The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers

by Maxwell King

To Fred Rogers, every child required special attention, because every child needed assurance that he or she was someone who mattered.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” Rogers had told his young viewers, “my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.”

“One of the most radical figures of contemporary history never ran a country or led a battle. . . . He became a legend by wearing a cardigan and taking off his shoes. . . . Rogers was a genius of empathy . . . fearless enough to be kind.”

Fred Rogers said, “No, we’re going to keep it. I want children to know that it’s hard to learn something new, and that grown-ups make mistakes.”

His lesson is as simple and direct as Fred was: Human kindness will always make life better.

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

For Fred Rogers and for Saint-Exupéry, truth always came from the heart, not from an overintellectualization of life.

“children have an incredible capacity to concentrate on things if they are interested. It would be awful to say, ‘Okay, now you’re going to sit there and listen to something,’ versus getting people first curious about something, and not making them come to my world, but actually going into their world.

“I think of discipline as the continual everyday process of helping a child learn self-discipline.”

Parents! Stop hitting your children! It’s not a style of parenting, it’s a style of abuse. Be the cause of them feeling safe, secured.

When I was a boy I used to think that strong meant having big muscles, great physical power; but the longer I live, the more I realize that real strength has much more to do with what is not seen. Real strength has to do with helping others.

They are not little adults, just like their parents, but smaller. They have a unique perspective, and they have a special job to do: learning.