Taking A Walk Through Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

            As I approach my second full score, I used to believe my immaturity kept me relatively in touch with what the kids like today.  However after some ponderous reflection, I had a moment of clarity that I wish to share at this moment: my immaturity keeps me in touch with what I liked back when I was a kid.  You see, I could find a way to care less about what current interests children have today, but I don’t care enough to even do that.  What with the condom sniffing, paint chip eating, laundry detergent pod challenging, and protesting puppets on a string that currently pass as “children”, well let’s just say I’d rather dive back into my own childhood for comfort than even attempt to figure out what makes these kids tick.

            This of course presents a different challenge as I have children of my own.  As a parent, I know that I’m screwing things up for my children.  Oh yes, and don’t worry, you’re screwing up your children too!  We all are causing horrible damage, so just accept it.  Our parents weren’t geniuses and their parents weren’t either.  And it wasn’t like they came from a long line of smartypantsed people either.  I shall quote from The Waco Kid himself, “You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.”  Sure, once in a while the family tree includes a branch to Galileo but more often than not it leads to yet another obstinate stump.

 

Few people knew that Fred Rogers was a literal giant.

            But once in a while something that I enjoyed from my youth settles into my children’s psyche and I couldn’t be more overjoyed.  It gives me hope for the future.  Sure my generation wasn’t the greatest or the boomiest or the X-iest or the Millennialest (thankfully!), but we had some rather cool things come down the pipe that I’m more than willing to share with my brood.  So they live in a house with the old school Super Mario Brothers and M.A.S.K.  They‘re into Transformers, play with Lego, and examined classic Sesame Street.  They read Berenstain Bears and watch Voltron.  In other words, they are the hippest kids from 1987 that are sadly stuck in 2018. 

            Usually my wife and I witness these moments, take pride in that we have kids that enjoy the original Duck Tales show, and then go on with our day.  But the other day, I introduced something into the lives of these kids that genuinely moved me to tears.  Or the room was just dusty.  That could have been it.  Yep.  Dusty.  Anyway, what was it that produced such a reaction?  Two days ago, my children watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for the very first time.

 

Thank you SCTV and your Battle of the PBS Stars!

            Oh sure, in the past they have watched Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood on PBS.  While it does take place in the Land of Make-Believe and there are connections to the original show, it never really did anything for me.  It did a little bit more for my kids, but overall, they passed on the show.  I can’t blame them as they don’t know the history, never heard of Fred Rogers, and don’t have even a smidge of nostalgia that was inherent in such a spin-off project.

 

            This past month has been an immersion in Fred Rogers and his legacy.  Fred Rogers would have turned 90 this year and it was the 50^th anniversary of the start of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.  There was a new documentary hosted by former Neighborhood crew member and best Batman ever Michael Keaton.  There’s going to be a new movie with Tom Hanks playing Mister Rogers.  Fred Rogers was honored with a great postage stamp where he’s pictured with King Friday.  With that barrage, the memories came flooding back to me and hopefully to anyone else that was a child from 1968 through 2001.

 

And yet Fred Rogers never was on The Next Generation?!

             To commemorate this occasion, PBS also decided to release a four-disc set of episodes from 1979 through 2001.  Now when our first child was teeny, my wife and I looked for older learning materials to show her.  We hit upon the old school Sesame Street DVD sets, which showcased episodes from the timeframe of our childhoods.  I remember looking for DVDs of Fred Rogers but there just wasn’t anything that jumped out.  The same held true when my sons were born and I checked again.  Then a new DVD set comes along but my daughter is now seven and the boys are 5.  Would they like this now?  Would they be too jaded by all those episodes of Mighty Machines and Thomas & Friends that they had shoved into their brains?
 

            Ultimately I decided to get the set.  If they hated it or were disinterested, then tough cookies.  At the very least, I would have a nostalgic trip and chances are my wife would come along for the ride.  The set eventually came but there wasn’t really an opportunity to test it out and face the possible indifference from my children.

 

            Then fate took a turn and my eldest (by two minutes) boy decided to have a breakdown.  He had a full blown China Syndrome-like meltdown going.  (And yes, go and look that reference up.)  He wouldn’t calm down, Mommy was busy teaching, and we were getting close to bedtime.  I didn’t want to put something on that would rile him up even more, so the soothing satisfaction of blasting away Decepticons would have to wait.  Seeing that Fred Rogers set, I made the judgment call out of nowhere, “Who wants to watch Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood?”

