Cookie Sometimes

[judecorp]

Okay, I don't understand what the big deal is regarding Cookie Monster on Sesame Street saying that cookies are a "sometimes food." I mean, really, people: Cookies ARE sometimes foods! I don't feel like anyone is robbing my childhood or whatever by making Cookie Monster eat less cookies. Maybe I'm messed up or something, but this /so/ does not bother me at all.

With all of the kids I work with who eat nothing but junk food, with all of the kids I know that are so picky they only eat one thing (macaroni and cheese, cheese and crackers, etc.)... I think this is a good thing. Heck, if Cookie Monster can branch out with his food choices, anyone can!

p.s. It's always disturbing to me when people I know from different circles overlap. Today I saw Seany bestowing kudos on Jason's BBS documentary. I met Jason in 1994 and Sean in 2002. There are not supposed to be connections! I can't handle this Small World crap!

Comments

[thespian.livejournal.com]

besides, Cookie Monster has never ate cookies.

He's always eaten rice cakes painted like cookies, because real cookies are too greasy for his fur.

Also, before he had his first cookie, he was named Sid.

I have no idea why I remember this stuff. But either way, he's not REALLY named Cookie Monster, and he's not eating cookies, the BIG BLUE FAKE!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You have exposed a SHAM!!!

Besides, how can he even HOLD the cookies? His hands are FURRY OVEN MITTS.

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

not to mention there's no hole in his mouth to put them in...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Right!

[juliann.livejournal.com]

It's all a sham anyway. Cookie Monster sings the song "Cookies are a Sometime Food" and then at the end of the song he asks "Is sometime now?" and they say yes. So he still gets to eat them a lot ;) And part of his "diet" is tasting other kinds of cookies to find something healthier than chocolate chip. Mm, I want the cookie variety diet, oh yeah.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the cookie variety diet! We can start by substituting the chocolate chips with M&Ms!!

[rockymtnhigh.livejournal.com]

If you go for the Peanut Butter/ M&M cookies, you add some protein, therefore making them *much* healthier :-)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmmmmmm, I love peanut butter.

[kjtoo.livejournal.com]

My $0.02 on this is over at Sudrin's Journal.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You so smaht!

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

I was a Seasame Street baby. I don't think there was a episode I missed. In fact, I though the PBS station in Phoenix (Channel 8) only showed Seasame Street and 3-2-1-Contact because those were the only shows I was ever allowed to watch. We had a dial-tv, and my dad had marked the "8" with a big K showing me it was my station.

That said, yeah, I remember cookie monster being, well, a moster of cookies. But I also remember him eating chairs, suitcases, carrots with big green tops (and I remember begging my mom to buy "those kind" at the store instead of the plastic bag kind after seeing it.) But I never had a burning desire to eat cookies or chairs or suitcases or even those carrots.

Seasame Street evolves ever so many years - Snuffy was proven to be real (unlike my imaginary friend), there became interracial relationships and couples had adoptions or stayed childless, people died, women had nontraditional jobs, two male friends can live together in harmony, and now cookie moster is experiencing the tao of moderation.

I think you're exactly right about kids and their diets. I'm 26, and I'm a big woman. But I have a student who is only 14, and wears a size 28, larger than me. I have several male students who cannot run down the hall and have breasts larger than mine. I have students who literaly eat McDonalds for breakfast daily, pizza and fries for lunch, and some type of fastfood meal (like a KFC or something from the BBQ pit) for dinner. I have kids who eat from the snack machine, Little Debbies and soda, and that's lunch because they're dieting. I'd PREFER if they has a cookie addiction. At least there's eggs, milk and a chance for a raisin or two in a cookie.

What, with Bush being politely quiet and the death of the Pope looming and all, boo-hoo-sayers have to grasp as straws to find something to say boo-hoo to. Cookie Monster is it.

People freaked out when they announced they were re-sizing Barbie, too.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

Well and your'e not supposed to eat the letter of the day when it's painted on a cookie, either.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You're NOT??!?!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I just don't see how the evolution of a show in any way impacts our memories of our childhood. I remember "Land of the Lost" fondly, but I can't imagine wanting to watch it today. Likewise, I remember my experiences with Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact, but it's been a LONG time since I was their demographic, and I expect the shows to change accordingly.

Sesame Street has always been awesome about proactive thinking when teaching children, whether it's with multiculturalism or nutrition, it's all the same.

Bravo to Sesame Street, I say! Anyone trying to link Cookie Monster's moderation approach to society's obsession with thinness is going a little over the deep end in my opinion. After all, Cookie hasn't started taking Ephedra or Fen-Phen yet.

[jadefu.livejournal.com]

Ok, I have to pipe up with my PBS viewpoint.

We were getting the feed of some of the new programs last week via satellite. To be honest, I noticed a difference in one of the cookie monster bits, that he had other food, but the reason it caught my eye is because it was bright and colorful. A lot of us at the station hadn't actually heard about this big change in cookie monster until this weekend when it was in the media & blogs & such.

And it's probably a good time to mention that I ADORE cookie monster. I have a "got milk" poster of him on my office door at work.

Sesame Street has made changes every year. I don't see this as a big deal at all. They want to add in more segments teaching about eating a good diet and eating healthy food......so of course he's the best character to teach. Not just because he eats cookies, but because he's always EATING. Sesame Workshop has a huge staff of educational advisors, so they just don't add stuff into the show on a whim.

Many PBS stations have an outreach program called "Ready to Learn" (also a government grant program for a lot of the kids shows). The viewpoint of RTL is to expand the learning beyond the tv: that the tv shouldn't be used as a babysitter. Parents should watch with kids, then after the show, extend the learning with activities that go along with the topics they just watched.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with all of this.

I don't understand why people get all bent out of shape because something changes from when they were kids. Dude, we were kids like 20 years ago. Times have changed. Life has changed. Children have changed. It makes /sense/ that any decent television show will also change to remain viable.

I'm just psyched that Sesame Street is still going strong, when all of the other shows out there for kids are getting more and more ridiculous. (I just wish they would cut down on the amount of Elmo.)

[carina-s.livejournal.com]

I think Cookie Monster should be able to have as many cookies as he wants as long as I can watch.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

He can eat all the cookies as long as I don't have to pick up the crumbs!

[siercia]

I've actually been putting a lot (probably far too much) thought into this, and while part of my dismay does come from nostalgia, I also think it's so sad that they feel like they have to do this, and that I think when kids are being raised well, there's a lot to be gained from characters like cookie monster whi represent kid's inner natures; they (and adults too) like cookie monster because we can identify with the desire to stick our face in the bag and inhale as many cookies as we want, and because it's funny at the same time.

In my perfect world, Cookie Monster should be about being a cookie monster, about recognizing the id in our natures, and how that's okay, and parents should be teaching their kids that cookies are a sometimes food.

I'm probably overthinking this, like everything else.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, I certainly am not going to disagree with you that the lesson about sometimes foods should first and foremost come from parents. No question.

However, Sesame Street has always been ahead of its time with its education of children. It was one of the first shows (and probably THE first children's show) to feature regular characters of color portrayed in a totally positive light. And while lessons about tolerance and respect should come from parents, Sesame Street felt the need to step in, and the world is better for it (I think).