With insight informed, but not dictated, by her psychoanalytical training, McFarland understood just how hard children work at learning to control their bodily fluids. Potty training is no picnic for parents, but imagine it from the point of view of the child. It’s a pretty big, anxiety-laced deal. So Rogers created segments where he examined the everyday flow of water in bathtubs, and he showed films of children damming up streams—a way of manipulating and controlling fluids—and looking at waterfalls (which can be both scary and exciting at the same time). ‘And then, finally … a tiny fire—and I mean tiny—in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe,’ Rogers said. ‘We didn’t show flames, just some smoke; and the fire was put out in half a minute by the make-believe fire people.’
Sally Ann Flecker at PittMed. When Fred Met Margaret
The attention to child development in the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood program is under-appreciated. In general, and in everyday life, most of us don’t notice how hard children work at learning. Play is serious business.
(via protoslacker)