Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch-what?s not to love about this show?
GROWING UP AS A KID, WE WEREN?T allowed to watch much TV. One of the shows we were allowed to overdose on, however, was ?Sesame Street.?

I spent my childhood years in Tagaytay, where the nearest neighbor was about 15 minutes away by foot and my siblings and I had to entertain ourselves for lack of playmates.

?Sesame Street? was a great babysitter. We would be glued to the television for 30 solid minutes, right upon hearing the now classic ?Sesame Street? theme song, ?Sunny day, sweepin? the clouds away...?.

?Sesame Street? was first started by the former Children?s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), a non-profit organization funded partly by the US government. It premiered on November 10, 1969, and has since received great acclaim, including 118 Emmy Awards and tremendous amounts of love and appreciation from thousands of children all over the world.

Growing up with Grover

The children and grownups in the show constantly interacted with muppets, provided by Jim Henson. Who doesn?t know Big Bird, the 8-foot tall yellow bird who is forever 6 years old and endlessly asks questions? Or Oscar the Grouch, who lives in a garbage can and teaches children it?s okay to be different, and that we don?t have to like everything?

Cookie Monster is frequently seen chomping on things but cookies are his favorite. There are Bert and Ernie, the best friends who live together but are total opposites of each other, proving we could co-exist and still be friends even if we don?t think the same.

But my personal favorite is Grover, that furry blue monster who can never get things right, though always with the best intentions. In one skit, he passed out from trying to demonstrate ?near? and ?far?.

Also worth mentioning is the Count Von Count, who has his own thunder and lightning soundtrack; the Amazing Mumford, who waves his wand ?a la peanut butter sandwiches;? Guy Smiley of the ?Sesame Street News Flash,? who often interviews fairy tale characters; Aloysius Snuffleupagus, Big Bird?s best friend that only he can see; and, Elmo, of course, although he wasn?t as big a star as he is now when I was a kid.

Classic tunes

Who will ever forget the ?Sesame Street? classic songs such as ?C is for Cookie? by none other than Cookie Monster, ?Rubber Duckie? by Ernie, ?It?s Not Easy Being Green by Kermit the Frog,? ?Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood,? ?One of These Things is Not Like the Other,? and ?Sing,? which was also performed by The Carpenters.

Then there were the classic animated segments that are forever etched into many children?s consciousness, such as ?The Ladybug Picnic? song, the Pinball Number Count, Wanda the Witch, the Alligator King, the guy who passed along letters and rearranged them until he could read it, and the little black girl who was sent to buy a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter.

Each of these segments were aimed to teach specific learning skills such as math, the alphabet, spatial skills, and memory retention. Pretty heavy stuff to deal with when it?s put that way, but ?Sesame Street? made it fun.

Crash courses

The show?s first writers underwent crash courses on child development and preschool education, that?s why you will never find a kid who doesn?t like ?Sesame Street.? The writers didn?t shy away from discussing situations considered delicate and sensitive, such as death.

When Will Lee, the actor who played the original Mr. Hooper, died in 1982, the producers decided to write it into the script. Big Bird wanted to give Mr. Hooper a drawing he made of him, but the grownups explained that Mr. Hooper had died, and won?t come back. It was a very straightforward but graceful treatment of the subject.

More recently, when obesity was proclaimed as an epidemic, Cookie Monster was interviewed by Matt Lauer to ask if it?s true he had given up cookies. Cookie Monster explained that, actually, he still likes cookies but he also likes fruits because it?s healthy.

Embracing diversity was also a big part of ?Sesame Street?s? educational goals. It has tried to include children of all races in the show. Linda, a deaf/mute cast, taught sign language to the children. Rosita was a muppet who came from Mexico and taught kids some Spanish words way before Dora the Explorer did. Differently abled children were also featured, such as kids in wheelchairs and even children with Down?s Syndrome.

Several spin-offs, full-length movies, and hundreds of merchandise later, ?Sesame Street? is now 40 years old and has taught thousands of kids around the world about the alphabet, numbers, reading, singing, hygiene and cooperation, among others.

Hearing the songs from ?Sesame Street? brings back a lot of memories for many adults now, of those carefree days filled with a sense of pure wonderment for everything new. Now children who watch the show are making memories of their own.

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