David Cohen is the director of domestic research for Sesame Workshop

When my friend tried to explain her divorce to her 8-year-old niece, her niece reflected “It’s going to take me awhile to process this.” Her niece’s reaction might be considered precocious, but it also shows the deep emotions children grapple with when faced with such a life altering effect.

Young children need ongoing and sensitive help from trusted adults who approach this event in age appropriate ways. In fact, young children are at risk of having more adjustment problems than older children, since they are still in the early process of developing the coping skills necessary to deal with all the changes associated with divorce. They also often blame themselves for the divorce or feel that it is their responsibility to bring their parents back together.

Given the special relationship that children develop with Sesame Street characters and the human cast, we believed that we could play a role for families going through this often traumatic situation. Clearly tackling a topic like divorce, especially with preschoolers, required a sensitive and thoughtful approach. Typical of all Sesame Workshop initiatives, our approach included the input of advisors, who included psychologists and other mental health professionals specializing in the impact of divorce on younger children. We also conducted preliminary research with divorced parents and their children, who viewed working drafts of the materials and provided suggestions and recommendations which could be incorporated into the final version.

We are incredibly grateful to the parents who shared their own stories and provided invaluable feedback about how we described and portrayed divorce. Feedback from parents helped fine tune the video in which Abby Cadabby’s friends show their support when she tells them about her parents’ divorce. For example, the moms and dads suggested that different types of divorce situations should be portrayed in the video, and not just those in which the divorced parents live near each other (as is the case with Abby’s parents in the video). To address this, producers included live action films of real families talking about how they cope when divorced parents live farther apart. These live action films were included with the Sesame Street story in the final version of the video.

Parents also mentioned that in the draft version Abby acted calm and composed when speaking about her parents’ divorce and that was not realistic. Instead parents suggested that Abby should show the feelings that they’ve seen in their own children — anger, confusion, and sadness. As a result, Abby was more explicit in expressing her complex emotions in the finished version of the video — she tells Gordon, “Yeah, I am angry! And sad… oh, I love my mommy and daddy so much!”

Great wisdom and sensitivity went into the creation of the materials. In the words of an 8-year-old girl, it took a lot to “process this.” With the help of the advisors and families who helped shape this project, we were able to launch “Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce” which is available here. We’re hopeful this initiative will make a difference for families of divorce as they help their preschoolers navigate the challenges and experiences they’ll face together through this major life event.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Many low-income families did not own a television set and were barely even aware of public television in 1969. Before Sesame Street could be introduced to these families, there needed to be televisions. The Workshop distributed donated televisions to daycare centers, housing projects, libraries and churches throughout New York City. Mobile viewing units brought the show to inner city neighborhoods, to Appalachia, the Choctaw and other Native American communities and to the children of migrant workers. The mobile classrooms offered facilities for fifteen children at a time to watch the show and participate in playful learning activities directed by volunteer teachers from the community.

Soon after Sesame Street aired, there was an overwhelming demand from parents and teachers for information on the show. To meet this demand, the Workshop partnered with local public television stations to produce and distribute promotional materials. Time, Inc. produced a set of parent-teacher guides to help identify the show’s curriculum goals and provide lesson plan guides for the classroom. By the second season, the Workshop created an outreach division called Community Education Services (CES) and set up 10 small satellite offices. The offices were staffed with 2-3 dedicated workers to work with populations in need in New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, San Francisco, Oakland, L.A., Dallas, and Biloxi.

Even the Sesame Street Muppets and cast got involved in the outreach efforts. A touring cast including Gordon, Susan, Bob, Mr. Hooper, and Big Bird went on a seventeen city cross-country tour performing free shows for children. The tour included a stop at the Nixon White House to perform for the children of ambassadors from around the world. Jessie Jackson and his PUSH coalition in Chicago organized four shows in two days and reached over 10,000 kids in the Chicago area in 1970. In three years, the touring show was estimated to have attracted half a million children.

