Kids Describe Their Dream Jobs on Sesame Street and It's The Most Inspiring Thing Ever

Sesame Street will forever hold a special place in my heart...and it's not just because I cried myself to sleep the day the Sesame Street Store went out of business at Valley Fair Mall. 

I quite literally learned how to speak English from my friends on KQED. That's right, besides Sesame Street, Mister Rogers and Reading Rainbow, I had little to no exposure to the English language until I went to preschool at four years old. Big Bird, Mr. Hooper, Bert and Ernie...they'll always feel like family. 

Even as an adult, I love watching clips of the puppets over on Sesame Street champion diversity, inclusion, social justice and just enable children to be the best they can be. The truth is, television is a huge part of many people's daily lives. Some tend to focus on all the not so wonderful things when it comes to exposing children to screen time, but I have always been an advocate of how powerful it can be when used wisely. Sesame Street does such an incredible job of leveraging media to make a difference. 

Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Sesame Workshop, the educational nonprofit behind Sesame Street, have collaborated on a new campaign to start thinking about their careers. The campaign launched at the Global Citizen: Movement Makers Summit with a video featuring children and puppets around the world sharing their dreams and what it takes to achieve those dreams. 

All children should have the chance to fulfill their dreams - but many don't get the opportunity. Today, with more than 130 million girls out of school worldwide, educating girls is more important than ever. That's why Sesame Street and Procter & Gamble are working together to promote early education and eliminate gender-biased barriers so that all children can reach their full potential.

"To be a detective, you have to be clever and study hard," says one little boy, while another shares that he wants to be a ballet dancer.

One girl is on a mission to claim all the jobs (her career path includes police officer, firefighter, pastry chef, photographer, and lawyer), and other kids in the video dream of being a pilot, teacher, computer scientist, and even a "fish doctor".

Sesame Workshop's research and case studies show that boys who watch Sesame Street in Afghanistan test 29% higher on gender equity attitudes, and in several instances, fathers who watched decided to send their daughters to school. Currently, about 40% of Afghan students are girls (while globally, about 130 million girls remain out of school).

"Sesame has a long history of promoting gender equality and diversity through its programming, and the impact their content has on social norms and attitudes is undeniable. We are proud to work with Sesame to spark conversations that can motivate change. We want to set a new expectation that values girls' education so that boys and girls can reach their full potential. This is not a zero-sum game, we want both boys and girls to have the opportunities to pursue their dreams. It's not at the exclusion of boys at all. It's to make sure that girls have the same opportunity." - Carolyn Tastad, P&G Group President, North America

I love Sesame Street for it's continued dedication to "planting the seeds for societal changes" and giving both boys and girls an understanding of how important education is for all. 

The campaign will run through October 11, International Day of the Girl, appearing on social media and Sesame Street's network channels around the globe.