Sesame Workshop Helps Families Handle Natural Disasters

The Hurricane Kit helps children cope with the aftermath of a hurricane or other natural disaster.

Grover (Hurricane Kit)

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005, Sesame Workshop jumped to launch a donation drive that saw staff, licensees, and other partners giving everything from clothing to food to toys. Some Muppeteers also went down to use to the Muppets to comfort children. The drive resulted in hundreds of boxes of supplies for destitute families – and the effort sparked a conversation about what the Workshop could do to offer children social and emotional support as they dealt with the trauma of the event.

Creating content based on a family's needs

To answer this question, the Workshop's education and research group gathered advisors for a half-day seminar to discuss the Workshop's options for helping children through this stressful time. Sesame Workshop's senior project director for outreach, Lynn Chwatsky, attended the seminar and recalls that the seminar shed some light on families' needs.

"We learned … that [children] just needed an Elmo plush to hug and to feel safe and secure. But they also needed tools, not only for them but for their parents on how to cope with situations like this."

Based on the results of this seminar, Sesame Workshop's outreach staff assembled a family and caregiver support kit containing comfort items, activities, and resources to keep children engaged and occupied during traumatic times, as well as educational materials to help families and caregivers soothe children and provide a sense of "routine" and reassurance. The kit specifically addressed children's emotional needs, offering tips for parents on how to help them manage their fears and anxieties. It also included a plush Sesame Street Muppet toy that provided the comfort and reassurance of a familiar fuzzy friend.

Dr. Lewis Bernstein, Sesame Workshop's executive vice president for education, research, and outreach, explains the approach.

"We are offering parents a trusted place to go to address the emotions that children feel when they are faced with any kind of natural disaster, " he says. "It is crucial for adults to validate their children's feelings, and we are providing strategies to help them."

Bernstein points out that while children in the immediately affected areas need ongoing support in coping with the effects of a natural disaster, it is just as important to address the needs of young children not directly impacted. Too often young children are exposed to media coverage about natural disasters without significant explanations.

"Children need help putting events into context," Bernstein explains.

Improving the parent-child dialogue

In a time of upheaval, it's difficult for children and their families or caregivers to sustain regular routines, which are so essential in helping children feel comfortable and safe. The Hurricane Kit offered a range of activities to help families maintain some routine. It also provided ways for parents and caregivers to engage and support children and encourage them to express their concerns.

The kit also included a Happy Healthy Monsters DVD, an Elmo Loves You book, an activity and coloring book with crayons, a simple cooperation game, a poster for adults, a caregiver guide, along with all components for another project, titled "You Can Ask" designed to help children cope with stressful situations. All of the Hurricane Kit materials were available in English and Spanish. In addition, Sesame Street public service announcements designed to help children and families cope with the crises were sent to all Public Broadcasting stations.

To reach families in need as quickly as possible after Katrina's impact, Sesame Workshop teamed up with local advisors, partners, and PBS affiliates to distribute the kits directly to relocation centers in the key states where many families and their children were evacuated to in the aftermath of the hurricane as well as to child care programs.

Chwatsky notes that the response was overwhelmingly positive.

"It was amazing the response that they had from these materials. They needed these so badly. The families didn't know they were getting them -- it was such a welcome surprise, and it really, really helped the dialogue between parents and kids. Parents felt better. Kids felt better."

Following on the Hurricane Kit's success, Sesame Workshop is developing an Emergency Preparedness project for September 2008.