Big Bird's best advice: "Some people are very teeny. Some are very big. But their hearts are all the same nice size."
or the
stars of Sesame Street, this month's celebration of the show's 30th
anniversary is bittersweet. "Sesame Street was created in idealistic times,"
says Sonia Manzano, who for 26 years has played mother and shopkeeper Maria. "There
was the civil rights movement, the beginning of Head Start. There was more serious
concern for children. Now we live in a society that makes believe it cares for
kids."
Orman
Manzano
Sesame Street's first viewers are now in their 30s, and many are
raising children in a world very different from the one they grew up in. "There's a
lot more cynicism," says Roscoe Orman, who has played science teacher Gordon since
1973. "We try to maintain the flame of idealism, but we've tempered it."
Here's their advice.
To your children, your job is just a job:
Kids don't care what job you have or work you do. "I've never heard a person say, 'I had a
rotten mother, but she's such a great physicist.' "
Talking and understanding are two different things:
A lot of kids seem well-versed about issues such as sexuality, "but just because a kid can spout it out, that
doesn't mean he understands it."
"Kids are still kids":
"They may be very young and into the Spice Girls, but they still want to play dolls."
"It's OK to be grouchy":"
Sometimes you have to cry and get the blues. Just don't be mean," Manzano says. Adds Oscar the Grouch:
"If you want to wake up grouchy, put the right side of the bed against a wall."
You can't hide reality:
"Explain the world to kids as it is, not the way you think it should be." Parents also must recognize that "children today get information differently - from sound bites rather than
literature."
Don't rush kids onto the Internet:
"People go to such extremes, thinking they have to put little kids in front of computers. It's
enough if they can identify it and know that someday they can get information from it."
Learn how to parent from the show:
"Watch how adults on Sesame Street relate to the kids. There's a gentle quality, an ability to
understand the child's perspective, and a respect for them. It's backed up by psychological research."
The folks from Sesame Street will write or call a reader who
seeks advice. By Nov. 8, write to "Straight Talk," P.O. Box 3455,
Chicago, Ill. 60654 (fax: 312-661-0375; e-mail:
talk@usaweekend.com).
Zaslow is an advice columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Photo Credit: RICHARD TERMINE (Big bird and Oscar the Grouch); CTW (Manzano and Orman)
Big Bird's best advice: "Some people are very teeny. Some are very big. But their hearts are all the same nice size."
or the
stars of Sesame Street, this month's celebration of the show's 30th
anniversary is bittersweet. "Sesame Street was created in idealistic times,"
says Sonia Manzano, who for 26 years has played mother and shopkeeper Maria. "There
was the civil rights movement, the beginning of Head Start. There was more serious
concern for children. Now we live in a society that makes believe it cares for
kids."
"It's OK to be grouchy":"
Sometimes you have to cry and get the blues. Just don't be mean," Manzano says. Adds Oscar the Grouch:
"If you want to wake up grouchy, put the right side of the bed against a wall."