently speak about hard topics provide the security all children need. Mr. Rogers demonstrated a commitment to take responsibility for anyone vulnerable and the reality that we can all (and do) make a difference right where we are.
