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SALT LAKE CITY -- Big Bird, Cookie Monster and all the other beloved Sesame Street Muppets teach kids more than just how to count or recite their A-B-Cs. The Muppets are also teaching something much more global.
Kids around the world love the gang from Sesame Street -- so why not use those characters to inform kids about serious subjects, all the while entertaining them?
Two million American children have a parent in the military deployed overseas. Sesame Workshop created a program called "Talk, Listen, Connect." But it's just one aspect of the workshop.
Gary Knell is the CEO of Sesame Workshops. He says the program teaches parents "how to talk to your kids, listen to their feelings and connect to them while you are overseas, and it's just been a huge success with military families."
The University of Utah College of Humanities brought Knell to Salt Lake City. A special Sesame Workshop was held Wednesday night to talk about, among other subjects, how Sesame Street addresses human rights issues for kids in 120 different countries -- and teaches children some difficult topics that parents sometimes feel they cannot explain.
"Sesame Street," which debuted in 1969, is the longest running children's program on TV.
"Simple things like hygiene or difficult things like in South Africa, where many kids are infected with HIV through childbirth," Knell said.
Sesame Street invites celebrity guests to appear in episodes and teach different subjects. Recent guest stars have included Michelle Obama, Adam Sandler and Kobe Bryant. They hope that by adding celebrities to the show, kids and parents will watch together.
"Having a co-viewing experience where they can talk about the messages that are being portrayed in that segment, that has a lot more stickiness," Knell said.
All money raised from Wednesday night's workshop will be donated to the University of Utah College of Humanities for scholarships.
Knell will offer workshops for local teachers Thursday so they can teach their students about the role media plays in the classroom.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
