ORLANDO, Fla. – Visuals of weather emergencies and other tragedies can be traumatic for some young kids. After the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016, producers from PBS station WUCF realized the need to be able to talk to children about those difficult topics.
They decided to do that by building upon the words of children's TV show icon Mister Rogers.
"My mother always told me look for the helpers," Rodgers famously said. "There will always be helpers helping."
A new series of videos on WUCF features emergency workers speaking about their roles as "helpers." The videos spotlight a police officer, doctor, teacher and News 6 meteorologist Julie Broughton.
All of the officials speak about what their jobs entail and about how kids might interact with them.
WUCF producer Kristin Benjamin said the station's objective is to let kids know that these officials are around to keep them safe.
"It makes them feel at ease and makes the children feel that in these scary situations, they are not alone," Benjamin said.
Benjamin said WUCF worked with UCF education professor Judith Levin on the scripts. Her input helped keep the segments appropriate for children ages 4-7.
Mister Rogers inspired more than just the content of the videos. Benjamin said his distinctive style is part of what made his show so accessible to children.
She hopes to recreate that.
"The way that Mr. Rogers would always communicate is making sure they're talking to you directly, talking to the children directly, not talking to the parents," Benjamin said.
For more information, go to www.meetthehelpers.org.