Bringing televisions to communities through television drives and mobile units, touring Muppets with the cast of Sesame Street, and operating field offices around the country were original, creative ways to bring Sesame Street into communities. Today, in Bangladesh, our outreach means that kids in rural areas can watch the show delivered by rickshaw in the country. In the United States, recent educational initiatives such as science education and military deployment, economic uncertainty and oral health are available for free download on the web. Each outreach effort is a simple extension of our mission to reach and teach children.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Luckily Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby and her friend Rocio Galarza, Senior Director of Outreach and Content Design for Sesame Workshop, are here to help. On Wednesday, February 20, Abby and Rocio will be taking questions about divorce and separation from parents, children, friends and anyone who has questions about staying resilient while navigating a divorce or separation.

Email us at divorce@sesame.org and Abby and Rocio will record an answer to your question in a video segment that will be posted online next week. In addition to your question, please include your name, age (if you wish) and your hometown so we can give say hello if your question is picked. We will also write you back directly if Abby and Rocio have the opportunity to answer your question.

Let your friends, family and colleagues know too! Everyone is welcome to send in a question. We can’t wait to hear from you.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

JoAnne Pedro-Carroll is a clinical and research psychologist and author of the award-winning book, “Putting Children First:  Proven Parenting Strategies for Helping Children Thrive Through Divorce.” 

Today, there’s an important conversation taking place at Sesame Street – another important conversation in a thoughtful and penetrating series that has taken place behind the scenes here over the past several years. Those conversations culminated in Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce.

I can’t begin to tell you how important and valuable I believe this project is, and how particularly pleased I am that Sesame Street chose to tackle this very tough subject. Having spent more than 30 years working with children and families as they struggle with big changes in their lives, I have seen a very real need for what Sesame Street delivers. While the bookstores and media have a virtual torrent of information about divorce, much of it is conflicting. As a result, it can be very tough for parents to know what to believe, and how best to help their children through the transitions. That’s why Sesame Street, which has earned parents’ trust for basing its programming on a depth of quality research, and has a very wide reach, is such an invaluable resource on separation and divorce, as on so many other critical topics.

In the United States, some 40 percent of all children experience their parents’ divorce. We know from research that the series of changes this causes in children’s lives does impact them, sometimes in profound ways for their entire lives. We know that for some children the effects can be devastating. Despite the myth that all children – particularly young children – are resilient, they are not automatically so. But the good news is that it is possible for children to survive and thrive. Research has shown what factors and behaviors influence positive outcomes and promote children’s resilience. With this knowledge, parents, family, friends, health care providers, judges, mediators, attorneys, teachers, and everyone who cares about children have the opportunity to help children thrive.

This research is the body of knowledge that Sesame Street has tapped into and interpreted so thoughtfully and creatively – as always, with insight into and sensitivity towards young children’s developmental stages. In working with the talented and dedicated team that put together this project, I was deeply impressed by their commitment to providing children and parents with the verbal tools and positive messages to help them through what are often bewildering and frightening times.

In creating the divorce story around Abby Cadabby, the team chose a charmingly wispy – and potentially vulnerable – character that young children can relate to. By having her tell her story in retrospective, they give children a context for what they may be experiencing and an example of effective ways of coping.  Abby reveals that at first she had a number of different strong feelings – something typical of young children – but that her feelings changed over time. While she expresses some lingering sadness and disappointment over the fact that her family is no longer all together in one home – again, emotions that many children continue to feel – she focuses on the positives of the “two-hug days” when she experiences the unchanging love that both parents show her.

In conversations with Gordon and her Muppet friends, Abby also becomes the vehicle for other fundamental lessons. Many children believe that they caused their parents’ divorce, and many are convinced that they can get their parents back together again. Often they hide these and other fears, worries, and misconceptions from their parents. But through Sesame Street, children learn that divorce is a grownup problem that children do not cause and cannot solve.

Parents, too, learn from the Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce resources what their children may be experiencing and how they can broach difficult conversations and offer reassurance. They witness, through Abby, the tremendous importance of children having age appropriate information about what will and will not change in their lives. Children lack the ability to label and understand their emotions at times.  The Sesame Street materials give parents child-friendly tools for connecting and communicating with children about their feelings.  The written materials and downloadable app all reflect the importance of parents’ taking good care of themselves and parenting in ways that convey their unending love, and creating calm transitions and consistent expectations and routines for children.

