Sesame Street made a video, but it's not cute and it's not funny. It's just heart-wrenching.
When we think about prison, how often do we think about those left behind?
Sesame Workshop, the people behind "Sesame Street" (yes, that "Sesame Street!") got a group of young filmmakers who also have had a parent in prison together and asked them to talk about kids of incarcerated parents and visitation in prisons.
...which also means that we incarcerate more parents than anywhere else in the world.
If you think of a classroom as being about 28 kids ... there's one child in there with an incarcerated parent.
It's a traumatic thing, having a parent in prison. But there is *one* thing that helps the child:
Visiting their parent in prison.
Most importantly...
Being apart from a parent for any period of time is a significant disruption in the a child's life. Which is why it's so important to help children adjust to that separation...
Meet Travis. His mom is incarcerated:
Not being able to be with his mom every day is a pain that stays with him all the time. That's why his visits are so important.
He doesn't just see bars and barbed wire. He knows he's really about to see his mom.
For more stories from these youngsters with more emotional intelligence and grace than I have as an adult, watch the video below.
Now if you'd like to feel *ALL* the emotions, watch Sesame Street's "Little Children, Big Challenges" project. It's such a great way to help kids in this situation feel less alone and more understood.