"The way Fred Rogers communicated has been the subject of much examination. He was deliberate without being rigid. He was quiet without being passive. He was empathetic without being paralyzed. How did he achieve this? He worked hard at his scripts. In his archive in Pennsylvania, stacks of scribble-covered papers pay tribute to Rogers as an exacting self-editor. The printed scripts contain large words that were then carefully crossed out and replaced with more comprehensible language."
"We know that Fred Rogers created a space of encouragement and kindness, but by examining which words he leaned on, we can learn to construct meaning and child-friendly lessons out of Mister Rogers' rhetorical building blocks. To that end, Fatherly analyzed the closed-captioning text for 30 representative episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood pulled from the 31-season run. After throwing out common words (conjunctions, articles, pronouns), we looked at the frequency of word use."
Fred Rogers edited scripts meticulously, crossing out large words and substituting more comprehensible language. He balanced deliberateness with warmth, remaining quiet without passivity and empathetic without paralysis. He addressed children directly and shaped phrasing to match their understanding. Closed-captioning transcripts for 30 representative episodes from the 31-season run were analyzed, excluding common function words, to measure word-frequency. Results indicate frequent use of verbs and nouns emphasizing knowing, exploration, action, and curiosity. The top-used words reveal a communication strategy that combines reassurance with prompts to investigate, act, and engage responsively with the world.
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