Some of my earliest TV memories involve watching Sesame Street on our small black & white TV in the family room – first just me and my little brother, and then it being the only thing we were allowed to watch with our younger sisters (stupid sisters, not letting me watch The Goodies simply because they’re too young).
They’ve always been able to touch on sensitive issues and reflect them for their young audience so that they can understand a little more of what’s going on around them, and also to give them the tools and strategies to cope with some quite distressing things. The Hurricane that recently affected the east coast of the United States was one that meant a lot of people had their lives turned upside down by this significant weather event – even Big Bird.
The Children’s Television Workshop have very kindly put the entire episode online so that others can appreciate it and use it with their kids. For mine, seeing all these old friends come together to support each other at a difficult time just makes it all a little easier to deal with…