Research has shown that the three most detrimental factors for children experiencing their parents’ divorce are a breakdown in the parent/child relationship, unresolved, on-going conflict, and poor quality of parenting. Conversely – and this is where the Sesame Street model is so helpful – nurturing a loving and positive relationship with the child, behaving respectfully toward the child’s other parent, and providing positive parenting with both emotional warmth and authoritative limits pay enormous dividends in children’s short- and long-term well-being.

There’s so much more to say. But perhaps my biggest message today is that, once again, even as they struggle through their own transitions, parents can turn to Sesame Street with confidence that the insights and advice they offer for parents and children is absolutely spot-on.  This Sesame Street resilience project empowers parents with tools for providing a message of hope, healing, and healthy new beginnings.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Ed. Note: Denise Albert is the Co-Founder of the lifestyle brand,  The MOMS. She and her partner, Melissa Gerstein are contributors to HLN’s upcoming parenting show, Raising America. Denise contributes to The Huffington Post Parents and Divorce.

As a mom addicted to my iPhone and to technology I often struggle with how much time to allow my kids to use their iTouches. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have given them the devices at their young ages of 4 ½ and 8. However, their dad receives new phones from his place of business so our kids are the beneficiaries of hand me downs. Who would say no to that!

When I see my kids playing games and using apps that are actually teaching them things, I have a hard time taking the devices away. My 4 ½ year old has learned math through sports. He is savant-like with the scores he studies on the NFL and NBA apps. He has learned how to count and add, including more complicated addition, by adding numbers of points in field goals, touchdowns and baskets.  

I can’t even take as much credit as I would like for teaching my boys about sports because I truthfully believe their devices have taught them so much. My youngest has also learned pre-reading and puzzles, and quite possibly could be hired for IT-type of work thanks to his iTouch, my iPhone and the apps on my iPad.

But now I’m just as addicted, specifically because of an app that I feel was made just for me. Sesame Street’s Divorce App is coming out at a time when I need it most. I’ve been separated for almost a year now. When I began the process there were really limited resources for us as a family. I’ve been chronicling my divorce online at The Huffington Post in the hopes that my journey might benefit others. I’ve been told in particular that one thing I did changed certain peoples’ actions.

I wrote about Sesame Street’s program when it was first announced. Now, thanks to Sesame Street, I have more information and a smart resource in a way that will please my kids.

My kids occasionally ask me out of the blue, “Why again did you and dad divorce?” My answer is usually the same; “Sometimes moms and dads are better off as friends, not being married.”

As far as divorce goes, I’m pretty lucky. We didn’t battle in court, we figured out all the details without hefty legal fees, and we agreed upon custody. But the kids don’t know any of this. Mostly, they want to know where they are sleeping on a given week, who is dropping them off for school and what they can have for snack. Other times, the deeper questions come. “Why again?”  “Will you marry dad again?” “Can I have a step-dad?”

After going through it time and time again I’m now comforted and part of a larger community thanks to Sesame Street’s Divorce App which provides good answers to many basic questions. Many of the questions my kids ask are there. What and why are just the basics. It goes further to “Who’s going to take care of me,” and “What should I tell my friends.” The app answers “Why are we different,” “Why can’t we buy all the things that we used to.”

Many of the questions are questions my kids have already asked. Many of the answers are just the right wording and language I would want to use.

The best part about the App is being able to share it with my friends. If having the right language and answers about divorce is important my family, it’s just as important for the people around us.

If my kids (and I) continue to be app addicts, at least there’s now an app with the knowledge, wisdom and the right amount of comfort, support and help that parents going through a divorce need during this transition time in our lives.

