18 June 2013

Sesame Street: Dads in Prison

"P is for Prison," quips Info Wars.  Sesame Street now has a character whose dad is in jail.  Do YOU want your three-year-old learning about gang-banging baby daddies and the word "incarceration?"

I was all ready to slam this as an obvious normalisation of thuggery until I perused the videos at the PBS website.  Sure, they're a little syrupy and gloss over the "adult rules" the parents broke to get stuck in the pokey entirely.  But the clips deal with helping preschoolers sort out their feelings, and are not meant to be taken as treatises on the faulty self-actualisation of today's American parent.

To my understanding, these videos are not meant for the regular Sesame Street audience.  And if that's the case, I don't see why people shouldn't be applauding their efforts to help these little children and their families.  Children can't help what their parents have done, and kids with that kind of heartache deserve all the help we can give them.










6 comments:

  1. I totally agree.
    I expect Keera's father to end up in prison.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sad times when a 3 year old needs to learn about jail.

    Valid points, friend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep! I'm waaaay behind in my reading.

    I wonder what is going to happen to large numbers of children who have to face the harsh realities at younger and younger ages.

    ReplyDelete

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