Thoughts for the Week:

When a child's parents are away at work, he or she may have a lot of questions about what they do all day - and why they have to be gone. It can be helpful for children to know not only what their parents do, but also that working for money can be a part of caring for children. With the money they earn, parents can buy the things that children need. But parents can't always buy everything that a child wants. None of us can have everything we want! We all have to learn to make choices about the way we spend our time, our money, and our other resources.

One of the ways that children begin to learn about choices is by making decisions in their play - deciding how to use the blocks or what to do with the play dough or finding the best way to make a mountain of sand. Play is so often the way children learn about the world around them.

Summary of the Week:

This week offers some lessons in "economics" in ways that young children can understand. For one thing, they see some of the things people do at work, when Mister Rogers visits a dairy farm, a grocery store, and a place where post office workers design and make stamps. He also lets children know about his work of making television programs and writing songs.

Children can have lots of difficult feelings about their parents leaving them to go off to work, and one of the important messages this week is that one way parents care for children is to go to work to make money for the family. But having money doesn't mean having enough money to buy everything that children need or want. When Mister Rogers goes shopping, he helps children deal with the disappointment that can go along with making choices.

In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe everyone wants a new swimming pool and the neighbors are trying to save money by doing the digging themselves. But a water pipe breaks, and the repair is costly. The neighbors learn an important lesson in economics as they have to make some hard choices of what they can and cannot afford.