The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers

by Maxwell King

“Nothing can replace the influence of unconditional love in the life of a child. . . . Children love to belong, they long to belong.”4

Until television became such a tool for selling, it was a fabulous medium for education. That’s what I had always hoped it would be.”30

Spock’s baby book became the second-bestselling book in history (after the Bible) and a trusted reference for millions of parents. Over the years, Benjamin Spock also courted controversy: Some

was Fred Rogers who taught multiple generations of American parents how very critical the first few years of human life could be, and how social and emotional learning is more important at that age than cognitive learning. More than any other popular voice in American culture, Fred Rogers taught this powerful lesson to parents, teachers, and to children themselves through his gentle, slow-paced but richly textured programming.

What do you do with the mad that you feel / When you feel so mad you could bite / When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong, and nothing you do seems very right / What do you do / Do you punch a bag / Do you pound some clay or some dough / Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you can go / It’s great to be able to stop when you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong / And be able to do something else instead—and think this song—