Before I had children, I didn’t quite “get” Mister Rogers. I thought the slow, gentle way he talked was odd.
But then I saw how John at the age of three reacted to him, and the penny dropped. I hadn’t been able to figure out Mister Rogers because he wasn’t talking to me! He was talking to three-year-olds.
Mister Rogers did know how to talk to grown-ups when needed.
Recently, during the national discussion about possible funding cuts for the arts and Public Broadcasting, someone posted on Facebook a 1969 video of Mister Rogers testifying before US Senator John O. Pastore of Rhode Island. At the time, Sen. Pastore was chairman of US Senate Subcommittee on Communications.
It’s a great, great speech. It’s even recognized as such on the American Rhetoric website. The testimony won PBS $20 million in funding from the originally skeptical Sen. Pastore.
But what strikes me most strongly is that its power comes from the speaker’s clearly communicated belief in the essential goodness of his listener. It is communicated through Mister Rogers’s tone of voice and body language.
Faith in the listener is what came across to three-year-old John, too. “You are special. I like you just the way you are.”
See what you think.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
One of the key elements of effective communication that we tried to teach students was adapting the message to the specific audience–an audience -centered approach, rather than speaker-centered or even message-centered. Fred Rogers understood that!
Yes, and I think Mister Rogers may have known how Sen. Pastore felt about children. To me the words on “what do you do with the mad that you feel?” are key. Too much unmanaged anger underlying wars and prejudice. Let’s start with helping children recognize anger and deal with it constructively.
Where is today’s Fred Rogers? We need him on television and in the chambers of congress.
He was one of a kind. But I think there are other spokesmen and spokeswomen for the causes we care about. Did you see this one about health care? It’s a personal story … until it isn’t. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmWWoMcGmo0
His sincerity really shines. I don’t know that I entirely agree with his educational philosophies, but I really appreciate him. I loved this remix that used his words:Garden of your Mind
Fun. I think that remix was created by someone who appreciated Fred Rogers.