And it’s time we don’t treat divorce like a disease. Divorce doesn’t have to be different. It just has to be done right. And as a mom in transition, I’m a proud app addict now.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Image via blackrose916... on Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

I have taught in a K-4 elementary school for twenty-five years.  The school is located at the south end of a beautiful old seaport on the south shore of Long Island, the last exit before Jones Beach.  I lived here for over thirty of my adult years, and as a child, my family docked our boat behind an antique shop on one of the canals.  I remember families of otters swimming in front of the boat and real church baptisms held on the opposite bank from our dock.  A lot of things have changed here over the years, and a lot of the old Victorian homes have seen better times, but it is still a beautiful place.

The school was built fifty years ago, a blue two story building opposite a large park, and at the head of a canal that is home to many restaurants, fishing boats, and party boats.  It is a popular Long Island destination especially in summer.  From the classrooms, you can hear the horns blow as the fishing boats go out for half day charters in the early afternoon.  Mergansers, gannets, and Canadian geese spend time in the park across from the school.  Sometimes you can spot what looks like a football floating on the canal and upon second look realize that it is a seal.  I have always felt lucky to be here.

Several times in my experience, the moon and a storm combined to cause flooding that necessitated the evacuation of our school to a nearby school for the day.  The water would come up in the street quickly and cover everything from the front step of the school, go across the park, and right up to the houses on the far side of the park. The water never came higher than that and receded before the next day.  We would be put in big yellow school buses with our class wondering if our cars would be OK upon our return.  We would spend flood day crowded into another schools gym or cafeteria and have an adventure to tell that evening.  The homeowners in the area were used to sump pumps and moving things of value to a higher floor.  Some had had their homes raised up with government grant money made available to alleviate the flooding problem.

Image via spleeness on Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Sandy was different.  No one who had survived years of storms safely at home in the past could have imagined what was to happen.  Homes were lifted right off their foundations only to be slammed down again by the next wave causing beams to shatter.  The boatyards had stacks of shrink-wrapped boats ready for winter, and these were strewn for blocks, broken and causing destruction to homes in their path.  The father of one little girl in my class told me about watching a dumpster that was being used in a renovation several doors away, start to float toward his home.  It got snagged between a tree and a mailbox. Eventually the tree gave way and waves caused the dumpster to smash into the side of his house repeatedly.  Water in the house was already half way up toward the second floor where he had sent his wife and children.  The siding on the house was torn off, but fortunately the wall of the house held.  If it had broken through, the family might not have made it.

I cannot think of any family from our town that was not affected in some way.  People here are hardworking and if they own their home, it is their only asset.  No one has vacation homes, and many were renting basement apartments, now flooded.  Many parents work at jobs that pay by the hour and had to miss work due to the storm.  Others have no job to go back to because the business is too damaged.  Many have extra people staying in their apartment.  Some are staying with friends and family away from this community. One grandmother told me that she drives her grandchildren one hour from Suffolk County in the morning and the children do not get back to her home until eight in the evening.  Then they start dinner, homework, and a new bedtime routine, only to wake early for another long drive back to school.

Those who stayed have lived for weeks without heat or electricity.  The damage caused by the salt water requires that every home in the flood area be inspected before electricity or gas can be restored.  Homes have stickers posted- red for condemned, yellow for needing an electrician, and green for OK to restore.  Some have a yellow sticker because they lack the funds to hire an electrician to do the necessary repairs.  11% of families here live below the poverty level.  There is a large immigrant population where language is a barrier to dealing with FEMA and insurers.  The day after Thanksgiving, I did manage to understand when a mother hugged me and told me that she had no way to provide hot food for her family.  This was a month after the storm.

Image via CasualCapture on Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Six inches of water entered the first floor of the school.  There are levels 1, 2, and 3 contaminants in the water, 3 being the worst.  Level 3 contaminated water entered in the school and wicked up the walls about one foot.  This caused asbestos tiles that had been tight to lift up, the gym floor to buckle, and lots and lots of shelves of books to be ruined.  And then we could anticipate mold growth.  The school needed extensive repairs, followed by testing of the air quality before it could be used again.

