Monday, July 20, 2009

The Importance of Sesame Street

While Sesame Street may seem to be a relic of the past and a show that most adults watched as children, most parents do not realize the positive effect which the show may have on their children. Sesame Street is full of a slew of early educational lessons, from counting to recognizing the shapes of letters. The show is still on air today and it has also become easy to purchase the original episodes from decades ago which serve the same purpose as episodes now do. The ability of the show to keep going after 40 years in existence as well as countless Emmy awards is a testament to the change it has made onto many young children over the years.

Television has been revolutionized since the early days of Sesame Street and there are now countless children’s shows available daily on many different stations. However, there has been a noticeable downturn in the amount of educational children’s shows as most appear to exist merely to entertain the child when parents are busy around the house. Sesame Street has still risen to the challenge and presents itself as the saving grace of the TV world by retaining its slot every day and still teaching many lessons to its viewers. There are not many shows that have been able to teach children how to count or read in ways that can even begin to rival the methods that Sesame Street uses. There are additionally many timeless episodes which never grow old and can continue to be used on today’s children much as they were intended for kids of the 1970s. It seems that Sesame Street will never truly grow old.

Eight million viewers still tune into Sesame Street every week, and many studies have indicated that the children who watch the show regularly have increased signs of literacy and numerical skills than those kids who do not watch it. While the show has been updated to include lessons that are more applicable in modern society, such as focusing on music, health, bilingual learning, and healthy eating, the same original lessons are still taught in every episode. There are still many preschool shows that aim to teach children the importance of learning and reading, but none are as solidified in American culture as Sesame Street is.

This post was contributed by Sarah Russel, who writes about the best online college degree. She welcomes your feedback at SarahRussel1234 at gmail.com

1 comment:

  1. I SOOO miss Sesame Street. As my children get older, I get chided for having it on.

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