Sesame Street helps kids understand deployment

[CommunityEditor]

The characters and actors of Sesame Street have reached out to children for years. Now, they are at it again helping military families with the issues of deployment. From the article --


While the kit is aimed at military children of deployed parents, interviews with 367 spouses of active-duty, National Guard and reserve members in all branches of service showed that the stay-behind parents who used the kit also reported that their feelings of hopelessness and depression declined, according to Russell Research, Inc.

The parents also reported fewer negative behaviors in their preschool children, researchers said in a discussion of the findings April 3 in Washington.

The results showed that “not only were we reaching the parents and younger children, but the entire family,” she said.

The survey results showed that nearly 80 percent of parents thought the materials had made them more comfortable in helping their child cope with deployment, and 80 percent of parents reported their children are better able to handle future deployments as a result of using the kit.

That DVD was the key component of the kit, which also featured activities for parents to use to help their children cope with deployment. About three-fourths of the parents reported that their child watched the video more than once; 85 percent said they watched it with their child. It also sparked discussions. About two-thirds of parents said they spoke to their children after watching the DVD, mostly about deployment.


Full article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...yment_070403w/
'Talk, Listen, Connect': http://www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc/


If you've received this kit, what did you think? Did it help your family? How have you helped your kids with deployment concerns? What about yourself? This thread is for the discussion of the Sesame Street program and related topics.