Sesame Street Rolls Out Adorable Videos to Help Military Kids

For kids in military families, life can be uniquely tough: long deployments and sudden reassignments often mean switching schools and living with constant uncertainty.

That’s why Sesame Street is stepping in with a new set of free tools designed especially for military families. The beloved children’s program has teamed up with the Department of Defense to launch “Healthy, Happy, Ready,” a set of free digital tools to help kids and caregivers handle the ups and downs of military life.

One video, “Getting Ready for Temporary Duty,” shows Elmo coping with his father’s National Guard deployment — which means missing his first T-ball game.

A disappointed Elmo says, “Elmo misses Daddy when Daddy’s not there.”

Elmo’s dad doesn’t dismiss his feelings; he names them and then nudges Elmo toward the bigger lesson — that families serve, too — saying, “I mean, we might not like to be apart, but you have courage and we do what has to be done, even though it’s hard. And that is very brave.”

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Another video, called “Coming Home,” shows Elmo discussing his feelings about his dad coming home and the things he wants to do with him, like going to the park and having his dad make breakfast for him.

“Daddy says we will have time to do all these things, just not all at once,” Elmo says, then adds to the viewer: “Elmo knows how much you miss your mommy or daddy when they’re away, but you can always think about the great things you can do with them when they come back.”

Sesame Street has been creating content for military kids for nearly 20 years, addressing deployments, homecomings, relocations, and even grief. (As part of the effort, Rosita even joined Vanessa Lachey in a USO-hosted Q&A with parents.)

A 2024 study published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies underscores the need for such content: It found military youth were 65% more likely than peers to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, while a survey from the National Military Family Association showed 35% of teens struggle with low mental well-being.

In a press release from Sesame Workshop, Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, the organization’s Senior Vice President for U.S. Social Impact, said the initiative focuses on “empowering parents and children to develop and maintain healthy routines and shared activities that will bring them closer together throughout their service and beyond.”