Sesame Street's Elmo and Rosita launch self-care content to help military families

Military life can be stressful for families. They suffer from mental and physical strain from unexpected deployments, long separations and late-night work. As a mother, it can be challenging to nurture your children if your husband is in the military. It necessitates a great deal of teamwork to ensure that your child has a happy childhood. To help you out with that, Elmo and Rosita have come to your rescue. Sesame Street, a non-profit organization that produces Sesame Street and is a partner organization of the United States Armed Forces, has unveiled resources to educate military families on self-care and emotional well-being, reports PEOPLE. 

Elmo and Rosita, as well as her father, a proud military veteran, appear in five videos discussing things like "went-wells" on a tough day. "Sometimes I have really hard days," says Rosita's father, Ricardo. "And that's when I think about my 'went-wells': Three simple things, no matter how large or how small that have gone well that day. Things like how the coffee was really good this morning. My therapy session and how was challenging but in a good way. And how I got things all set up for my family game night." Another video shows Elmo and his father having a dance party focused on physical movements, a fun way of self-care. Furthermore, these movies are the product of a collaboration between Amazon Web Services and Sesame Workshop.

In a press release about this innovative approach, Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop's Senior Vice President of U.S. Social Impact, said, "Every little moment of self-care can have a big impact. Sesame Workshop is here with resources and support for our military and caregiving families who give so much of themselves in service to their country." These videos, according to Defense.org, also demonstrate the importance of little wins, flexible routines, meal planning and even learning how to be still and quiet. "I know it's not always easy and self-care doesn't always feel attainable," said Tara Wright, who's a mother of three and a military spouse. "But these resources can be a nice little reminder that taking care of yourself really does help your family and it can also be done with your family. It doesn't have to be apart."

For example, in one of the videos, Elmo's mom, Mae, can be seen as a little annoyed while making dinner; her husband is away with the National Guard and Elmo wants to play with his mom. Left with no options, Mae decided to order a pizza instead, so that she could entertain Elmo. "She makes the choice right there: 'I don't I don't have to do it all,'" Wright said. "We know that every night can't be pizza night, but, in that particular moment, her act of self-care was setting aside a routine that was causing her a lot of stress and instead focusing on spending time with Elmo." Wright, who is raising three sons under the age of five while her Marine Corps husband is on temporary service,  finds the videos very helpful.

While children enjoy watching Sesame Street, military parents can benefit from the message each episode delivers. "These are definitely giving some modeling and encouragement to parents that it's okay to not be at our best all the time and that there are manageable, approachable things that we can do to feel a little bit better," Wright said. "My kids don't always understand why I feel frustrated, but they do understand that I'm making the choice to connect with them. I think that's what the kids will see in these videos and, especially, what parents will see." The Sesame Workshop resources are freely accessible in English and Spanish to families and providers at the Sesame Street for Military Families website and at sesamestreetincommunities.org.