Dear Sesame Street

Do children need to be subjected to hungry Muppets?

This is the question I ponder as I write this post. Sesame Street announced yesterday that they are introducing, Lilly, the lavender colored Muppet character who’s family struggles to stay fed.

That’s a pretty hash slap from left field for most preschoolers…or is it? According to polls, one in six Americans lives at or below the poverty level. One in six! Can you believe that? I recently researched a local food bank for a friend and they went belly up; not because there weren’t enough people using the program, but because they couldn’t keep the depository stocked. They turn people away every day with empty bellies and nowhere to go.

But Still, the question remains, do we need to expose our toddlers to this depressing fact?

I guess that depends on which part of the economic cookie you sit. When I first considered this, I admit, I was appalled. Life is depressing enough. Let the little ones learn their colors, shapes and numbers from a furry blue guy named Grover. There is plenty of time for them to learn about hunger, welfare, and other topics like it. Plus, I’m not hungry. Or I should say, when I get hungry, I open the fridge and grab whatever I want. There are even times I throw uneaten food away.

I was feeling rather smug in my righteous cocoon, until a thought struck me. But Sesame Street has always been rebellious in nature. And you won’t teach your son about being hungry…not really. Sure you can talk about it, but how does one get the point across while snarfing down cookies & milk before bed? Fairly abstract, don’t you think?

It’s true. I suffered at poverty level for a number of years, but that was before. As in before I married your dad and before you were born. I could talk until I was blue in the face about not having enough. When a kid has their own room, bike, laptop, Nintendo DS—it’s kind of hard for them to get a clear picture.

And Sesame Street, while not a substitute for good parenting, has a pretty direct line to young minds. Over the years they’ve portrayed blended families from every race and creed, all living in an urban environment. As a whitebread, extremely sheltered child, I never blinked an eye. In fact, as a parent, I didn’t even care when they were going to let Katy Perry dance around in her questionable yellow tutu. The creators of the program opened up the world to sheltered suburban children everywhere; myself included. Before I stepped foot in any school, Sesame Street had taken me around the world. I saw mothers in Africa retrieving water from dirty rivers with papooses slung across their backs. I never wondered what nationality Mr. Hooper was. So long as he opened shop every day, I was happy. And Bert & Ernie, two men living together collecting bottle caps? Never even gave it a second thought.

And now I’m raising my son in a world where one in six people (in the U.S.A., the land of the free and the home of the Whopper) doesn’t have enough to eat.

Yes, it’s depressing. And yes, my protective mother hackles go up at the thought of my little guy feeling sad for Lavender Lilly; but she is an accurate representation of America today. She could be the girl who sits next to my son in class watching him eat his healthy snack with nothing of her own. Or the boy who tries to steal half of an uneaten sandwich from the garbage. Or even the kid who plays it cool and makes fun of the kid with the generic shoes from Wal-Mart, pretending to have it all when his pantry is empty. Who knows?

The face of poverty in America is morphing. There are no color limitations, no one particular sex or creed it affects. It can be your neighbor, your friend, and in the blink of an eye, it could even be you. So rock on Sesame Street. Educate kids. Teach them about giving, sharing, caring…

But for Pete’s sake, PLEASE bring back the original Cookie Monster. His veggie guy replacement don’t sit right with me.

Food for thought-

Elizabeth is a mother of five. Three are fully finished souffles, while the last two continue to rise. She is a writer, a Zazzle entrepreneur, and wife of a military man. You can find her on the web at Elsie Love and at E.B. Loan