How Mister Rogers talked to children and families about tragedy

Retropod

The Washington Post

History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.5 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2018

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mister Rogers’s approach to dealing with tragedy began with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.
0:07.5	This summer, a wonderful documentary was released about one of my heroes, Mr. Rogers.
0:14.9	The film is remarkable in so many ways, especially as it relates to how Mr. Rogers was so deftly able to enter the
0:23.3	national conversation during tragedies. He got his first crack at that enormous responsibility
0:30.3	not long after the show launched in 1968. It is possible he has not only Senator Kennedy.
0:38.8	Oh, my God.
0:40.3	Senator Kennedy has been shot.
0:43.6	And another man...
0:43.9	These were times of chaos and tumble.
0:46.5	Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated.
0:49.3	Martin Luther King had been killed just weeks before.
0:52.7	Cities burned.
0:57.0	And then, on the night before Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a puppet appeared on television and asked this question.
1:05.1	What does assassination mean? The puppet was a tiger named Daniel Striped Tiger. His voice belonged to Fred Rogers,
1:14.5	an ordained minister who spoke directly to children, turning his neighborhood of make-believe
1:20.2	into a village of empathy, knowledge, and wonder.
1:29.7	In taking on Kennedy's death,
1:31.9	Mr. Rogers gently guided and consoled a grieving nation,
1:34.0	a job he took on again and again
1:36.2	right up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
1:41.5	Mr. Rogers' approach to addressing tragedy was simple. Listen. Here's what he said in a public
1:49.1	service announcement late in life. What children probably need to hear most from us adults is that they
	...

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