Sesame Street (cont.)

In a recent episode of Sesame Street, the educational TV show for pre-schoolers, a little girl is standing in front of a crayon drawing. The drawing consists of two adult-looking people, a male and a female, sitting on a couch, with a dog on the floor beside them. The little girl, pointing to the drawing, proudly says: “This is my family.” Close-up of the female: “That’s my mom.” Close-up of the male: “That’s my big brother.” Close-up of the dog: “That’s my dog.” Then the dog acts silly. The scene ends with laughs all around. Her family is really great.

Each detail of this little vignette - from slyly turning what initially looked like a father into “my big brother,” to the funny-happy ending, to the show’s decision to present only one portrait of “this is my family” - is crudely didactic. The unmistakable message is that families without fathers are absolutely normal and really great.

I know that the people at Sesame Street want children to recognize that families today come, as they say, in all shapes and sizes. They especially don’t want the children of divorce and unwed childbearing to feel bad or blamed. OK. But this piece is pure propaganda, overtly aimed at deconstructing the two-parent family. Is it too much to ask Sesame Street to respect the fact that children care about their fathers?

First published Winter 2000.