Mom Tiger

I grew up watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, so it was no surprise that I fell in love with Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. My 1 year old also fell in love with it several years ago. Luckily, he still enjoys watching it at 3 years old.

The show centers around Daniel Tiger, the son of the original Daniel Striped Tiger (Mr. Rogers hand puppet). The program is targeted at preschool-aged children, and is based on the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Two 11-minute segments are linked by a common socio-emotional theme, such as disappointment and sadness or anger, or being thankful and appreciative. The theme also uses a musical motif phrase, which the show calls "strategy songs", to reinforce the theme and help children remember the life lessons. We often sing Daniel Tiger songs that apply to our situations.

I learned so many new ways of parenting from this show and am intrigued by Mom Tiger (Daniel Tiger's mom). I appreciate her patience, firmness, actions, and choice of words. While I have my own style of parenting, I incorporate her ways into mine.

One of the shows features a song titled: When We Do Something New. When my son was 1, I began using this song to talk about what to expect. While the song focuses on talking about what to expect when something is new, we did that and what to expect in general. He grew up genuinely appreciating and listening to me explain what we are going to do and/or what to expect. It led to us talking about the next day when I lay in his bed with him after prayers. He says: Let's talk about our day tomorrow! We start with waking up, having breakfast and continuing with something he or I may have going on the next day. If he hasn't had one of our homemade frozen blueberry muffins in awhile, I will throw that in the conversation. Something to look forward to. After all, they are his favorite breakfast. We may not always have something going on the next day, but we always wake up, have breakfast, play together and play outside.

I don't sing the song anymore, but I still talk about what to expect. We had an emergency room visit on Easter Sunday night. He DID NOT want to go. He was scared and very upset. I explained how doctors and nurses are helpers just like police officers and fire fighters (his favorite), and they just want us to feel better. I also told him what to expect when we get there (from checking in to taking x-rays) as we were in the backseat while my husband drove. He calmed down and knew exactly what to expect when we arrived.

I am grateful for all Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood has taught my son and I. We do still sing some songs and have our favorites. "You gotta try new food, cause it might taste goo-ood. SO-O good!" Great episode. And guess what! He tries new foods. He may not like it or want to finish it, but he tries it.