Grover Offers Tips For Kids To Cope During Coronavirus Pandemic

Grover is here for our kids in this new podcast

As the days turn into weeks and weeks into months, pandemic life is getting harder and harder on our kids — mentally and emotionally. With no school, no playdates, and limited places to go, any amount of normalcy we can bring to their lives is welcome. That’s where our favorite Sesame Street monster, Grover, comes in to help kids deal with all they are feeling and bring a smile to their faces (and ours).

Grover is brought to us by NPR’s Life Kit podcast with hosts Anya Kamentez and Cory Turner, bringing some of our favorite muppets to us when we need them most. “Hello, everybody! Hey, all you children and mommies and daddies. I hope you are all safe and well right now!” the video starts out.

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Grover talks to kids (and really all of us) about how he’s coping with missing his friends, how to live in the moment, and, most importantly, that it’s perfectly OK to feel sad. He also offers some sound advice about how to deal with all our big feelings and some ways to stay healthy during this strange time.

His first piece of advice is to keep busy. “Well, I am trying to help around the house,” Grover responds when asked how he’s staying busy. “I try to make my bed, and I take my dishes to the sink and try to pick up my toys.” He also says he’s a delivery monster and tries to bring groceries to people who can’t go out themselves.

Grover also said even though you can’t be with friends right now, you can do some fun things through video chats so it makes it feel like the good old days. “Actually, just before talking to you, I was on with Snuffy,” he joked. “Well… his left eye anyway. It’s kind of hard to see all of him on a little tiny screen.” He said he likes to play board games on video chat with his friends to make the time pass and have a little fun.

He also talked about the importance of finding things to do that don’t involve a tiny screen. Grover told viewers he plays with his toys and uses his imagination to take him to faraway lands. “You can go anywhere in your own imagination,” he explained. He also likes to read but not stories with other monsters in them.

Finally, he reminds kids of all ages that it’s OK to be sad. “It is OK to be sad every now and then — that is only human,” he said. “Or monster. Everybody who is alive gets sad from time to time, and that is OK. But this is going to pass, and we will all be able to get together and celebrate when we do.”

Solid advice, Grover.