Sesame Street

pLynda,br /
My daughter is almost 5, and she has watched alot of Barney in her time. She also goes around singing two different songs with peanuts or peanut butter in them. I have talked to her about peanuts and peanut butter and all the other things she is allergic to, how to avoid them, and what happens if she doesn't avoid them. /p
pWhen I heard her singing, I asked her about it. She told me quite simply that songs and TV are pretend and that the pretend can't hurt her, so as long ans she sings about the pretend and not the reall she would be safe./p
pWhat I am saying is that after doing some TV watching/editing "Its ok for Elmo, but peanut Butter makes you really sick" I guess the lessons are sticking. /p
pGood Luck with TV/p
pMary Lynn/p

pHi,/p
pI have been dealing with the same issues this past week. I bought my son two new videos last week, one a Good Housekeeping recommended toddlers movie and the other a Kids Song movie. To my dismay, both these movies contained songs about "yummy" peanut butter. My son is only two, and does not yet know that he is to avoid peanut products, and it upsets me that he is already singing these songs. I know that education is the key here, and so I keep telling him "Peanuts make Matthew sick, he can't have peanuts". Anyone else have any suggestions on how to deal with a child this age in educating them about p.a.?/p
pStay Safe, Debbie/p

pHi/p
pMy daughter just turned 5, and also sings the Barney Peanut Butter and Jelly song without any qualms. Anyway, I wanted to mention that not only does she have an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts, she has always disliked peanuts and never wanted to eat them. Well before she was diagnosed or had her first reaction she would refuse peanut butter saying that it smelled "yucky". So you may find that even though your 2 year old is exposed to these songs he or she may avoid peanut products instinctively and not want them anyway!/p

pI had thought about the refer. to Peanut Butter on PBS programs, and my daughter once commented dont they like SoyButter and Jelly, but after reading your comments I sent PBS an e-mail. I put in some facts and figures about food allergies and children. I let you know if they ever write back./p

pThe best way to suggest a story idea is to send a handwritten letter directly to the writers of a particular program. For example, Sesame Street is produced by the Children's Television Workshop in New York. Videotape a program and pause when the list of writers appears at the end of the show. Pick out a few names at random and hand-address your letter to them suggesting a show be produced about children with peanut allergies, seeing that they work hard on representing various disabilities in a positive way. You can call your local public television station, ask for the Viewer Service's Department, and get the producers' address for any PBS program: Sesame Street, Barney, etc. The problem with writing to PBS instead of the producers directly is that PBS is only a distributor of programs such as Sesame Street and really has little say in program content./p
pI wasn't able to find an email address for Sesame Street but I did locate their phone number: CTW at (212) 595-3456./p
pNoreen/p