The show has been around for over 40 years and every single episode they mention some great points that shape the minds of young kids and even adults. They have tackled some controversial topics before and now they got on the top of incarceration. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts there are 2.7 million children that grow up with at least one parent in jail. The media tends to talk a lot about other things that children grow up facing such as puberty, bullying, parents dealing with divorces, but when talking about incarceration we don't seem to hear much opinions about. You'll probably see a documentary or two about it, but most of the time it's about racial groups that get involved with incarceration not so much on how incarceration affects the kids.
With incarcerated parents being part of an epidemic, Sesame Street came up with a package called "Little Children, Big Challenges," which started the conversation on incarceration. This was a way to mix education with coping skills when dealing with a parent in jail. The package deals with kids between the ages of 3-8. CBS News made some comments on this idea saying, "Sesame Street, in its simple, familiar way, is trying to break incarceration down, using imaginary characters to explore — and explain — what was once unimaginable, but now more and more common." It's great that Sesame Street covers different controversial topics because kids need to be aware of everything even at a young age because eventually they are going to face the most difficult issues they could ever imagine, but at least they will be prepared.
The four videos below are clips of kids that talk about having a parent in jail.
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