Children were out of class for two weeks and then relocated to the four other elementary schools in the town – one grade to each of the buildings.  Teachers were given a short time to go into our classrooms and place post-it notes on items we considered essential to our work during the relocation.  We were not to disturb anything, and items we marked were cleaned, packed and moved to the new school.  The instruction was to think like you were packing for air travel and to try to pack light.  I followed orders, and found that my age was an advantage because I was able to recreate most things I needed using chart paper and magic markers.  Two days into my new space they delivered a portable blackboard and I was back in business.  I was prepared to carry on with the academics, but soon found that the emotional needs of students and parents after Sandy had to be of first concern.

Armed with lists, I did some detective work and was able to reach most of my families after the storm and learn of their situations – who had lost their home, who was without power and heat, and who was housing friends and relatives.  After hearing the stories of survival their parents told, I knew that the children would have a lot to share when we arrived at our relocation school.  I constructed microphones for all the K and 1 classes from tin foil, duct tape, and toilet paper tubes.  That first day, every child had an opportunity to speak into the microphone and tell his/her story.

I also emailed Sesame Street for help, and boy did I get help!  First I was sent several copies of the dvd Sesame Street Gets Through a Storm along with discussion points.  In this episode Big Bird’s nest is destroyed in a hurricane and everyone in the neighborhood offers support and helps him rebuild. My first graders thought that they were too old for Sesame Street at first, but there was a real connection as they watched and heard Big Bird voice some of their feelings about the storm.  Some of my children are now afraid of the dark and hesitant to take risks.  They spoke of wearing their “other” clothes, meaning they only had two outfits. Others came in modeling beautiful new donated coats.  All of them had been trying so hard to be good during a tough time – giving up their bed to a relative, or missing favorite toys.  Big Bird’s voicing of his feelings gave permission for them to open up.  Several hours after viewing the dvd, one of my brightest little girls took me aside and confided that she felt like Big Bird; that she was mad at the hurricane too.  This dvd gave us an opportunity to address the emotional impact of Sandy.

Big Bird also had his teddy bear Radar with him.  We spoke about sleep problems that most children said they have had since the storm.  Another day the class brought in their favorite sleep toy and showed them, and spoke about how they help us comfort ourselves.  One boy’s father drew his bear for him to bring in because the real bear was lost in the storm.  Then everyone drew their bad dreams and threw the pictures into the trash with great ceremony.  Hopefully time and sharing their fears with the class will help everyone get better sleep.

The adults are trying so hard to return their homes and families back to normal, that they haven’t allowed themselves to address their own emotions after this life -changing storm.  I found parents to be fragile and in need of comfort as well as their children.  Any small delay at dismissal would have parents rushing in to scoop their child up in their arms.  Children would report a minor playground incident and the parent would be at school early the next morning rather than sending a note or making a phone call.  I got the feeling that it was a delayed reaction –“ I was powerless against this storm and I almost lost my child.  I’m going to save them now.”  Parents who had coped with so much just couldn’t handle any extra stress.  Again Sesame Street had an answer for us.  Copies of Here for Each Other: Helping Families After Emergencies were sent to every home in my class.  This booklet helps parents talk to their child about what has happened, and to convey a sense of hope that things will look up again.  It had pictures of favorite Sesame Street characters for the children to color as well.

I shared all the wonderful resources from Sesame Street with teachers from our host school. Their students are also from this community and also survived Sandy.  The host teachers, while welcoming to us relocated teachers, were inconvenienced by our presence.  Benjamin Franklin’s quote about fish and guests both stinking after three days is only too true, so I was happy to have something to share that was of such value.

We are back home now. The closets had to be removed due to water and most of the supplies were piled in boxes. On the Monday the children returned we sang “We’ll be Home for Christmas,” and exchanged hugs and happy tears. It was a great day. It has been an adventure and an adjustment but it is still a big step back toward normalcy. The math and dental materials from Sesame Street that I returned with have been enjoyed by all. Thanks so much for being a wonderful resource for my children.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Photo Credit: Adam Kissick

On Friday, December 14, the National Children’s Museum at National Harbor in Maryland opened its doors for the first time, and Sesame Workshop was happy to be a part of it. The 3-and-under section of the museum is Sesame Street­-themed, and includes hands-on activities and interactions with Sesame Street’s characters, such as Big Bird, who greets the incoming children. The museum is the first congressionally designated museum focused exclusively on children.

