Sesame Street

I haven't really noticed this Ann. It does seem like they try to address how everyone is different - yet the same. I would think that they would listen to your concerns if you voiced them to them.

Jaime

Many childrens shows reference peanut butter often. I also think we notice these types of things since it is a part of our daily lives and poison to our children. I know that Barney and a few other shows that I can't think of also mention peanut butter.

My feeling is this: I allow my children to watch these shows and if it comes up, I remind them about the seriousness of their allergy. Most of the time they will hear peanuts or peanut butter mentioned and immediately say "yucky peanuts" Eeeeewwww!! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

Of course the "best" is Disney's PB&J Otter! For a long time I didn't want my son to watch that show. I let him watch it a few times but would cringe inside (not for him to see!) every time the character's name, Peanut, was said.

I started a thread on the Main Board regarding Sesame Street and peanuts about 6 months ago, and I have to say that my feelings regarding this have changed in the past 6 months. At the time, I too was cringing every time I saw peanuts on kids programs and I tried to distract my daughter as soon as I saw it come up on the screen. I also wrote a long note to Sesame Street/Children's Television Workshop expressing my feelings that the show was not sensitive enough to PA. I wanted them to understand that at least 3 out of every 100 kids watching their show have PA, and while I was very impressed with their sensitivity and inclusion of children with many other handicaps/minorities, they seemed clueless when it came to PA. I never got a response from them, but it felt good to send the note. By the way, they don't open any snail mail due to the Anthrax scares of the past year...you have to write your comments at their web site and they limit the number of characters you can put in the note.

Anyway, since then my daughter has grown up another 6 months (will be 3 in Dec.) and has been exposed to a lot of other shows with peanuts. I have become less anxious about this exposure because I realize that we live in a peanut-filled world and she has got to learn to live in it. Like the other comment above, I try to always say "yuck to nuts" when we see nuts (hence my "name" here on the PA site) and explain that our family does not eat nuts of any kind. This way, I hope her overall feeling (for now, at this young age) is not one of exclusion because our whole family does not eat them, but she is learning that it is just not something that we do (like how some families don't eat pork, etc.).

However, I have to agree with you that Sesame Street, being produced by some of the most talented educators in the country, could be a lot more sensitive to the subject. When the characters at the restaurant order "peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone!", they could at least temper that with a comment like..."well let's remember that not everyone can safely eat pb&j," or something like that.

My newer feelings on the subject are that I think we can use these TV experiences as good foundations to start simple discussions with our little ones about their allergy, or just use them as other excuses to reinforce that nuts are "yucky." But greater awareness and sensitivity on the part of these TV producers would be nice too...in order to educate all the non-PA people out there.