New feature: Munchkin Tuesday

Christmas 1977. Daddy made that kitchen set in the background. My niece and nephews are probably playing with it at this very moment. (Photo by one of my doting parents.)

Raise your hand if you secretly wish you could cut out of work early every afternoon and get home in time to watch Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood while your mom fixes dinner.

Me, too — which probably explains why my sophomores found themselves playing with Play-Doh today in class and clapping the rhythm of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss poems last week. Sometimes that gray streak in my hair and all those laugh lines around my eyes just aren’t enough to override the fact that I am basically an overgrown 5-year-old.

With that in mind, I am indulging my inner child with a new weekly blog feature: Every Tuesday, I will post something that reminds me of my childhood. Could be a classic PBS video, a funny poem, a favorite toy, a silly song, or a glorious illustration by Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, Mercer Mayer, Richard Scarry, or any of a thousand other old friends.

For our first Munchkin Tuesday, let’s reach back to a pleasant afternoon sometime in late 1977 or early 1978:

Have the creators of Sesame Street won a Nobel Peace Prize yet? ‘Cos if they haven’t, they really should. That show has been teaching little kids how to get along with other people for 43 years.

I don’t trust people who don’t like Sesame Street. There’s something pathologically wrong with them.

Emily