Families Come in Different Shapes and Sizes
Thoughts for the Week:
Families come in all different
shapes and sizes. Even people who are not related by blood at all can make up a
family because they love and care for each other. And that's what is really
important about families. When people care for one another, they have a sense
of belonging - of being related to each other, even if they are not blood
relatives.
There are many ways to become a member of a family. Being born into a family is
one way. Marrying into a family, or being adopted are other ways to become part
of a family. When children are adopted, they sometimes need reassurance that
adoptive families and stepfamilies are like other families and that their moms
and dads care for them, the same way other parents care for their children.
-- Fred Rogers
Summary of the Week:
This week of programs introduces
viewers to different kinds of families -- both human and animal. There
are penguin families and puppet families, adoptive families and family
reunions. There's also a visit with a pediatrician, one of many community
neighbors who help families care for children.
In the Neighborhood of
Make-Believe, a puppet couple adopts a baby. Other puppet children are
curious about the adopted baby's status in the family. Says kindly
pediatrician, Dr. Bill Platypus, "When people adopt a child, that child is a
part of their family forever."
