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Parents say Sesame program helps them, too

Researchers have found even more reasons to love Elmo. His positive impact has reached far beyond preschool children in military families with the Talk, Listen, Connect kit launched last summer, according to the results of a survey.

While the kit is aimed at military children of deployed parents, interviews with 367 spouses of active-duty, National Guard and reserve members in all branches of service showed that the stay-behind parents who used the kit also reported that their feelings of hopelessness and depression declined, according to Russell Research, Inc.

The parents also reported fewer negative behaviors in their preschool children, researchers said in a discussion of the findings April 3 in Washington.

These benefits were “far beyond what we expected,” said Jeanette Betancourt, vice president of outreach and educational practices for Sesame Workshop.

The results showed that “not only were we reaching the parents and younger children, but the entire family,” she said.

The survey results showed that nearly 80 percent of parents thought the materials had made them more comfortable in helping their child cope with deployment, and 80 percent of parents reported their children are better able to handle future deployments as a result of using the kit.

Army wife Joanna Lopez, of Fort Bragg, N.C., said she and her children are better prepared for the third deployment of her husband Ernesto after using the kit. “My first two deployments, I did not know what to expect for my kids, and what my kids would ask,” Lopez said.

“Listening to some kids, and what they are asking, and what my kids are going to ask, I know what to answer now, and I know how to prepare them. I’m more prepared for before, during and after the deployment,” said Lopez, who is the mother of three children, ages, 10, 6 and 4 months.

The families surveyed have at least one preschool child, and one parent in paygrades E-2 to E-6 experiencing some stage of deployment. About one-fourth were Hispanic families; Sesame Workshop also produced a Spanish version of the kit, which includes a DVD featuring Sesame Street’s Elmo and his dad discussing and dealing with a deployment.

That DVD was the key component of the kit, which also featured activities for parents to use to help their children cope with deployment. About three-fourths of the parents reported that their child watched the video more than once; 85 percent said they watched it with their child. It also sparked discussions. About two-thirds of parents said they spoke to their children after watching the DVD, mostly about deployment.

More than 225,000 kits have been provided to military families since the program was launched in August. Sesame Workshop is now exploring additional ways to help military families, including families of soldiers returning with injuries, said Gary Knell, president and chief executive officer of Sesame Workshop.

“Talk, Listen, Connect” is also available at Military OneSource and on the Wal-Mart Web site. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. provided funding for the project.

The research on “Talk, Listen, Connect” was designed in consultation the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University, and was conducted by Russell Research. The spouses were interviewed before they used the kits, and four weeks after they received the kits.

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Sesame Street helps kids understand deployment