There’s nothing that says happy childhood more than “Sesame Street” and everything that the show stands for. Not only is it one of the longest-running children’s television shows in the United States, but characters like Elmo, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus are names that you just can’t seem to forget, right?
The show has managed to fill both households and hearts with love and laughter, sometimes tackling issues that are extra difficult for kids to deal with but doing it just the same. They’ve recently added a new character to their usual roster, and adorable little green puppet with bright yellow hair named Karli. And what makes Elmo’s cute friend extra special is that she has a mommy that’s addicted to opiates.
Karli’s character on the show will talk about the way her mom’s opiates addiction has affected their family on their new edition of their online community resource initiatives. She also explains how her mom’s addiction has landed her in foster care as well. The show’s creators were inspired to talk about this topic precisely because millions of children live this precise type of reality in the United States, where their parents and other loved ones are addicted to drugs and alcohol, and they have no resources where they can learn how to cope with these problems.
According to Senior Vice President for U.S. Social Impact at Sesame Workshop, Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, she explained in an interview that there are at least 5.7 million children under the age of 11 that happen to live with at least one parent that’s struggling with some type of addiction.
She also shared that the shows where Karli will be featured are meant to ‘approach the issue of addiction with compassion, from a perspective that young people can understand.’ They also make sure to refer to the addiction as an “adult illness” so that kids understand that they are not responsible for their parent’s addictions and actions.
Senior Content Manager with the Sesame Workshop, Kama Einhorn, also shared that these particular episodes can be helpful and constructive for both the children and the parents whose reality revolves around addiction.
Einhorn explained to the Guardian, “There’s nothing else out there that addresses substance abuse for young, young kids from their perspective. It’s also a chance to model to adults a way to explain what they’re going through to kids and to offer simple strategies to cope. Even a parent at their most vulnerable – at the worse of their struggle – can take one thing away when they watch it with their kids, then that serves the purpose.”
In a scene from one of the episodes, Karli tells her friend about addiction, saying it’s “A sickness that makes people feel like they have to take drugs or drink alcohol to feel OK. My mom was having a hard time with addiction and I felt like my family was the only one going through it. But now I’m met so many other kids like us. It makes me feel like we’re not alone.”
The show also spoke with a professional in reference to the creation of the dialogues and scenes that are showcased in each episode. Creators reached out to Jerry Moe, who happens to be the National Director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Children’s Program. Moe also explained that most of the time, children don’t get the support and emotional help that they really need when one of their loved ones is struggling with addiction.
Moe shared, “These boys and girls are the first to get hurt and, unfortunately, the last to get help. For them to see Karli and learn that it’s not their fault and this stuff if hard to talk about and it’s OK to have these feelings, that’s important. And that there’s hope.”
Sesame Street recognizes that kids that have family members dealing with addiction live in the ‘same world and same homes’ just like everybody else, and there is no question whether they understand what’s going on or not. Although some people believe that difficult issues like these should be ‘hidden from children’ and not talked about, others know that ‘ignoring it isn’t an option’ and the fact of the matter is this is the reality of millions of kids all around the world. By providing a platform to learn and talk about such sensitive topics, it also allows affected children and families to understand and learn how to best deal with them as well.
This isn’t the first time that Sesame Street has featured such sensitive and delicate topics that are not normally discussed with kids. Just last year, the show introduced 7-year old Lily who happens to be homeless. Other delicate topics they’ve tackled are HIV, kids in foster care, parents that are in jail, bullying, and individuals on the autism spectrum, amongst others.
President of Global Impact and Philanthropy for Sesame Workshop, Sherrie Westin, cited “For everything we’ve done – from military families to homelessness – it’s all about how to make children free to talk and to give parents the tools to do just that. They tend to avoid it and it’s what they need more than anything.”
