Sesame Street has done it again. For the first time ever, the show has tackled the issue of incarceration, a subject that statistics show surprisingly resonates with its super-young audience.
One in 28 children in the United States now has a parent in prison, which is more than the number of kids with parents who are deployed.
This is not the first time the children's show has taken on such a controversial topic; past episodes have promoted honest discussions on subjects such as divorce and suicide. With two million Americans in the nation's prison system, Sesame Workshop - the non-profit organization that runs the show - has introduced a free online educational kit called "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration," which provides resources for families with children aged 3-8 as they try to cope with a parent's imprisonment.
The Sesame Street jail episode features a human girl sitting on the steps of an apartment building with a somber-looking Muppet named Alex. The audience learns that the Muppet's father is in prison. Two other Muppets do not understand, so the human girl proceeds to explain what it means to have an incarcerated parent and how they broke rules in the adult world.
Alex is a blue-haired and green-nosed Muppet. He speaks with sadness of his father in the jail episode. "I just miss him so much, " he say, "I usually don't want people to know about my dad." He will not be a regular cast on Sesame Street, but he will play a central role in the online tool kit.
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