Category Archives: Kids & Teens

Why I Love Sesame Street

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I freaking LOVE Sesame Street. I loved it when I was a kid and now I DVR it for my own kid. We watch it together and while she’s learning to count with me and Elmo, my feminist heart is doing fist bumps with my feminist brain. And even when her attention span only gets her through the first five minutes, I can’t stop watching it. In the most recent episode I saw, actor Paul Rudd was playing a “storybook prince” who appeared every time Rosita, Abby and a penguin were confronted with a challenge during their game of Princess. In a last ditch effort to prove himself useful, he pulls out his trump card and, when that fails, a pity party ensues. If you have a few minutes, watch this clip.

Awesome, right? As a feminist, I love it when something on TV actually aligns with my value system and supports my parenting efforts. I also love when Sesame Street takes a dig at Disney. I don’t have to write about why feminists don’t enjoy Disney – the blogosphere has already taken care of that for me. I just can’t support its woman’s-worth-based-on-that-of-the-male-character stories. I like that Sesame Street has female characters who use logic, creativity and teamwork to get the job done, just as the male characters do. The messages of independence and girl-power are ones I can support and reinforce with real-life lessons at home. I love when Rosita asks, “How is kissing her feet going to get her out of the mailbox?” Duh Prince, your silly little kisses don’t save lives or get people out of sticky situations. Even puppets know that.

As an educator and a parent, I have a deep respect and appreciation for Sesame Street. I love that Sesame Street isn’t afraid to create episodes that incorporate ethics, emotions, respect, problem-solving, diversity, character, relationships, and tough social issues. Their crafty team of researchers, writers and puppeteers knock it out of the park every episode. Sesame Street has been on the air for over 40 years and has won more than 100 Emmy Awards.

Tales from the Field: Teen Pregnancy

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Last month I participated in The Great American Teach-In, an annual event where schools invite professionals to come in to talk to the students about what they do and how they got there. The school I was invited to is a drop-out prevention school that ominously sits across the street from the county jail. The 7AM class is a teen parenting class and I decided to take my 20-month-old daughter with me and talk about what it’s like to be a Public Health Professional and a mom. I wanted to show them that they don’t have to give up on their education or passions just because they are mothers.

After that first class, I took my daughter to day care and returned for the rest of the day. For those classes, I told them how I became a Sex Educator and why the job is so cool. I also gave each class a condom demonstration. I talked about male condoms, female condoms, dental dams, and flavored condoms, how to use them properly, what they can help prevent, how to negotiate condom use with a partner, etc. In these regular classes, there was at least one more pregnant teen and several teen fathers, including one who claimed he has five kids.

Once the students realize that I respect them and give them real, honest answers, you can literally feel the tone in the classroom change. Witnessing this shift lets me know that they appreciate my presence, my knowledge, and my willingness to meet them where they are. It feeds my soul.

It’s easy to blame teen parents for being irresponsible but I don’t see it that way.  When I asked how many of them have parents who talk to them about sex, only 2 or 3 tentative hands went up in each class. Combine that with teachers who are afraid to say too much because they don’t want to ruffle the feathers of administration and parents with states that don’t set sex education standards and a general head-in-the-sand attitude about sex and birth control in the country – you no longer get permission to place all the blame on the teens. We continue to provide a colossal injustice to them and then say, “Tsk, tsk, you should have known better.” Really? Just how could they have known better?
One of my new favorite blogs is The Push Back, a “space to push back against all that ignorance, bitterness, and prejudice and show what young parenthood really looks like.” I love when young people get pissed off and find constructive ways of making themselves heard. Often, when I tell people that I teach topics like birth control to teen parents, they give some snide remark such as, “Isn’t that kinda like a day late and a dollar short?” Yes and no.

Yes, they are getting the education too late. Birth control education isn’t offered in middle school and even in high school, nor is one class period enough. Too many parents think that talking about birth control is a permission slip to risky behaviors – encouraging your teen to wear a seat doesn’t give them permission to speed.
And no, it isn’t too late to educate teen parents about birth control. Why? Chances are, they are still having sex or will someday soon. They need to know that they can have control over their bodies. They need to know that we haven’t given up on them. We can’t give up on teen parents because if we do, we also give up on their children and neither deserves yet another layer of injustice.

Sexual Education: Teens Ask the Darnedest Questions

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I speak about Planned Parenthood and the services we offer whenever I have the opportunity. Whether I’m in the grocery checkout line talking about cheap birth control pills to the uninsured cashier or giving impromptu pregnancy options counseling to an esthetician, I’m happy to do it. I am haunted by accounts like Margaret Sanger’s Awakening and Revolt, which reminds me what life continues to be like for women of the world who cannot access family planning services: information is power and power is freedom.

Recently I was asked by a teacher to volunteer at her school’s “career day.” I expected that I would discuss my job roles and duties and spend minimal time discussing the organization I work for. What I found, however, was a school that leapt at the chance for me to discuss age-appropriate, medically accurate reproductive health information with their middle schoolers. I was told that many were likely already having sex and that an elementary schooler had brought condoms to school the week before. The parents had signed waivers allowing the school to discuss sexual health topics with them, so I was asked to answer the questions that the kids had about sex! They divided the groups into “girls” and “boys.”

Three hours and one hundred middle schoolers later, I was completely exhausted. I’d managed to talk about my job role for about three minutes before it was buried below an avalanche of compelling and sometimes frightening sex-related questions. I was able to respond to almost all of them, but referred them to their teachers for those I felt were a bit tricky (e.g., “What does it mean when someone drops the soap in prison?”). As a disclaimer, please note that my entire talk was themed on preventing teen sex, and abstinence was thoroughly encouraged.

These kids had serious questions about their bodies, each other’s bodies, and SEX. There are a lot of adults out there giving their opinions about what kids should and shouldn’t know about the birds and the bees, but I’m here to tell you: they already know more than you’re comfortable with!

Here, I give you highlights from questions in the classroom:

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