How to Enjoy “Sesame Street” without Suffering Elmo Overload

Kids, back in olden times, long before I met your mother, there existed this wonderfully smart, funny, multicultural children’s program complete with grouches, counting vampires, a big, blue, baked goods-loving monster, a frog that read the news, a diverse cast, and, well, no omnipresent, 3rd person-spouting, red muppet in sight.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way around Elmo and you’d be right. Elmo is ubiquitous – books, clothing, toys, music – and (to my dismay), I realized when I watched “Sesame Street” with Sienna for the first time, he’s completely taken over the show relegating most of my beloved characters (Count von Count, Oscar, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, Big Bird) to what amounts to a special appearance. Only Grover seems to have survived the purge as he has his own little segment called “Super Grover.”

I’m not going to lie. I’ve never liked Elmo. I’ve always found him grating. This has nothing to do with Kevin Clash’s (the voice behind Elmo) homosexuality or his sleeping-with-underage-boys scandal (though I’m pretty disgusted by the latter). In fact, I found the documentary Behing Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey to be fascinating and uplifting. This is just about Elmo’s character not only being annoying, but being EVERYWHERE and thus driving me bananas.

Luckily, thanks to Netflix streaming and YouTube, I can expose Sienna to what life was like before Elmo. We can watch classic “Sesame Street” episodes or clips of some of the show’s best songs and segments like “Rubber Duckie,” “C is for Cookie,” and “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” And you know what? Sienna enjoys them! She especially likes “Rubber Duckie” since she has one of her own. And as a plus, I really get to re-live my childhood as segments such as “Pinball Number Count” pop up during episodes filling me with a deep nostalgia.

I know I can’t cut Sienna off from Elmo completely, nor would I want to. That would be cruel and tyrannical. She loves “Elmo’s Song” and plays with plenty of Elmo-related toys (the Elmo-onesie, we inherited, however? Gone). But I want Sienna to spend time with and get to know Big Bird and Oscar and Bert and Ernie and Kermit and Cookie Monster and my absolute favorite, The Count. She might not ever know them as much as she knows Elmo or this Abby Cadabby, but that’s ok, because if one day she turns to me and says, “One apple! TWO apple! Ah-Ah-Ah!” it’ll all be worth it.