Mr. Rogers: Vintage Style Icon!

My two-year old daughter is in the process of potty training. She was sitting on the potty today and asked me, ever so sweetly, if she could fall down the drain. Of course, I told her no, but it brought to mind immediately the Mister Rogers song "You Can Never Go Down the Drain".

It may seem silly and corny to us, but as a child I remember singing that song to myself, and how reassuring it was. That was the appeal of Mister Rogers- he spoke directly to children in a language they understood.

I know a lot of adults like to poke fun at him for that, because the language and themes are so innocently simplistic. But children really responded to that approach and they always have. It's a very refreshing style now, with so much audio and visual bombardment on contemporary kids' TV (and believe me, I've seen a lot of that!) I wish there were reruns still on TV, but the best we can do is YouTube, and there are probably more parodies on there than the real thing.

Plus, Mr. Rogers always wore cardigans and keds. His set had a great vintage look to it, with that antique fridge and that traffic light. The music is piano jazz. Who wouldn't want their kids to absorb some of that goodness!

Here are a couple of YouTube clips- go get your kids and make them watch! They can watch iCarly later OnDemand.

Mister Rogers shows how a voting machine works.

This is one of my favorites- featuring Wynton Marsalis, the jazz trumpeter.

And did you know that March 20th is Mister Rogers Sweater Day? In honor of everyone's favorite neighbor, wear your favorite cardigan on what would have been his 83rd birthday!