On being part of Mister Rogers neighborhood 

Local educators say Fred Rogers’ legacy will live on, stressing that the most important lesson children learned from him was that they are liked and loved just for being themselves.

By Shaun Lockhart
Reading Eagle 

Mary Boyer fought back tears Thursday morning as she tried to explain the death of Fred Rogers, known the world over as Mr. Rogers, to children at St. Alban’s Christian Learning Center in Whitfield.

"We talked about his death and how he would live on," Boyer said. "Then we all prayed for him and his family and sang the theme song."

Boyer, assistant director of the center, said she had just taught children at the daycare a song from the television show "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood" entitled "Who Are the People in Your
Neighborhood?"

Boyer encourages the kids to watch Rogers’ show and said it differed from other children’s programming in that it taught values rather than ABCs.

Professor Avidan Milevsky, who teaches developmental psychology at Kutztown University, said parents should be open when explaining death and encourage youngsters to get their feelings out in letters or pictures.

"If the parents are able to cope with death and continue their life routine, kids pick up on that," Milevsky said.

He said children younger than 7 may not understand that death is permanent. Rogers’ show was on the air for more than 30 years on various Public Broadcasting Service affiliates. He filmed the show’s final episodes in December 2000. It continues to run in repeats.

Boyer said Rogers, who was a Presbyterian minister, taught Christian values without ever talking about God.

"He influenced people to know they are liked and loved just because they are themselves," Boyer said.

Professor Sandra Fisher, director of the Early Learning Center at Kutztown, agreed, and said he taught values such as kindness and friendliness more than anything else.

Fisher said Rogers also acted as a host on many field trips he took to locations such as factories and farms.

Rogers’ soft-spoken delivery is a sharp contrast to the frenetic children’s programs of today, yet his popularity has endured.

An informal survey of the nine kids in Fisher’s class, who range in age from 3 to 5, Thursday afternoon saw three of the kids say they watched his show regularly.

"Some of the shows (today) are so fast-paced; he had such a nice calm manner with the children," Fisher said. "It wasn’t about getting them all excited."

Dr. Christina Groark, co-director of the University of Pittsburgh office of child development, worked with Rogers on several occasions and said his love for children was genuine.

Groark recounted one incident where during a keynote speech to a crowd of about a thousand, Rogers stopped his speech because of six children in the audience.

Rogers was going to talk about being scared of riding in an airplane and didn’t want to frighten the children, she said.

"He put those six children above all of the people in that room," Groark said. "That’s how important kids were to him in his everyday life. It was really him all the way through."

Paul Gluck, vice president and station manager of TV-WHYY, Philadelphia’s PBS affiliate, called Rogers an educator, a theologian and an important advocate for children.

WHYY aired a salute to Rogers on Thursday and will broadcast short tributes throughout today.

"For him, children always came first," Gluck said. "He taught young people one of the most important things in life: self-esteem. Each child was special, just the way he or she was. That's an important lesson to learn."

Contact reporter Shaun Lockhart at 610-371-5032 at slockhart@readingeagle.com.