The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

Cookie Monster Was a Binge Eater

14 Comments

February 28, 2008 by Kathy McManus

 Parental advisories abound these days.

Toys are toxic. Cold medicine is dangerous. Sesame Street has an adults-only warning.

Cowabunga! Is the letter of the day X, as in Rated?

The curious caveat appears on a DVD collection of shows originally broadcast from 1969-1979. “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups,” the disclaimer states, “and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

Yesteryear’s preschool child was apparently exposed to characters with habits that “modeled the wrong behavior,” the show’s executive producer told The New York Times.

Chief among the offenders is Cookie Monster, the beloved, blue binge-eater of cookies and anything else he could comically cram into his mouth. Cookie Monster earned the adults-only warning for smoking and eating his pipe in his “Monster Piece Theater” send-ups of pipe-smoking PBS host Alistair Cooke.

The 1960’s-style suggestion that Big Bird might have been hallucinating about seeing Snuffleupagus earned a caution as well. And as for chronically crabby, sarcastic, un-medicated Oscar the Grouch…well, the show’s executive producer sums up the warning against the moody malcontent this way: “We might not be able to create a character like Oscar now.”

Scram!

Is it OK for children to be exposed to fictional TV characters with personality flaws? By protecting kids from questionable traits and behavior, what effect do we have on their ability to discern and make their own sound decisions?

14 Comments

What do you think? Leave a comment

• February 28, 2008 by Just Got Lucky

  Children observe their parents (or their friends' parents) and parents today are no strangers to character flaws: drugs, alcohol, pornography, abuse, other addictions.
  
  In today's world bad behavior is glorified and celebrated both at home and on TV - so what difference do "flawed" TV characters make?
  
  Very little... but only if you actually take the time to raise your own children (not something people take the time to do any more). TV is not an issue if your children are your number one responsibility - not your #1 friend, not your #1 toy, not your pet, not your hobby after work...
  
  I am a grandfather - I live with the consequences of my parenting every day - I have no regrets and on balance the children we raised (in a very "old fashioned" way) are in turn raising their own children as such. TV was a "last resort" on a rainy day for our children and not a lifestyle choice.
  
  A child is a full time job - one which these days is sadly neglected - and TV is just another means for neglecting a child that could better be spending time doing something constructive.

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• March 8, 2008 by Sandy

  Too much time spent watching TV or engaging in ANY single activity, even positive ones is not good for children. They should have variety and be exposed to many things...they are taking in the world for the first time and the more they see the better. And, before I go on, why do people often act as though some behavior a child sees on TV or otherwise that is probably insignificant (not a factor in the scene for example)is going to have life altering impact and will be acted out regularly by the child? Kids don't pick up every detail on TV-they tend to focus on certain things, hence their desire to view the same thing hundreds of times. I doubt there is a human on this earth who was influenced to start smoking becasue of a 10 second scene in a sesame street episode in which Oscar had a pipe. Parents must be diligent in avoiding exposure to age-inapproprite material for which an explanation of what it is or why it is right or wrong is outside of the childs ability to understand. If they can't understand your explantion it has no impact and they may simply formulate their own ideas, which could be undesirable. However, exposure to "flawed" characters or unhealthy behavior depicts a realistic view of the world, and presents an opportunity for parents to teach right from wrong. Censorship is not the answer...rather they know what smoking is and learn that it's bad (and why) from me at 4 years old than being told it's cool at 12 yrs old from a classmate. Creating a perfect world for kids would be great-if only you could keep them in it.

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• March 18, 2008 by Norma Myers

  Children learn what they will whether it is from T.V. or their parents or families. That is sad when the well known show of "Sesame Street" is having fingers pointed at it for wrong doing. What is the world coming to?

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• April 11, 2008 by Valleester

  I started reading the newspaper when I was in the third grade. If you think that Sesame Street is bad, what do you think of reading about serial killers and child abductions?! The world is an imperfect place rife with the possibility of making wrong choices. What helps safeguard against the possibility of wrong choices are responsible parents that are willing to speak to their children about inappropriate behaviors (drug usage, alcoholism, smoking, and premarital sex,) and are willing to listen and respond when their children open up to them about how they feel about those inappropriate behaviors.

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• April 13, 2008 by Serafina

  PBS has been producing quality educational programming for decades. Sesame Street is responsible for teaching millions of children to count and read. Pokemon, Digimon, Dragon Ballz, Lucha Lucha and Power Rangers (and many others) glorify violence and have little or no educational value. To say that times change is an understatement, and of course there will be the necessity to update characters, but to denounce an American mainstay is just wrong. There is a Dr. Phil character and a puppet that has HIV on the new Sesame Street. That is acceptable while the "flawed" characters are being written off. People are complicated and yes, flawed. There are many behaviors, temptations, and dangers that children will inevitably be introduced to, many of which can be found on daytime T.V., Prime time and our local news.

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• July 26, 2008 by Kathy

  Todays violent video games are ok, but Sesame Street isn't? All of todays cartoons are violent, good versus evil. Even the Peanuts called each other names. Parents need to be there for their children. I do not work so that I can raise my children and not a day care. We are broke and I can't buy my children everything they want, but they are kind and respectful. I know that is not a situation everyone can do, but kids need a parent whose there for them.

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• December 26, 2008 by

  I am the CEO of the Non Profit We Do Listen Foundation. We provide educational entertaining animated books, songs and games to help children feel good about themselves and deal with bullies. Please visit us at wedolisten.com and pass the word. Thank you.

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• March 17, 2009 by Mark

  This is political correctness run amok. The characters they think are "unsuitable for today's pre-schoolers" are the same beloved ones my generation grew up with. I used to see Cookie Monster cram tons of cookies in his mouth and I never once imitated. Big Bird was often accused of imagining Mr. Snuffleupagus, but I never thought Big Bird was tripping on acid. My interpretation: if your 3-year-old knows about tripping on acid, you've got much bigger problems than worrying about whether a fictional talking bird is an ideal role model.

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• April 9, 2009 by Alexis Christy

  That's sad....kids don't know about these things..Do you think that a kid would ACTUALLY think Big Bird was hallucinating..kids are going to eat cookies no matter what.. Come on, I could understand if these were non-script real characters, but you guys are analyzing something non-existing in the REAL WORLD

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• December 9, 2009 by Albendia Sherrod

  I am a Therapist at several schools in Jax. (Duval). Does anyone know a group or someone that can sponsor 2 males 16 years old with a pair of pants, shoes, and a shirt? If so, please contact me this Christmas Season. One of these children is homeless.

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