The Museum’s exhibits, programs and outreach activities focus on six core content areas: the arts; civic engagement; the environment; global citizenship; health and well-being; and play. The National Children’s Museum’s mission is to inspire children to care about and improve the world. In addition to the Sesame-themed 3-and-under section, the Our World section, which centers on the museum’s encouragement of global citizenship, includes an interactive table about all of Sesame Workshop’s international productions.

Below are photos of the Museum’s opening day. To learn more about the National Children’s Museum and all the work Sesame Workshop is doing there to encourage laughter and learning, click here.

Photo Credit: Adam Kissick

Photo Credit: Adam Kissick

Photo Credit: Adam Kissick

Photo Credit: Adam Kissick

The Sesame Workshop Blog

The tragic events from Friday morning left the nation shocked, horrified, and speechless. But while often, adults can’t find the words to express the anguish we’re feeling, the children in our lives still have questions and fears.

“What’s happened?”

“Are we safe?”

“I’m scared.”

As parents and caregivers, we want to help our children through this, and make sense of the words and imagery they are seeing on TV an other media. Over the course of decades, Sesame Street has been asked these very questions, and we’ve put together a packet of materials in hopes of helping families cope with these issues. Those materials, available here (as a pdf), are free for you to download. You may also view our Emergency PSA’s available on YouTube. While we can’t make the concerns go away, we hope these materials help you address the recent tragedy, and other emergency situations, with the children in your lives.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Sesame Street

Millions of young children experience divorce, and they struggle to understand what exactly is happening. Parents also struggle to explain these changes, if they are able to open up to their children about the subject at all. That’s why Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce provides resources featuring our beloved Sesame Street Muppets that give divorced parents strategies on how to communicate with and support their children. The videos, which are for targeted audiences struggling with divorce, will not air on the Sesame Street television series.

As with everything we do, Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce is based on thorough research. Given the sensitive nature of the subject, we have taken extra care to approach the topic in a way that will be supportive of children and not confusing or scary. However, the research doesn’t do the job all by itself. A major reason our educational tools are so effective is because our wonderful Muppets bring the story to life.

Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro wrote the script for our video materials starring Abby Cadabby, Elmo and Rosita, and spoke about the difficulties of writing stories about such a sensitive topic.

“We never want to go too into detail with any of these,” Ferraro said, “because every kid’s situation is different. Every divorce is different and every family’s situation is different. We want to keep it a little bit ambiguous so it’s applicable to all children, but it’s also Abby’s story. Abby is talking about the fact that her parents are divorced. She’s already at a place where she has accepted it, and that made a big difference emotionally.

“The general messages that come across,” she added, “are you are not alone, we are here for you. You can talk to people about this. It’s good to talk. There are many different emotions you may go through. That’s OK.”

Although Abby Cabaddy’s parents are divorced in the story, Ferraro spoke to how important it was that Elmo, Rosita and Gordon, played by Roscoe Orman, appear in the story as well.

“We wanted there to be an adult, and that’s why Gordon is in it,” she said. “We wanted to show an example of a kid talking to an adult about this. Roscoe just did an incredible, wonderful job. We wanted to show there are many people in your life who can support you.”

If you would like to learn more about Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce and the ways Sesame Workshop is supporting families going through such a challenging transition, click here.

The Sesame Workshop Blog

Since its inception Sesame Street has been committed to tackling the challenges that young children face, no matter how difficult or unorthodox it may be to discuss those topics with children. With this commitment in mind, Sesame Workshop is taking on the subject of divorce, an emotional trial many children go through. Yet many parents are uncertain how to reassure or even explain what is going on to their children.

Storyboard, a storytelling project by Tumblr’s Department of Editorial, took a deeper look at the way Sesame Workshop is handling the subject of divorce. They wrote this piece about our divorce-focused outreach efforts and created the above video. We encourage you to check out both.

The Sesame Workshop Blog