"What would Mister Rogers say to kids in these strange, difficult, and uncertain times? It can be hard to grasp how a child's mind works: I'm often thrown by the way my 3-year-old makes logical leaps that are alternatingly brilliant and disjointed, with wild emotions, good and bad, clouding her perception of the world. It can be hard to know what to do with all those knotted feelings and ideas, especially in times of universal stress, with all normalcy temporarily knocked down by the coronavirus"
"Mister Rogers knew how to talk to kids, in part because the brilliant child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland was his mentor. Operating in the shadow of Benjamin Spock during his Pittsburgh tenure and afterwards (and whose work would not age nearly as well), McFarland focused on meaning. She understood that, to a child, a bee is not just a bee. It's an existential threat. She offered Fred Rogers these insights and a view into the complex interplay of language and"
"Naturally, those around Fred Rogers credited him with inventing the language he spoke. He didn't. Neither did McFarland. They learned it, and Rogers became the most prominent American to speak it both publicly and fluently. This language came to be known among the crew at KQED, where Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was filmed, as Freddish. It is, in short, the language of children."
Children's minds make leaps that mix brilliance and disjointedness, producing intense, knotted feelings that are heightened during crises like the coronavirus pandemic. Caregivers often share childlike fears and need strategies to make children feel safe while allowing emotional expression. Fred Rogers learned to speak a child-centered language emphasizing meaning, largely thanks to Dr. Margaret McFarland's mentorship and insights about how children imbue objects and events with existential significance. McFarland helped reshape Mister Rogers' scripts to validate feelings and translate complex emotional states into language children can understand, creating a calm, respectful model of communication.
Read at Fatherly
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