Same Street, Different World - Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street

I have to thank Sesame Street for teaching me a few things. These include:

- Teaching me the alphabetical order and counting 1 to 10 properly;
- That Tina is a fine name, and I don't need to change it;
- That cookies are a sometime food.

As you can see, Sesame Street is turning 40 this year. I loved Sesame Street as a kid, until I was five years old. That's when I decided that the show was for babies.

Until recently, when I had to watch Sesame Street with my baby cousins. Has it changed? The concept of Sesame Street hasn't changed, but the look and tone of "Sesame Street" has evolved. When I was a kid, it was a realistic rendition of an urban skyline, grey houses, garbage bins, the messy graffiti and gritty smudges on the street walls - things which resembled city life so well.

Now? It's lolly-coloured chalk drawings, flowers, butterflies, stars, green spaces, tofu and yoga. Also, Cookie Monster no longer eats cookies because it's a 'sometime' food.

It's changed with the times for sure, with parents obsessive with obesity, racial equality and healthy eating. This is clearly evident with Cookie Monster gobbling vegetables and fruits and declaring these foods as 'Anytime Foods'.

I can understand why Sesame Street made all these changes - but is it necessary? Surely, many kids will know cookies are unhealthy. It's sometimes interesting to watch politically correct parents going overboard with these decisions. I understand why these changes had to be made. But, I wish Cookie Monster would do the one thing he was meant to do - to gobble a handful of cookies.

Happy reading,
5ft0