Say Anything Blog

From Yahoo News:

The U.N. Children's Fund announced Monday that it has appointed an HIV-positive puppet who stars in the South African version of Sesame Street as a "global champion for children."

Kami, a furry yellow puppet who appears regularly on Takalani Sesame, represents a 5-year-old girl who has been orphaned by AIDS. UNICEF said she "has brought levity and compassion to a topic that so often evokes the opposite."

Kami will help promote messages of acceptance and an end to stigma for HIV/AIDS sufferers across the world in a way that is appropriate to the age group, UNICEF said, announcing a partnership with the Sesame Workshop, which gives creative support to the South African makers of Takalani Sesame.

Why are UNICEF and Sesame Workshop assuming that children in the Sesame Street age group (approximately 2 years old to 9 years old) need to learn about sexually transmited diseases? And why is a program like Sesame Street making that decision for parents?

Sesame Street is a terriffic program. The basic lessons the show teaches, such as counting, reading, getting along with others, and sharing are important. But since when do five year olds need to learn about sexually transmitted diseases? Lessons about that topic should come later in life, not at the age of five.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude. When the time is right I plan on being very forthcoming with my daughter about the topic of sex, safe sex and the possibility of diseases, but at three years old I don't want her running around talking about HIV. That's just not appropriate. At three, she shouldn't even know what sex is let alone what an STD is.

Sex is a delicate topic and its introduction into a child's life should be left up to the parents, not beamed into the child's living room by television producers.