Remembering Sesame Street

“Sunny day, sweeping up clouds away. On my way to where the air is clear. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?” Sounds familiar? Who could ever forget this wonderful program for kids back in the ’70s? And who could ever forget the wonderful characters that made learning so much fun? — Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, Snuffleafagus (I don’t know if I spelled it right), Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Kermit the Frog, Count, Elmo, Guy Smiley, Forgetful Jones, Mr. Hooper.

I have a lot to thank Sesame Street for. I was the only child for more than 6 years. While other kids might find that fun because no other sibling is around to take away their toys and other favorite stuff, for me, being the lone child that long brought some sense of instability in my life. I might not have labelled it “instability” then but I knew there was nothing fun about playing alone and not having another kid in the house to talk to about kid stuff. Sure my parents were there, but I did not expect them to know the details of how lego blocks work or to appreciate Sesame Street the way I did (and still do). So there I was growing up to be the independent child. Good thing Sesame Street was there to keep me company even just for an hour each day. It was my “surrogate playground and school.” My world practically stopped whenever it was on TV.

You might wonder then, why didn’t I just play with the kids in the neighborhood? Well, there was the language barrier problem. Both my parents are Ilokanos. So it is not surprising that it was the first language I learned even when I grew up in the city. Who among the kids in the neighborhood would like to play with someone who spoke a rather weird language? Thank heavens for Sesame Street, I learned English. Still, who would like to play with someone who spoke a different language than Tagalog?

I wrote about animés in my previous blog entry. I don’t think, however, that I can pass upon the chance to write about Sesame Street. Whoever conceptualized the show was truly brilliant. Later on, I would learn that the entire program was based on a curriculum similar to what they have in school and each episode is the “actualization” of the curriculum.

When I do get to have kids someday, I will definitely make them watch Sesame Street (it should be available in CD/DVD by now) so they can experience the learning process I so appreciated as a child. They will not be alone in watching it.