When Parents Are Away
Thoughts for the Week:
It can take a while for children to
adjust when someone outside the family becomes one of their major caregivers.
That's why it's so important for caregivers and parents to develop a
partnership with one another. Sharing information about the children,
understanding one another's caregiving styles, traditions, cultures, and
expectations, can help these new partners better understand each other. There
may be mixed feelings in a caregiving partnership -- love, guilt, anger,
competition, trust and mistrust. But it's important to remember that the
healthier the relationship is between parent and caregiver, the easier the
caring situation becomes for the child.
-- Fred Rogers
Summary of the Week:
The theme of caring is introduced
as Mister Rogers visits a child care home and talks to children and their
caregiver about what they do together. In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe,
King Friday and Queen Sara are going away to work for three days and Prince
Tuesday worries that they are going away because he was bad. His fear that they
may never return results in a scary nightmare. With the help of his caregiver,
Prince Tuesday finds ways to cope with his parents' absence, even though he
still has some angry feelings about it when they return.
