Appearances

Getting Through Tough Times

Posted by Jean

If you lost a job, how long would your nest egg hold out? For six in 10 Americans, the frightening answer is less than 90 days. For four in 10 it’s an even more frightening less than 30 days.

And how would your family fare in the process? That’s the question posed by a prime-time special from the folks at Sesame Workshop in collaboration with David Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants and Lookalike Productions. Families Stand Together, hosted by the husband and wife team of Al Roker and Deborah Roberts – in which I was fortunate to play a role — airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on PBS stations across the country and will be available at SesameWorkshop.org thereafter. It takes a look at the experiences of five families who have experienced job loss or other economic setbacks.

The Ballis from Canyon Lake, California, are one example. After Joe Balli lost his job at an RV dealership, he and his wife Erin, and their two boys 10, and 9, found they could no longer afford their comfortable home. They arranged with the bank to sell short (sell the home for less than they owed on the mortgage) and moved into much tighter quarters, a two-bedroom motor home. Yet, they say they’ve grown stronger as a family.

The Valentin family, from New Jersey, are another. Let go after 16 years in the auto industry, Pablo and Vanessa Valentin and their six children, are hoping to find work so that they can keep the house they worked so hard to buy. In the meantime, their young son Paul Isaiah suggested they start a business selling decorated t-shirts, and the family embraced the project. You’ll see their handiwork in the special and can purchase their shirts on the crafting website Etsy.com (search: Families Stand Together to find their store.)

And then there’s Elmo’s family. Even monsters, it turns out, aren’t immune from the economic downturn. When Elmo’s mom loses her job, Elmo at first believes it’s his fault because he has “too many toys.” But he learns that this is just something that happens in families, and that doing things that don’t cost much money – like picnicking in the park – can be as much, if not more, fun, as a trip to a pricey amusement park.

The special, which is geared to families with children two- to eight-years-old, is part of a greater initiative to help families cope, says Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Vice President for Outreach and Educational Practices at Sesame Workshop. “It provides strategies for how to talk about these situations, and how to really work together as a family.”

I’d go one further. Families Stand Together provides the script families looking the words to explain to their children what is happening, without shame, blame, or fear, have been lacking. It also provides a long-overdue lesson in basic budgeting (in bad times and in good you need to consistently spend less than you make), deferred gratification (as you’ll see in the experience of one young girl, better things do come to those who wait), wants versus needs (you want new toys to play with, but you need healthy food to eat) and how pulling together to take care of each other is really what matters. I, for one, am proud to be part of the project. And I hope you’ll tune in.