Home
Can kids’ television (good kids’ television, that is) teach tolerance and diversity? All signs point to yes. Or well, at least maybe.
According to this post at Mama Manifesto, “the mama of all mommy blogs,” research shows:
Race is one of the biggest factors in children being left out by their peers. It’s as impactful as gender, physical differences, and even cognitive ability.
So 1950’s, right? MM’s advice? “Be intentional in showing your children positive examples of other races in the media they watch.” Some suggestions: Go, Diego, Go!, Little Bill, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, Dora the Explorer, and Cooking for Kids with Luis.
Lest you think this whole idea that “television can bring us all together” is hyperbole, skim (we know you’re busy) this article out of Pristina. Apparently, Sesame Street characters like Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie are “succeeding where politicians have so far failed — by bringing together children from Kosovo’s divided communities.”
For four years now, the Sesame Street workshop has produced a local version of the acclaimed US children’s television show, known as Rruga Sesam in the Albanian language and Ulica Sezam in Serbian.
A report on the impact of the project presenting everyday stories to children has shown the puppet characters are more successful than real-life ones in Kosovo, which proclaimed independence from Serbia in February.
Belgrade and Kosovo Serbs reject the split, and the two communities scarcely interact across the landlocked Balkan territory, with youths attending separate kindergartens, schools and universities.
Both Albanian and Serb children who watched the show “expressed greater willingness to help” youths from the opposite ethnicity than those who did not, according to the research by the Sesame workshop and its local partners.
The former were also 74 percent more likely to demonstrate positive attitudes towards counterparts from different ethnic backgrounds, the survey revealed.
The article mentions a 7-year-old Albanian boy who likes Sesame Street so much, he even watches the Serbian version… and “tries” to eat cookies, just like his hero, Cookie Monster.
Now if that’s not a feel-good story, we don’t know what is.
Filed under General
