My favorite was ans still is Super Grover!! They should do more with Grover I think.

There is a great book called Endangered Minds in which the author, an educator and brain development expert, harshly criticises Sesame Street for its contribution to the eroding capacity of American children to master higher order thinking skills.

While I don't think small doses of television is going to permanently damage a kid's brain, I'm convinced that children under three shouldn't watch ANY television and until the teenage years viewing should be limited to no more than thirty minutes a day as long as the content is appropriate.

Sesame Street is not intended to teach anything and there has never been one independent study that suggests that viewing Sesame Street has ANY positive effect on learning. I'm a teacher and can easily determine the kids whose parents limit or prohibit television viewing. Those that watch television may do as well on simple memorization tasks and recall but cannot process complex information as well as their television deprived counterparts.

I'd buy a set of Legos or Lincoln Logs instead. That and a couple of hours of outside free play a day are better than any television show.

What kid has time to watch TV anymore. My kis have homework from the time they get home to the time they get in bed. I guess the teachers are in a backhanded way trying to limit TV viewing. I don't let my kids watch a lot of TV anyway, but to not let a child watch TV until they are teenagers is about as unrealistic as 4 hours of homework. I think a balance would be the most healthy. An extreme one way or the other is unhealthy.

Public broadcasting has been the propaganda arm of the DNC for decades. I never allowed my children to watch it.

I grew up watching and loving Sesame Street and it is fun to see my kids love it to.

Re: wallofvoodoo - Why is limiting television viewing until high school unrealistic? Mr.Rogers (oh the irony!) makes a good point. Until puberty kids' brains are still developing in basic ways. They should not be exposed to such passive low level junk.

I had a friend who gave her tween kids small amounts of wine and beer with dinner. Her excuse was the same as yours; it's unrealistic that kids won't drink so why not do it at home? The 'unrealistic' argument may be fine for someone old enough to make decisions about what is good for him- or herself but until about the high school age kids are just too young to make informed decisions.

I'm the parent and I'll guide them the best way I can. For me that includes strictly limiting television. Since I've done this from birth my kids never complain. Instead they resist playing with certain kids in the neighborhood because "all they do is watch tv and that's boring!".