by Peter Stern

Created on: October 03, 2010

It took my son 2 years to stop talking like Elmo.  It is questionable whether the early sessions of Sesame Street are appropriate for toddlers.

Toddlers mimic people; it is one of their main functions at that early age.  Consequently, it is important that they have good role models.  For my son, Elmo was NOT a good role model.  My son was attracted to Elmo's bright color and high-pitched speaking voice.  It took a long time for my wife and I to wean him off the Elmo speaking habit.

That being stated, there are many things that are good about Sesame Street.  Very few things in life are all good or all bad.  Thanks to the show my son learned his alphabet very quickly.  Once he learned the alphabet I was able to teach him to read by 4 years old.  Today my son is 13 and one of his favorite things to do is to curl-up with a good book and read for hours at a time.  I am proud of him for doing so, as many children today do not read books at all.  They are missing out on a great part of life.

Sesame kids may develop a good imagination; however, it is questionable whether they can differentiate between reality and fiction, real and imagined "people" and characters.  I knew a 6 year old who believed Cookie Monster was a real character who could be found in aisle 9 at the supermarket looking for chocolate chip cookies, opening up the packages right there and eating various cookies without paying for them.  By the age of 6 a child should have some degree of awareness and reality.  The program "Sesame Street" appears to hinder many children's growth in this area of development.

On the more positive side of the show, Sesame Street teaches kids how to count and use their numbers very quickly via repetition and using creative methods of using numbers, with visual and hearing ques.  My son has a strong math background and part of the reason he loves math is because the program initiated that love at an early age.

I would advocate that parents watch with their children and determine what is appropriate and what is not.  Toddlers are very impressionable and as with my son, may pick up certain habits from the show that are not appropriate in the real world.  For example, mimicking and speaking in a high-pitched Elmo voice certainly is not in the best interests of the child.  Sometimes it is easier to censor what a child watches and mimics than it is to break an inappropriate habit.

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