Most parents my age grew up believing that Mister Rogers was speaking directly to us in our living rooms. He felt like a member of the family — a beloved one.
He didn’t just explain the world as it was; he showed us what it could be.
Fred Rogers helped raise two entire generations of Americans with a gentle, nonpartisan and uncontroversial moral compass grounded in common sense.
Today, many parents see Ms. Rachel as the next Mister Rogers — only her audience finds her not on PBS, but on digital media.
Back in the day, we had to wait for Mister Rogers’ scheduled airtime.
But Ms. Rachel’s “Songs for Littles” is available on demand, around the clock, on both YouTube and Netflix.
Rachel Griffin Accurso’s super-sweet, sing-songy Ms. Rachel persona is a top YouTube draw, with over 14 million subscribers and more than 10 billion views.
That’s billion — with a “B.”
Her social-media feeds on Instagram and TikTok, where she remains in character in her trademark pink headband, are followed by millions more.
She and a recurring cast of cheery co-stars teach babies, toddlers and preschoolers about the ABCs, colors, emotions, animals and pretty much anything she can set to music.
She’s so popular that when Drew Barrymore hosted Robert De Niro on her talk show this week, she had Ms. Rachel record a personalized video for the actor’s 2-year-old daughter — which went viral for its winking reference to “Taxi Driver.”
De Niro melted. “If there’s a problem with the baby and there’s a lot of unhappiness, put on Ms. Rachel,” he gushed.
“It just immediately goes away.”
But unlike Mister Rogers, Ms. Rachel’s content sneaks in political themes — invariably leftist ones.
In 2023 she put her followers in a time-out, briefly leaving social media when a mom objected to a Ms. Rachel video in which a castmate — dressed androgynously, with multiple facial piercings — subtly introduced a non-binary puppet character: “Their name is Patches.”
Since that controversy, some parents have noticed an uptick in political messaging in Ms. Rachel’s social-media posts.
Consider that 30% of children ages 5 through 7 are using TikTok — despite the platform’s 13-and-older policy — and usage among this vulnerable group is surging.
Almost a quarter of children in this demographic have a smartphone and more than three-quarters use a tablet computer. Younger kids use them, too.
Parents aren’t just putting their children in front of Ms. Rachel on YouTube, but on her social media as well, where the algorithm can keep entertaining them with her content.
“Happy Pride!” she exclaimed on TikTok last June, wearing a rainbow-striped shirt.
“I’m not chasing fame or views,” she said. “I’m standing strong in love.”
Translation: If you’re uncomfortable with a children’s entertainer expressing political views on sexuality, you just don’t have love in your heart.
In recent weeks, she’s been increasingly fixated on the war in Gaza.
For 12 days after the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, Ms. Rachel remained silent.
Not until Oct. 19, when Israel was beginning its Gaza invasion, did she post a video, crooning, “Safe, safe, safe . . . all children deserve to be safe.”
She didn’t spare a word for the dozens of children held hostage by Hamas at that moment.
Since then, she’s regularly posted Hamas-aligned talking points about the number of children killed and complaints about meager aid shipments.
“Please practice the golden rule and do what you would want someone to do for you,” she lectured.
What, exactly, would any other country do while 59 of its citizens are still being held hostage?
But for all her posts lamenting the plight of Gaza and videos of waving Gazan children, there’s one conspicuous omission: the word Hamas, the terror group that ignited the war.
That’s a remarkable level of avoidance for someone who positions herself as a moral guide for kids just learning their numbers and letters.
The Supreme Court next month will hear a case filed by Maryland parents who object to the sly political messaging their kids are experiencing in their public schools.
An amicus brief filed for the plaintiffs in Mahmoud vs. Taylor by the Manhattan Institute’s Ilya Shapiro explains, “Children are accustomed to accepting assertions put forth by an adult authority figure unquestioningly. They lack the critical-thinking skills to evaluate gender-theory views of sexual identity.”
Or, I would add, those adults’ views about an ongoing war.
Millions of us once viewed Mister Rogers as the ultimate arbiter of kindness and goodness.
Today, millions of children see Ms. Rachel the same way.
And that’s precisely why her increasingly politicized online presence should concern parents.
Ms. Rachel has a moral compass — but it only points leftward.
If parents invite her into their homes, they should understand that’s the direction in which she’s guiding their kids.
Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars and is a homeschooling mother of six in greater Washington, DC.
https://nypost.com/2025/03/28/opinion/youtubes-ms-rachel-and-the-leftists-coming-after-our-kids/
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