Resources for Caring Adults

December 2021: With all the holidays this month, we talk about this season as a time of peace, joy, light, and hope. But it's also a time when it's easy to feel stressed, over-burdened and under-appreciated, so I am offering you a treasured video from one of our early professional development workshops.

During times of tragedy and difficulty in the news, it can be difficult to know whether and how to talk to children about what is happening in their world. In this resource we offer ideas and support for guiding children through news about difficult current events.

There is so much we think about when we help children learn and grow. We wonder what activities to plan, what experiences are important, what materials and toys are necessary, how to create a supportive environment...all while meeting basic needs and balancing opinions and outside influences.

The Fred Rogers Institute is bustling with activity. This coming month is jam-packed with in-person and virtual events that cater to a wide range of interests and age groups, honoring the legacy of Fred Rogers. From educational webinars and community outreach initiatives to celebratory events like ...

January 2022: Here we are at the beginning of the year when we're "looking ahead," wondering what this new year will bring. It seems kind of ironic, but "looking back" can help us with our journey ahead. There's even a name for that in early childhood — reflective teaching.

Slowness—as both an idea and practice—is a significant layer of what we can learn from Fred Rogers and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. And slowness is about much more than going slowly. Slowness opens a space for what is essential for children and their helpers.

School year 2020-21 was a year of wide-ranging and significant everything. Full of layered emotions and experiences existing between the ever-collapsing dichotomies of together-alone, 2D-3D, right-wrong, real-unreal, then-now, time-no time, nowhere-here.

Report synthesizing the discussion, research, and practice around technology and media for young children and aligning it to Fred Rogers' ideas about how television could encourage and support whole child development.

I recently read a description of strong relationships as those built on a foundation where each person potentiates the other. I love thinking of potential in this practice-based way.

Good is a little word that means many things. It can signal graciousness, generosity, virtue, or it can mark concise word choice when grand, fabulous, brilliant is too much. In its simplicity, it upholds its enoughness.

Lately, I've been wondering what it was about the presence of Fred Rogers that helped to foster mutuality and connection. Throughout my time as a public educator, children and family pastor, and resident hospital chaplain, I have looked to Fred as an exemplar in how to engage and be with those I am seeking to serve...

"I like you as you are" is one of the most salient messages educators name in discussions about how Fred Rogers' work resonates with their practice. It's a message their students need to hear. It's a message their students' families need to hear. And it's a message that educators themselves need to hear.

"That I might do things differently, and that's the way it's supposed to be." The voice is coming from one of the Pre-Primary teachers in the center where I worked as an administrator at the time. It is September of 2020 and we have just finished our weekly Zoom share ...