Mr. Rogers - Saving Public Broadcasting

[JayByrd]

I think Fred Rogers was a wonderful man with a wonderful message, who reached out to children in a way that no one else on television did. And in some cases, maybe no one in a child's own life reached out to them that way. He did this by speaking plainly and directly about feelings and fears. He taught children to love themselves and to care for each other.

While Mr. Rogers Neighborhood possibly could have existed without publicly funded broadcasting, it was much better off not being beholden to advertisers or Nielsen ratings.

[spooker]

What really resonated for me with what Mr Rogers said was talking about feelings ... and then discussing control

These days it seems that either feelings are dismissed (i.e. that's stupid) or taken as fact (i.e. if you feel it is so then it must be) ... where is the actual acknowledgement that feelings are real but should be talked about to be understood?

Being able to apply critical thinking to feelings is what I "feel" is a good recipe for success ... when I cut myself, I feel pain, but I can only help myself if I step back and am able to remember to apply pressure and then figure out how to deal with it ... if just "experience" the pain, then I bleed ... if I refuse the pain and ignore the fact that I am cut I bleed ... bleeding isn't good eh?

Teaching our kids to talk about feelings, getting help to figuring why we have these feelings is a good thing ... could go a long way to destigmatizing mental health issues, addictions, road rage, and maybe make better drivers out of many people in Kelowna ...