Cookie Monster learns self-restraint

Cookie Monster is about to get a lesson in self-control asSesame Street's44th season gets underway.

Nadine Zylstra,Sesame Street's supervising producer,told the CalgaryEyeopenerthat Cookie Monster is the perfect vehicle to teach kids about controlling their impulses.

"It felt like we needed somebody who could sympathize with those impulses and who else but Cookie Monster really can empathize with needing to findsome self-control?"

What are the needs that children have and how can we help answer them?- Sesame Street's NadineZylstra

Zylstra says they want to give children some practical tools to help deal with impulsiveness.

"Kids find it really, really hard to take themselves into a calm place and not just be grabbing for something, reacting impulsively, and they really need help in trying to find some strategies that can help them along that journey."

Striving to stay current

The decision came from Sesame Street's goal to change and grow with the times,says Zylstra.

"We were hearing so clearly from teachers and educationists around us saying kids really need help with this."

Zylstra feels that it will be an effective tool because children have such strong relationships with the characters.

"All of the characters we havekids connect with in such a present way that if they can see someone that they're identifying with modelling something in a positive direction then I thinkthey really ...seek to replicate that and that's a powerful thing."