It is often difficult for grown-ups to have certain talks with children; talks about sex, drugs, the general crappiness of the world, etc. The issue of why mommy or daddy has to go off to war or is not the way he/she was before, is an especially delicate one and needs to be handled with care.
So, the Sesame Workshop launched DVDs called “Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployment, Homecoming, Changes” for military families with young children. The programming is engineered to help families communicate better and build understanding issues such as multiple deployments, injuries, etc.
The storyline uses beloved Sesame Street characters (like Big Bird, the Cookie Monster, Elmo, etc.) to emphasize the importance of family and friends “sticking together” and having pride in each other. They also contain clips of real military families talking about their challenges, heartbreaks, and triumphs.
500,000 DVD kits were initially produced. They are free and can be found online at the Sesame Street website.