Characters Of Sesame Street Tackle The ‘D’ Word — Divorce [Video]

Sesame Street is certainly one of the most recognized children's programs in the world. In addition to teaching young children their shapes and colors, and counting and reading, they have covered some social issues that they thought might be important to their young viewers. The one thing that was never discussed on Sesame Street was the "D" word. Divorce. But with statistics that say that more than a million kids will experience the "D" word this year, the producers of Sesame Street felt that the time has come. Abby Cadabby's parents are getting a divorce. Details after the jump.

Divorce was a subject that Sesame Street tried to tackle back in 1992 with one of the show's most beloved characters, Mr. Snuffleupagus. When the pilot segment was shown to a group of preschoolers, it was a disaster. Children ended up upset and crying, and the project was left on the cutting room floor.

After avoiding the subject of divorce for almost 20 years, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group that runs Sesame Street, is willing to give it another try with a multimedia kit called 'Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce'. This project will include a storybook, a guide for parents and an app. The character featured in this new, revamped segment about divorce is Abby Cadabby. Lynn Chwatsky, who oversaw the project for Sesame Street says "These kids love and adore Abby. So to know that she's going through something similar to them, something challenging, it's like, Wow. It makes it O.K. to have a whole range of feelings."

What do you think about Sesame Street tackling the subject of divorce? Is divorce a subject that should be only addressed by the parents, or do you think that a Sesame Street character might be more relatable to preschoolers?