28 min
Sesame Street’s Push to Help Military Families Rattled by the Pandemic Fire Watch | A Military.com Podcast
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In 2019, when Gen. Milley marched his boots on Sesame Street, it was in April, the Month of the Military Child. What Gen. Milley, Elmo and the rest of the world did not know at the time was that in less than a year, the world would change.
The experts and researcher behind the family-friendly fun on Sesame Street realized that kids were particularly affected by some of the consequences of the virus: two years of online schooling, oscillating class schedules, a scary illness that may have hurt them or their family, frightening images flashing across TV screens of people in hospitals beds…and of course isolation from playmates, friends and family.
And within that group, a distinct and important pocket of Americans exists: military families, who already face an ever-changing homelife with regular – and often disruptive – moves, deployments with time away from mom or dad, new schools, new friends.
The effects of the pandemic compounded those stressors that exist in military family life, especially for kids. And the Muppets of Sesame Street - who have brought joy and hope and education to children for decades - are here…and looking to help.
Appearing in this episode: Muppets, NBC News Now, What Went Well, Keep It Simple, Elmo, Gen. Mark Milley, Drew Lawrence, Good Morning America, Rocío Galarza, CNN, Konstantin Toropin, Abby, Rebecca Kheel
Interview clips courtesy of Sesame Workshop
In 2019, when Gen. Milley marched his boots on Sesame Street, it was in April, the Month of the Military Child. What Gen. Milley, Elmo and the rest of the world did not know at the time was that in less than a year, the world would change.
The experts and researcher behind the family-friendly fun on Sesame Street realized that kids were particularly affected by some of the consequences of the virus: two years of online schooling, oscillating class schedules, a scary illness that may have hurt them or their family, frightening images flashing across TV screens of people in hospitals beds…and of course isolation from playmates, friends and family.
And within that group, a distinct and important pocket of Americans exists: military families, who already face an ever-changing homelife with regular – and often disruptive – moves, deployments with time away from mom or dad, new schools, new friends.
The effects of the pandemic compounded those stressors that exist in military family life, especially for kids. And the Muppets of Sesame Street - who have brought joy and hope and education to children for decades - are here…and looking to help.
Appearing in this episode: Muppets, NBC News Now, What Went Well, Keep It Simple, Elmo, Gen. Mark Milley, Drew Lawrence, Good Morning America, Rocío Galarza, CNN, Konstantin Toropin, Abby, Rebecca Kheel
Interview clips courtesy of Sesame Workshop
28 min