Elmo is Red (White and Blue)!

There is one fuzzy little red character who all three of my children have enjoyed growing up with... Elmo of course!

(photo credit: USO/Fred Greaves)

For years, Elmo has been a staple in our house as each of my kids loved watching him over any other program when they were preschoolers. I always knew Elmo would ask good questions and give good answers on topics my kids wanted to know about. And that's why one of the first resources our military family used to help my younger children understand my husband's last deployment was the Sesame Street Talk, Listen, Connect DVD which focuses on deployments, homecomings and changes as they relate to military families...and it features Elmo!

Sesame Street has not only developed DVDs to support military families, they have also created other resources and programs to help military children through difficult circumstances.

Here's one of their initiatives...

The Sesame Street/USO Experience is a free traveling show just for military families which now features a new character - Katie - who happens to be a military child.  The current show focuses on the impact a move can have on a military family, but it also addresses the changes that come along with military life, such as deployments.

Want to learn more about the tour? Check out the scheduled upcoming tour dates. And visit the Sesame Street web site for more information on their initiatives for military families.

And be sure to check out my upcoming interview with Elmo and Katie!

To date the tour has:

• Reached 108 installations worldwide
• Performed 355 shows to 213,999 service members and their families
• Traveled to 10 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Guam, and Turkey)
• Over 1,000,000 FREE giveaways

The tour is currently overseas and is scheduled to:

• Reach an additional 26 installations
• Perform an additional 71 shows
• Travel to Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, and end in Japan in November, 2011