Captain Kangaroo was my favorite TV show as a young child.  He was the quintessential grandfather, stopping by five mornings a week to read stories, sing songs, play with puppets, converse with Mr. Green Jeans, and try to outsmart Mr. Moose.  By the time Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood started airing in the late 60s, at the ripe old age of eight, my taste in programming had matured to a more sophisticated level for shows like Gilligan’s Island.  Not until my older son was about three-years-old did Fred Rogers’ neighborhood become a regular destination. 

Like the Captain’s Treasure House had been for me, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was a safe place for my son to visit from the comfort of our living room.  On those rare occasions when I left him unaccompanied to perform a task in another room, I didn’t have to worry about what he might see or hear while I was gone.  Mister Rogers seemed just as conscientious about what he exposed my son to as I was.  

When a second son came along ten years later, Mister Rogers and I both had considerably more gray hair, but he still exuded a calm, quiet, reassuring manner that inspired imagination, creativity, and wonder.  I could depend on Fred Rogers to model and encourage the character qualities valued by our family – patience, kindness, respect, self-discipline, self-reliance, tolerance, and generosity.  He exhibited and inspired curiosity while demonstrating how to ask good questions. 

Mr. Rogers clarified that not only were thoughts and feelings okay to have, they were okay to talk about.  He explained that while all feelings are acceptable, all behavior is not. Every day, he looked his young viewers directly in the eyes and told them he liked them “just the way you are.”  For children growing up in loving families, he was another caring adult offering additional support.  For children not so fortunate, he provided an alternative experience.  Sometimes that’s enough to make the difference between being doomed to repeat history and being empowered to change it.  

When I discovered a copy of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by Fred Rogers, in my sister’s bathroom, (being a parent and teacher, probably the only place she gets a chance to read), I was anxious to read it.  Since she wasn’t home at the time, I took the liberty of pinching the book.  Perhaps not very “neighborly” of me, but I did send a text confessing the crime.  My honesty was rewarded with an invitation to keep the book since she had another copy.  Good thing.  By the time I finished it, the pages were covered with yellow highlighter and the margins filled with notes.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is one of the best non-parenting, parenting books I’ve ever read.  The collection of excerpts from Fred Rogers’ “speeches, songs, newspaper columns, books, and television programs” are presented in eleven chapters.  Having watched his show and seen him speak, it was easy to hear the words in his humble, down-to-earth, soothing voice.  His message of acceptance, encouragement, and unconditional love was so powerful that at times I had to close the book, catch my breath, and wait for my eyes to clear before continuing. 

The lessons Fred Rogers shares, gathered from a lifetime of observing, studying, and interacting with people of all ages, may be stated in simple terms, but they are far from naive.  Just because something sounds simple, doesn’t make it easy.  Here was a man who understood that the most important thing adults, who are responsible for the care of children (which means all of us), must remember is that they were once children.  Within each of us lives the child we once were.  We carry all of our early experiences, all the beliefs and attitudes formed in those critical years, with us into every encounter.  While we all start out as children, if allowed and encouraged, we can continue to grow on the inside even after we’ve stopped growing on the outside.  

One of Fred Rogers’ most remarkable qualities was his ability to preserve his childlike, (not to be confused with childish), sense of wonder, in spite of his awareness of all the ugliness people choose to exhibit.  He promoted the practice of taking care of our whole selves in order to bring to fruition our individual fullness of being.  He wished for each of us to find the courage to live our best lives. 

Do yourself a favor and read A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Allow the words, “I like you just the way you are,” to wash over you.  Accept that you are worthy of love, not because of what you do or who you are, but just because you are.  Sometimes that’s all it takes to inspire us to become better versions of ourselves.  Good reading!