At a time when it feels easy to focus on what divides us, the Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening will be a reminder of what’s possible when communities come together and work for a common purpose.
This will be a moment to bring families together, to share the emotion, the possibility, and the magic of what it feels like to be led with hope.
We want you to be a part of this moment with us! Join us at https://t.co/laxJArxzYE at 11 a.m. CT Thursday, June 18 to watch our dedication ceremony.
Fred Rogers met with a child psychologist every week for 22 years to build his show. She shaped everything: every script, prop, and song. The whole point was to give a child's nervous system time to slow down. In 1984, a single regulatory decision ended all of it.
The psychologist was Dr. Margaret McFarland, who co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children's Center alongside Benjamin Spock and Erik Erikson. She and Rogers understood that the prefrontal cortex in children, the part of the brain that controls impulse, emotion, and attention, takes decades to fully develop. At the start of every episode, Rogers tied his sneakers and changed his sweater while children settled in. Those pauses were intentional, designed to help a child's nervous system shift into a calmer, more focused state.
What ended it had nothing to do with child development science. In 1984, Reagan's FCC chairman Mark Fowler abolished the advertising limits that had protected children's programming from commercial pressure. Toy companies moved within months. Between 1984 and 1985, cartoons tied to toy lines increased by 300%, from a handful of shows to more than 40 animated series. In almost every case, the toy was designed first. The cartoon was built to sell it.
Researchers later put numbers to what parents were already noticing. A 2011 study in Pediatrics from the University of Virginia tested 60 four-year-olds across three groups: one watching SpongeBob, which cuts scene every 11 seconds; one watching a slow PBS show, which cuts scene every 34 seconds; and one drawing. Nine minutes later, all three took tests on attention, impulse control, short-term memory, and problem-solving. The SpongeBob group scored significantly worse across every measure.
In the 1970s, children began watching television around age 4. Research from pediatrician Dimitri Christakis found that by 2009, the average age of first screen exposure had dropped to 4 months, as the content got faster and the audience got younger. Researchers separately found that each additional hour of daily screen time at ages 1 or 3 raised the risk of attention problems at age 7 by 9%.
The King of Pop is officially the king of the box office: The "Michael" movie starring Jaafar Jackson is now the top-grossing musical biopic ever. https://t.co/bZSAEnSHub
FTP: LAPD killed her dog. He was wearing his Knicks jersey.
His name was Jameson. A golden doodle. One of the sweetest, most gentle breeds alive.
A neighbor called a noise complaint. That's it.
20+ officers showed up. Then a helicopter. For a noise complaint in an apartment complex.
And they shot Jameson dead. In front of his owner. In front of her child.
No warning. No de-escalation. Nothing.
The media is barely covering this. No headlines. No outrage.
Like it never happened.
If this was your dog... your child watching... how would you feel?
Jameson deserved better. That little boy deserved better. His mama deserved better.
The attacks on Michelle Obama’s femininity aren’t jokes.
They’re a pattern of anti-Black misogyny that this country refuses to hold accountable.
She is the standard.
She has always been the standard.
🎥: @MichelleObama