Many of us grew up watching Mr. Rogers, and felt comforted by his message “I like you just the way you are.” Fred Rogers understood a lot about developmental psychology and the importance of young children hearing that they are “fine.” When we are that young, we don’t understand the nuance of having “strengths and weaknesses” and things we are good at and things we could be better at. We either think we are “good” or “bad.” And if we start thinking that we are “bad” at say, six years of age, it will be written into our personal narrative and will play itself out in all sorts of harmful ways.
The good news is that the damage is not irreversible. Learning to be ok with oneself, even to love oneself as an adult can help us lead happier lives and have healthier relationships.
Meanwhile, it might be worth going back and taking a moving look at Fred Rogers’ kind life in the great documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor.