“Sesame Street”, Skip-It, Nintendo, and a nine-planet Solar System. Those are what I grew-up with. What is happening to society that these childhood ideals have been altered or completely demoted as acceptable to our culture? It is absurd to expect a child to understand Spanish courtesy of Dora the Explorer or to hear of a Cookie Monster who eats vegetables.

As a child, I saw Cookie Monster as a furry whatever he is who ate lots and lots of chocolate chip cookies — and I didn’t know a second language until freshman year of High school, and I think I turned out pretty good. So why are we changing things now when they have worked for so many years.

First off, why does Sesame Street have to change?

Oscar the grouch isn’t supposed to be mean, and he isn’t allowed to live in a garbage can because it condones negativity and filthiness. And as if that isn’t bed enough, Cookie Monster now eats vegetables and an occasional oatmeal raisin cookie.

I understand that society is very aware of child obesity, but to think that Cookie Monster has anything to do with it is absurd. What will he sing now? V is for veggie?

It makes me sad that the health nuts have brainwashed the once genius creators of Sesame Street. But that’s not all.

This planet-not-planet thing is confusing the heck out of me too.

How can you have just eight planets? It seems unnatural.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and no Pluto. It isn’t just a pain to retrain yourself to not say the ninth non-planet when reciting the planets in the solar system, not now we have to circulate all new text books through schools and universities.

This task will take a lot of money, dead trees, and time. It would’ve taken less energy to just keep Pluto as the ninth planet.

These are just some of the nuisances that have developed for the next generation. We had it easy. I am saddened to see kids these days go through their adolescence with a nice Oscar, a healthy Cookie Monster, and a Solar System lacking its ninth planet.