I'm a cookie monster too...

the impression i got from Cookie MOnster was that he was lovable, but out of control. He couldn't control himself around cookies, and ate everyone else's cookies too! He always embarrassed himself, and left the place in a big mess of crumbs.
And as you can see, he's not exactly svelte. I wonder why!?
i think it's silly to change these things.

That's ridiculous, someone give that monster his cookies back.

I think it's ridiculous. The funny thing is that the cookie monster had been eating a ridiculous amount of cookies (and inanimate objects) since 1969...a whopping 38 years ago.

BOO! BAD, BAD idea. BOO!

No I do NOT think that this will lower the child obesity rate because I do not believe that obese children become obese on their own. I believe that they become obese because of a poor diet on the parents part you cant feed your child canned pasta and mini pizzas and pizza pockets and pop tarts every day of the week and expect them not to be obese. There are far more convenience foods and fast food places and things to bake fast, microwave, that are loaded with fat and calories that people think for some reason is okay to let their children have whenever they want to. Also food that is good for you is getting more expensive and many families can only afford things to feed their families just so that they arent hungry and cant really take the nutritional value into effect as often as they would like to. I think childhood obesity has to do with how the parents handle and raise their children and how they feed them. I do not believe that characters on television and santa claus should NOT have to get into exercising and not eating cookies. Cookie monster is a cookie monster and shouldnt have to say that cookies are a sometimes food and santa eats milk and cookies all the time hes suppossed to be pudgy i dont think we should have to have skinny santa claus'es and such its just plain riddiculous.

the cookie monster wasn't making kids fat thirty years ago, so why would he be making them fat now? all of these silly changes are just attempts to deflect the blame off of bad parenting. if parents don't keep tons of cookies in the house, kids can't eat tons of cookies.

Give Cookie Monster back his cookies...poor thing.

I'm in the minority here. Personally, I think it's a good idea. I think it makes these characters more relevant. JMHO.

This is so ridiculous. So ridiculous. Seriously? Way to take all the fun out of things, even though I would bet money that it doesn't help at all. And also, what is Cookie Monster supposed to eat? Poor guy.

He's a monster! He's not like children at all! He's there for comic relief, entertainment, and to teach kids about the letter C!

Would I be a bit too Chris Croker if I screamed "LEAVE COOKIE MONSTER ALONE!!!!!"???

I used to get the Sesame Street books as a child, and there was one where Cookie Monster went into binge mode at the supermarket and got a stomach ache and had to clean up his mess and pay for the eaten goods. It actually taught me a good lesson.

seriously parents need to stop relying on tv to raise their kids. its a cartoon!!! i watched sesame street and i didnt want to grow up to be a 6 foot tall pigeon.

ps didn't elmo always work out?

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKIE!

I just have to say that the phrase "a cookie is sometimes food" is hilarious. Actually made me laugh out loud.

I think that it is a sad day when the Cookie Monster can no longer be the cookie monster. Parents need to start taking responsibility, lets stop making our childhood friends like Santa and the Cookie Monster 'P.C.' in the place of using common sense.

I think this is so stupid and just another example of people trying to blame someone other than themselves and poor habits. Neither Santa nor cookie monster is making America fat.

I watched Sesame Street when I was a little kid and Cookie Monster never really made me crave cookies or anything. I always actually wondered how a puppet could eat cookies. I figured he never really ATE the cookies; he just crumbled them up and got crumbs everywhere.

What makes kids obese is not seeing Cookie Monster eating cookies, it's a lifestyle of playing too many video games and not playing outside/being physically active enough. Combine that with a diet of highly processed foods and too many sodas and juice and kids will get fat. When I was a kid, our parents let us play outside where we would ride our bikes, play hopscotch/jump rope, have races, climb trees, etc. And if it was raining, we'd rollerskate in the basement or something. We definitely had to be creative when we played because we didn't have video games or cable TV to keep us entertained.

This is just ridiculous! Does any child really see Cookie Monster as a role model? It's not even like Sesame Street portrays eating cookies as "cool", since Cookie Monster is a crazy looking puppet with an obvious addiction and not at all what kids want to be like when they grow up.

this effing ridiculous! When I see overweight kids I don't think " damn that cookie monster!!!" I think of their parents feeding them fried chicked and many other unhealthy foods.

TV characters should not be the ones educating our children about anything! point period, it is the parents JOB to teach their kids right from wrong.

If cookie monster tells ur kids to eat 45 cookies a day, its your JOB to make sure they dont and educate them why its bad for them!

Hey, I'd love my kids to grow up speaking spanish - but its not Dora the Explorer's JOB to do make sure that happens.

Thier your kids; YOU should raise them. Monsters and cartoon characters have nothing to do with it.

lmao @ Ashlyn! soo true...cookie monster does look a little crazy.