 

The guy on the right didn't have a great puppet show.

            My younger (by two minutes) son and my daughter agreed immediately.  I shouldn’t be surprised.  No matter how mind-numbing any event that involves a chance to watch the TV might be, they are in.  With approval of 2/3^rds of the children, I popped the first disc in and hit play.  Once we got past the familiar PBS kids logo, I didn’t know what would happen.  After all, these episodes were near 40 years old.  Would the kids at the very least tolerate it?
 

            When that opening music started and Mister Rogers came in singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” my fears were unfounded.  Six eyes were instantly glued to that screen.  (Okay fine, eight eyes were instantly glued to that screen.)  The boys were even participating: if Mister Rogers asked a question, the boys answered!  They were fully involved and this was before the trolley even showed up.  When we went to the Land of Make-Believe, they were on firmer ground since they recognized some of the characters from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

 

The trolley was actually that huge, which isn't that huge.

            Finally, “It’s Such a Good Feeling” was being sung, Mister Rogers put away his cardigan and put on his street shoes, and he looked right at the camera saying that we were special.  He then said, “Bye, bye!” and walked out the door as the camera panned away from the model neighborhood and the jazz piano kicked into high.  It was right about at that time when I realized that the living room was just terribly dusty and there must have been many various particles in the air because that’s the only reason that comes to mind when trying to explain my reaction.  But how did the kids react?

 

            They wanted another episode!  So I obliged and as they watched the show, I watched their faces.  The elder boy had calmed down by now and was silently interacting with the show.  His facial expressions were changing, he was mouthing words, and he was smiling.  The other guy was beaming from ear to ear.  Even my daughter was eager to start watching more of the neighborhood.

 

            I don’t know why I ever thought that their reactions would have been dismissive.  After all, they are my kids and have jumped onto a lot of older franchises and shows and books that I enjoyed as a child.  Perhaps I thought the format of this particular show was just too small for them or too simple.  Maybe I thought that we were more sophisticated.  Perhaps this kind of program wouldn’t resonate with minds that are accustomed to the flashy, overblown, and effects laden children’s programming we’ve sadly come to expect.
 

I wanted that set then.  I want it now.

            But no.  Fred Rogers knew better and had a simple show where he would talk directly to the audience with care and warmth.  He never talked down to children and it created a connection.  He told every single child that they were unique individuals.  They were special because there’s no one else who was them.  These approaches worked then and judging by my children’s reactions, it still has an effect today.  My moppets never knew what the man even looked like last week and now are absolutely taken with the man and his show.
 

            His curiosity would mirror a child’s curiosity.  He would never use sarcasm or cutting remarks and the man’s sincerity was a wonder to behold.  He would use music and the puppets and interactions and field trips and honesty and would mix everything up in a nice atmosphere for children to enjoy.

            No, he never was Army sniper with a life filled with regretful killing that led him to the ministry.  No, he didn’t have arm loads of tattoos that he covered up with the cardigans.  Yes, he did give director George Romero some of his first film work and he enjoyed Romero's Dawn of the Dead (?!).  Yes, Rogers almost singlehandedly saved public television when he testified before the Senate in 1969.  Yes, I’m sure that the house wasn’t dusty and I’m just trying to cover up being a softy.

 

Mister Romero's Neighborhood was different.

  

            Fine, I have no shame in mentioning it: I missed Mister Rogers.  He was by all accounts one of the most genuine, most patient, most helpful, and nicest people on the planet.  He was sincere and knew that no matter what circumstances were at home for the kids that watched his show, those kids understood they had someone that made them feel special.  Look at the children’s TV or online content nowadays and find someone who is even fractionally comparable to Fred Rogers.  Yeah, you won’t find them. 

            I am glad that at the very least my children will grow up having a little bit of Fred Rogers in their lives.  Hopefully other nostalgic parents take the plunge and get this DVD set.  I hope sales encourage the release of other episodes.  I would never tell someone how to parent, but I think you owe it to your kids to shut the tawdry garbage off and have them get into the Neighborhood as soon as possible.