This post is part of the weekly meme called, Pour Your Heart Out, hosted by Shell over at Things I can’t say. Click the photo above to read other bloggers’ hearts. Here is my heart today:
Yesterday, Sesame Street made my day. One of my friends on facebook posted a video clip of a little Muppet girl from Sesame Street happily crooning a love song to her her kinky, curly, hair!. WOW!
The little Muppet girl is based on the adopted daughter of Joey Mazzarino, head writer of Sesame Street. Mazzarino is Italian and he and his wife adopted their five-year-old daughter, Segi, from Ethiopia. Mazzarino reportedly wrote the song after seeing his daughter playing with her dolls with straight, long blonde hair and desperately wanting her hair to look like theirs. Boy ol boy, can I identify with that! Check out my post about my hair struggles
“I Love My Hair” was posted to the Sesame Street YouTube page after debuting on Sesame Street on October 4, 2010. Once it was posted, people began sharing the video on their Facebook pages. The video depicts a brown Muppet sporting a curly afro and singing about how much she loves her hair and about the many ways she can make her hair—and herself—look pretty.
Hair type in the African American community is a BIG deal! I know from experience that little brown girls all over the world are taught very subtle messages about their hair texture, from the media and from their own communities. These messages chip away at their self-esteem. A quick glance at today’s television and magazine ads fill all of our heads with ideas about how to get the perfect hair, teeth, skin, and weight. The image of that “perfect” person is everywhere. Society teaches us at a very early age, that anything not just like the “perfect image” is WRONG!
I couldn’t wait to watch the video with my girls when I got home from work! They watched it and just smiled! “Look Mommy”, my youngest said with pride, “She has braids just like me”. Bravo Sesame Street for sweetly and innocently teaching us a valuable lesson on self acceptance.
Here is the Video:
1 Peter 3:3-4 (New Living Translation)
Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4 You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.
I loved this video from the first time I saw it!
xoxo
I saw the video yesterday, too, and looooved it.
I also giggled at the mash up of the video with Willow Smith's song.
While I obviously don't have black hair myself, I have lots of memories of learning about my friend Cathy's hair back in high school. We were both amazed to learn about how our hair washing was different and what perm meant to me vs to her. We learned a lot from each other.
The subtle genious of the song is that it reaches out specifically to a group of kids but also gives a broader message of loving yourself. That's awesome!
What a beautiful message! We all have something about us that we wish was different- and it's sad that it starts so young- way to go, Sesame Street!
Oh what a sweet message and a great way to do it!! Go Sesame
I just posted this video for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop…writing about a tv show that you watched as a kid, but now you see differently as an adult. My kids don't watch Sesame Street anymore, but I am a HUGE fan and I just love this video. My daughter seems to be okay with her hair nowadays, but when she was younger (it seems like they 1st go through “I hate my hair” around age 5), she didn't like her bouncy twists. Kudos to Sesame Street for making this video!