July 2022 Blog

🎶 Will you be my neighbor?? 🎶

      When my kids were growing up, there was a show on PBS called "Mr Rogers Neighborhood."  According to Wikipedia.com, Fred Rogers was an "American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister." He captivated his young audience and was a big hit in our house. His calm and inspirational demeanor as well as his way of making every child feel special was his Hallmark. I remember how happy I was when the show was on because for an hour I knew Mr. Rogers was "babysitting" for my little ones through the TV screen. To me he was giving them a great deal of positive and wonderful messages. He would say, "You're special just the way you are!" and "In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers." Oh, there were so many messages on his show. From the minute he entered his little neighborhood when he changed his jacket to his sweater and his shoes to his sneakers, you just knew that the messages were going to be messages you wanted your kids to hear and live by.  Even feeding the fish was symbolic. What did all of this mean? I think for my kids it meant that there was an order in a daily schedule and a sense of taking care of oneself and others, even the fish. I also think that it was a great way of teaching by repetition. Children learn from repetition.  After all, we all do.

Dagger certainly has learned positive reinforcement through repetition. Every morning he nudges my husband, Denis, to get up.  He knows that it's time for his breakfast, his walk down to the park to play ball and visit with his fur buddies. He knows because we do this repeatedly everyday. He also knows that when we enter our studio to paint, I put on my smock and I dress him in his red beret.  This all signifies that it's time to paint. Our little world in the studio is a wonderful place of happiness and joy. We create, sing, play and sometimes we even cuddle up on the old leather couch that sits up against the far wall. A wall that proudly displays Dagger's works of art. 

Repeating positive thoughts and activities creates one to experience good vibes. I know that this can be quite difficult to do during the hard times. It's challenging to say the least. And over the past few years we've all experienced some really hard times. However, we must keep telling ourselves that we are amazing, we can overcome and we are brave. Repeating those words over and over again, can change the negative words into positive ones and we'll begin to see the world in a different light. A light that has hope and meaning. 

Mr. Rogers did just that during his shows for children.  He repeatedly told his little viewers that they were special and deserving. He covered topics that were important in their lives. He kept a routine and made it fun. His "neighborhood" included characters that he saw on a daily basis and interacted with them. Sometimes they had problems that were worked out.  Sometimes there were exciting events that took place where he would help the characters deal with their emotions as they encountered these events. Whatever it was, Mr. Rogers was on the television screen teaching our children (and us, too) lessons of everyday life and occurrences. He reassured these little minds that "It was a beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"  and that "They were special just the way they were."

We need to reassure ourselves that no matter what age we are we too can make any day a beautiful day just by telling ourselves that we are loved, we are deserving and we are special just the way we are. By repeating these words over and over again, we will begin to believe them.  

​I'm gonna try...
​Are you?

Happy Tales to you!
​xoxo Yvonne