One of the delightful things about growing up in the United States or Canada in my generation was the experience of a man called Fred Rogers, or as we knew him, Mr. Rogers.

Mr. Rogers was there for us every day with kind words, a soothing tone and a wonderful way of helping you to feel really good about yourself.

And even years later, when I had outgrown Mister Rogers and his neighborhood, I still got a wonderful feeling whenever I would happen across his show and would even occasionally stop and watch for a minute or two before moving on.

And just the other day I stumbled across a video of Mr. Rogers in a very different setting, fighting for the life of his little show in front of Senator John Pastore, a man with a reputation of being one of the gruffest, hard-nosed, tightfisted and impatient curmudgeons in Washington!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a41lJIhW7fA"]YouTube - Mr. Rogers talks to the US senate[/ame]

If you have any experience listening to Milton Erickson, especially as a younger man, before his second bout with polio, I'd like for you to bear that in mind as you think back on the video or watch it again...

Although it's not as uniform or densely packed as it would've been if that were Milton having that discussion, the sheer amount and quality of hypnotic language patterns as well as Fred's beautiful pacing and tonality in delivering them have the senator wondering what hit him before Fred's even halfway done!

As amazing and effective a real-world example of hypnotic, persuasive language as I've seen in a long time!

Now I suddenly think I understand why Mr. Rogers left such an impression on me and my generation!

Be Well,

Michael Perez

Michael,

I watched the clip last night, what a brave bloke to perform under that level of intesity with a cool, calm and cleverly calculated speach.

I went on to look up more clips regarding Mr Rogers and there seemed to be some controvery, or at least a counter argument to his approach that "you are special for being you". Fox News had a particular clip that commented about being persuaded that you are liked for being you bred a generation of underachievers who lacked motivation to do better for themselves.

Michael, as a youngster who listened to Mr Rogers what effect do you think his teachings had on you?

I am going through kids shows that I liked to see if any stories or concepts have manifested in me and still play a part in my behaviour or decision making.

Redsimo wrote:

I went on to look up more clips regarding Mr Rogers and there seemed to be some controvery, or at least a counter argument to his approach that "you are special for being you". Fox News had a particular clip that commented about being persuaded that you are liked for being you bred a generation of underachievers who lacked motivation to do better for themselves.

Michael, as a youngster who listened to Mr Rogers what effect do you think his teachings had on you?

What a good question!

I'd have to say that my experience mismatches that of the Fox News report you mentioned.

Mr. Rogers held forth to concepts which I don't think he ever really separated from one another in terms of the way that he presented them.

The first concept was 'You Are a Valuable and Special Person'.

The second concept was 'Special and Valuable People Make Certain Specific Choices about Their Behavior'. Each show then was essentially about those choices, demonstrated in both conversation and dramatic metaphor.

The implication, it seemed to me, was clear. 'I Am a Special and Valuable Person and Therefore My Behavioral Choices Will Be Ones That Are Appropriate for That Identity', and, of course, Fred had already consistently set forth an example of what those those behaviorl choices would be, in both his words and his deeds.

I can understand how taking positions which sort against instinctive common sense and 'expose' respected people (especially dead or incapacitated ones) to unexpected criticism are inherently controversial and, therefore, great ways to grab the public's attention and bring publicity to unknown researchers at small universities or to get comments flowing on TV chat shows, but I can't think of many five-year-olds who would use the same sorting strategy that was set forth in the Fox News piece, or so it seems to me.

I would characterize Mr. Rogers' effect on me as being one that asked me to consider my choices of behavior in light of my identity and one that appealed to 'the better angels of my nature'.

Although the show tended to be about moving towards things rather than moving away from things, the conventional wisdom of the time with regard child raising was very much rooted in penalizing 'bad' behavior. To that extent, the show was intended to work as a counterpoint. He didn't go negative because the culture itself was sorting that way overall at the time.

I think the kids need both the carrot and the stick, and they need those things in different ways at different times. What Mr. Rogers did was to present a very specific carrot which was valuable, I think, at a specific developmental stage but was never intended to be the only behavioral conditioning child ever received.

Which lleads me to one last thing. Although Fred Rogers could and did have an effect on me growing up, he was not in a position to be one of the major influences on my self-concept or behaviours.

Assuming for a moment that other people had a similar experience to my own, I'd have to say that for many people, the show was only a nudge in a given direction and that there were probably much more powerful factors with regard to self-image and behavioral choices. As I'm often fond of saying, 'it's not just one thing, it's everything'.

And in this case, I'd have to say that nudge was probably a pretty useful one for me in terms of my learning about a way of looking at myself which could make certain useful behaviors more likely choices for me.

That's my experience, at any rate! And thanks again for the question, Matt!

Be Well,

Michael Perez

Michael

Thank you.

His passion for and belief in what he did was evident.

I have often wondered why we use terms like children, senior citizens etc. when each person is unique from birth and becomes more so through life.

Keep being wonderful

Shirley

Finally got a chance to watch this today, it made for great listening and evidence of a great communicator, quite inspiring, thanks.

Stephen