Joining me in this episode is Ryan Rydzewski, the co-author of When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids.

He’s here to dig deeper and teach us more about two benefits of first times and new experiences: Curiosity and Creativity.

Ryan starts out by sharing with us what inspired him and his co-author Gregg Behr to write the book. Then we dig deeper into the world of Mister Rogers.

One of the first takeaways on curiosity that might surprise people is that Mr. Roger’s didn’t expect children to be curious about something they knew nothing about.

Ryan explains why there needs to be some familiarity first and what else is required to plant the seed of curiosity. Familiarity and mystery are required to ignite curiosity but that’s not all. Mr. Roger’s knew what was required so he took deliberate efforts to create a safe environment for children to escape to.

Ryan shares with us how he did that. We also talk about the “Bouncing Raisins” experiment and the 1968 study by Dr. George Land. Creativity can’t be imposed but it can be encouraged. Scientists have found that imaginative kids are more likely to have imaginative parents – people who consider themselves adventurous and open-minded.

We discussed throughout the interview how what Mister Rogers taught (can still teach us) is far from being only for children. When You Wonder, You're Learning is an excellent book to read and learn from whether or not you're a parent or educator.