"C is for cookie, that's good enough for me"

It's good enough for me too. It's ridiculous trying to change cookie monstor and blame pupets for a lack of good parenting.

And the Santa thing, he's been fat for centuries. Why change it? Besides, it's discriminating against plump people. There are many reasons people are overweight and it frustrated me how blindly and harshly they are judged. It's getting so that it's almost like being racist or sexist. So sad.

This whole thing is so stupid. Kids don't blindly follow the diet of television monsters. They get their eating habits from their parents. I was a fat child because my parents are fat adults who let me eat whatever I wanted as a kid and didn't even bother to warn me that eating all that junk could make me fat. I was fat because my parents were stupid, not because cookie monster told me to eat cookies!

Yes, taking cookies away from a puppet on a TV show is surely the way to conquer childhood obesity. I mean, it's not like the junk food in the kids' house or the video games they play in lieu of exercise have anything to do with it. Nope...they get fat from watching a blue puppet eat cookies.

It has everything to do with the parents. I whined about wanting McDonalds just like any other kid--it doesn't mean I always got it. I wanted the sugary cereals, too, but my parents bought granola. I wanted white bread and pizza like all my friends, but it was wheat bread and things like grilled chicken and veggies in my house. Parents today need to grow a backbone and be parents. Part of being responsible means not always being popular with your kids. Making sure they eat nutrious food and get some form of exercise is crucial to their health, and you'd think it would be more of a priority.

P.S. I ADORED Cookie Monster as a kid. I even had a Cookie Monster doll. I was not obese, it never made me want to eat tons of cookies (and if it had, again, that's where PARENTING comes in), and I'm still not obese to this day.

Sesame Street is no substitue for good parenting. Parents need to step up and focus on their children and their health and quit blaming everyone else. There will always be outside influences contradicting what a parent has told their child - the foundation just has to be stronger than to be swayed by Sesame Street or Santa Clause. Lazy parents need to get off their duff and take some RESPONSIBILITY!

A better idea would be to give school lunches a makeover and quit classifying french fries as a vegetable (potato) and heavy syrup fruit cocktail (void of most nutrition) a fruit.

This is beyond stupid.

The talk about making Santa skinny frankly pisses me off. Imagine all the songs and poems we'd have to change referring to his bowl full of jelly.
And as people here have mentioned- it's not the people at Sesame Street who are feeding children, it's their parents. You can have the Broccoli monster sing about greens, but it doesn't mean the parents will feed them that, either. Give the puppet back his cookies.

Stupid! Just another way for people to blame their problems on someone/something else. I agree, give Cookie Monster his cookies back! And let Santa be fat and jolly, skinny Santa just doesn't work for me.

Oh Please!!! Give the kids a cookie once in a while... Just teach them healthy eating habits... and look at the Cookie Monster - is that a shape to strive for? Put him up as an example of overindulging in anything.

This is annoying to me. He's just a character! He's not supposed to be someone's parent. Parents are the ones who buy the cookies and give them out.

People seem to be overreacting more and more to every little thing!

This is funny because me & my friends were discussing this the other day. I grew up watching the cookie monster, and used to roll around laughing at his antics. Sure I was a little chunky growing up, but that was because I liked to read and wasn't big on going outside to play. People are just trying to become so PC that is life even fun anymore? I wish I was 8 years old again when life was so simple...

Cookies ARE a sometimes food though.

*sniff* I grew up watching sesame street, and never once was I tempted to devour cookies just because I saw it on tv. If we're going to start pointing fingers for childhood obesity, blame it on video games being more popular than playing outside with friends. Give the adorable monster his cookies back.

um, my three year old brother watches sesame street (or elmo, as he likes to call it.. and these are the old ones me and my sisters and brother used to watch) all the time, and he sings with the cookie monster, cookie, cookie, cookie, that's good enough for meee, and he never ever says I WANT A COOKIE!!! ever. he actually gets up and dances.

and seriously, how lame is "A cookie is a sometimes food."?

you might as well go ahead and give him celery sticks and carrots!

tlsgirl makes an excellent point: what is Cookie Monster supposed to eat if not cookies? Is he even capable of digesting other foods? Different animals are suppoesd to eat different foods. Cows eat grass, squirrels eat nuts, cookie monsters eat cookies. That's just a law of nature!

Kids can't eat cookies if the parents don't buy cookies. Cookie monster definitely never made me want to eat cookies. I was even C Monster for Halloween once!

My mom always prepared meals - always including vegetables, even if she had to mix them into the spaghetti - and would scold my dad if he brought home fast food too often. Parents are what cause obesity in kids. Your kid might eat out with friends or at school, but the majority of meals they are still eating at home.