The Economy of Sesame Street

It has occurred to me that in all the decades I've been watching SESAME STREET, I've never seen anybody pay for anything at Hooper's Store. In fact, nobody on the show seems to use money at all. (I recall only one exception, to be mentioned below.) When kids and monsters order food, treats, or other items, Chris and Alan, like their predecessors over the years, appear to just give them stuff. My head-canon rationalizes the situation that customers or their parents run tabs, since it's a locally owned business where the storekeepers know everybody.

As for Grover's experiences of serving restaurant meals to the grumpy little blue man, we have to assume a bill is presented after the meal, a transaction that happens out of the audience's view. The one clear exception to the apparently cashless economy I've noticed occurs in an episode when some Muppet characters go shopping with Chris at the supermarket. There we do witness him, as the adult, checking out groceries and paying for them.

Money and its constraints come up at least once in the Neighborhood of Make Believe segment of MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD. The residents of Make Believe want to build a swimming pool, for which they've saved up barely enough money. Then a water pipe breaks, requiring an expensive repair, and they have to decide how to use their limited funds.

The newish PBS series CARL THE COLLECTOR addresses the problem of budgeting in an episode when the twin rabbit girls decide to start a hamster-sitting business. They go crazy at the pet shop, buying all sorts of fun, frivolous products, then realize they have no money for necessities such as hamster food and basic equipment. They have to return the stuff they bought for a refund and start over, shopping for things hamsters really need. I recommend CARL THE COLLECTOR, by the way, for its presentation of neurodivergent characters and its portrayal of kids learning how to solve relationship problems.

Not surprisingly, the long-running series ARTHUR -- whose main characters were supposed to be in third grade until the end of the final season but acted more like ten- or eleven-year-olds -- included several episodes in which the kids had to decide how to save, budget, and spend money.

Should SESAME STREET incorporate occasional lessons about money, since that's a topic growing children need to understand sooner rather than later in today's society? Or, given the abbreviated half-hour format, does the series already have its plate full enough with numbers, letters, technology, the Foodie Truck (my favorite feature), solving problems both physical and social, navigating relationships, handling emotions, and appreciating differences?

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.