Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (TV Series)

1615: When Parents Go to Work (1989)

Fred Rogers: Mr. Rogers, King Friday XIII, Queen Sara Saturday, Cornflake S. Pecially

Photos 

Quotes 

• King Friday XIII : I understand that you have been angry with your mother and me.

  Prince Tuesday : Well, sort of.

  King Friday XIII : That's very understandable.

  Prince Tuesday : It is?

  King Friday XIII : I used to be angry with my mother and father.

  Prince Tuesday : You were?

  King Friday XIII : Yes. They would always be working someplace else and I didn't want them to go. But they told me they didn't like leaving me any more than I liked their going. In fact, I remember seeing my father cry one day when he had to leave us.

  Prince Tuesday : Your father? Grandfather Thursday cried?

  King Friday XIII : He did.

  Queen Sara Saturday : Well sometimes we cry when we have to leave you, Tuesday, but we have to do our work. People depend on us to do the work.

  Prince Tuesday : I guess I never thought of it that way.

  King Friday XIII : I trust we will talk about it some more when we all get home from our work today.

  Prince Tuesday : Yes. I'm going to help the children at the caring center with their block building and stuff like that.

• Charles R. Aber : King Friday and I have had a great deal of work to do away from home lately.

  Charles R. Aber : You've been very busy, haven't you?

  Queen Sara Saturday : Very busy. And Tuesday has been very angry with us about it.

  Charles R. Aber : He has?

  Queen Sara Saturday : Yes, and I've done everything I've known how to do. I've always let him know where we'd be and how he can get in touch with us if he really needed us, and he's had good care at home.

  Charles R. Aber : You always try your best. I know that. You're a good mother, Queen Sara.

  Queen Sara Saturday : Sometimes, I don't feel like one. I wonder if Tuesday knows that I don't like to have to leave him anymore than he likes me to go.

  Charles R. Aber : Have you told him that?

  Queen Sara Saturday : I don't rightly know. But when I'm away from home, I think about him, and wonder how he's doing, and look forward to when I can come back.

  Charles R. Aber : You know, it could be that he thinks he's the only one doing the missing.

  Queen Sara Saturday : Well, I'll certainly tell him.

  Charles R. Aber : Good.

• Mr. Rogers : You know, it takes children time to understand their feelings and to be able to talk about them. It's good that Tuesday was able to talk with his mom and dad, and it's good that his mom and dad are learning to talk with him about their work. No one likes it when they have to be away from the people they love. Children don't like it, and parents don't like it. But sometimes, it just has to be. And the best way to understand it and to deal with it is to talk about it with the people that you do love.