Understanding What's Real and What's Pretend
Thoughts for the Week:
The adult world can seem
overwhelmingly large to children. As a result, children often pretend they have
super powers and strength that will make them "superbig", "superfast", and
"superstrong", even stronger than adults! Television superheroes can be very
appealing to young children, but they can also be very frightening. We need to
help children realize that the superheroes and monsters they see are either
pictures that someone has drawn, or people dressed up in costumes and make-up.
They're not real, but they often scare people because they look so real.
-- Fred Rogers
Summary of the Week:
In this week of
programs Mister Rogers reassures his young viewers that all monsters and
superheroes on television, in movies, and books are either people dressed in
costumes or pictures that people have made. He watches as an actor puts on his
costume and make-up and becomes a "superhero." Visiting a dinosaur exhibit with
a museum curator, he sees some enormous dinosaur skeletons and assures children
that there are no such creatures alive on earth anymore, anywhere.
In the
Neighborhood of Make-Believe there is a dinosaur in Prince Tuesday's scary
dream and in Lady Elaine's mischievous play. The neighbors find out it's just
Purple Panda in a costume -- and come to appreciate that they don't need to
have "super" powers to be loved.
