MICHELLE OBAMA: You may know some kids who have a parent in
the military.
ELMO: Yeah, it can be hard when a daddy and a mommy is
away for a long time.
ROSITA: Well, you can help them feel better.
DR. JILL BIDEN: By including them in what you do.
Playing with them.
MICHELLE OBAMA: And just letting them know
they've got a friend.
ELMO: Yeah.
MAN 1: When I was putting the flight suit on, Jackson kept
asking me, where you going, daddy?
Where you going?
ELMO: Daddy's gotta go away for lots and
lots of days, right?
LOUIE: That's right, son.
GIRL 1: Sometimes, I would sit in my room and cry into my
pillow and say, why me, why me?
MAN 2: This particular fight you can't do alone.
You need that family support, you need that team.
PATTY SHINSEKI: Talk, Listen, Connect is a Sesame Workshop
Project that was developed for military children who are
experiencing some challenges due to changes and transitions
in their lives.
Bilingual resources were created to help children and
families deal with three difficult issues.
The first, when a parent is deployed.
LOUIE: Hey, listen, son.
Do you know what today is?
ELMO: Thursday.
LOUIE: Well, yes.
Yes, it is Thursday.
But it's also that day we talked about.
Remember, the day I have to go?
ELMO: Oh, yeah.
BOY 1: When my daddy has to go run somewhere, he will ask me
to watch him so I can be like a leader
for my little brother.
I love you, daddy.
PATTY SHINSEKI: The second focused on changes, when a
parent returns changed either through injury or some
emotional challenges.
ROSITA: [CRYING]
I wish your legs were OK, papi.
And I wish you didn't have to go to the doctor so much.
And I just wish things could go back to the way they were.
GIRL 2: He doesn't have no legs and one arm.
MAN 3: At first, I didn't think she wanted to hug me
because she was scared of me maybe.
That hug made me feel so happy and complete inside that it
made me feel like I didn't lose anything at all.
PATTY SHINSEKI: And the third was when family grieve,
helping children through the process of grieving.
BOY 2: Dear Dad, I miss you very much.
If you were here, you would meet my little brother.
BOY 3: I didn't get to meet my daddy.
LOUIE: Sometimes, it's hard to talk about someone who died
because brings up all those big feelings.
KATIE COURIC: So, Jesse, even though you didn't want to talk
about your dad at first, you felt much better once you did?
JESSE: Yeah.
Talking to my uncle Louie made me realize, well, that I
wasn't alone with my feelings.
ELMO: Yeah, because we all miss him.
PATTY SHINSEKI: The military has a lot of programs
available but not to this extent.
This absolutely zeroed in on those challenges that military
children experience.
Other components of the program are a safe website
where families can stay connected, Sesame themed play
spaces at military bases and hospitals, And a partnership
with the USO that sent the Muppets around the world to
perform for military children.
WOMAN 1: I'm just glad someone has something like this,
something nice that my children could experience.
That was something positive.
WOMAN 2: I think it's really great that they're taking the
time to do something like this.
PATTY SHINSEKI: Talk, Listen, Connect offers that
opportunity to begin conversations, to communicate,
to keep in touch.
We want to help children thrive during these
challenging times.
CAPTAIN PAUL S. HAMMER: The most important thing for the
military member is to know that their family is taken
care of when they're far away.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CAPTAIN PAUL S. HAMMER: What Sesame Workshop has been able
to provide is a whole group of tools that really help kids
and families have something in their tool box that they can
really use when the stress of deployment occurs.
[MUSIC PLAYING]