“Sesame Street” premiered 50 years ago this year, and from the start, its mission has been to make quality early education accessible for every child. The show’s idea of education isn’t limited to just letters and numbers: It means empathy, kindness, resilience and the other social and emotional skills kids need to thrive. To celebrate the milestone, “Sesame Street” and the nonprofit behind it, Sesame Workshop, are hosting a yearlong celebration filled with celebrity cameos, social media campaigns and even a nationwide road trip. Over the last five decades, the Peabody Award-winning show has tried to put kids first with its purposeful writing and direction that tackle tough topics in the life of a child.There was the “Sesame Street” special in 1983 when the show grappled with addressing the sudden death of Will Lee, the actor who portrayed the neighborhood’s beloved Mr. Hooper. The Sesame Workshop team met with child psychologists, religious leaders and other experts to create a special so the show’s little viewers could say goodbye to Mr. Hooper. In it, the other characters had to teach Big Bird that his friend wasn’t coming back, but that he’d still have his memories of him. “And we can remember him, and remember him, and remember him as much as we want to,” Big Bird said in the episode. The special aired on Thanksgiving, when Sesame Workshop knew many parents and caretakers would be home to talk with their kids about the episode. That same decade, the show changed one of its characters’ plots amid a growing cultural awareness of the problem of child sex abuse. Originally, Mr. Snuffleupagus was a character who would enter and exit the scene before anyone but Big Bird could see him. That meant other characters didn’t believe Big Bird when he’d tell them about his friend. Not wanting to discourage kids from coming forward for fear of being doubted, the show decided to introduce Mr. Snuffleupagus to everyone else, and Big Bird’s friends assured him they would believe him from then on. // ?: Sesame Workshop

huffpostさん(@huffpost)が投稿した動画 - 2019/02/14 03:05:34