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For the first time on Sesame Street, "D" is for Divorce.

Two decades after the show鈥檚 producers created and then scrapped a segment about Snuffy鈥檚 parents splitting up, we learned on the Sesame Street website yesterday that Abby Cadabby, that bubbly pink fairy-in-training, has not one but two houses 鈥� one where she lives with her mommy, and one where she stays with her daddy.

She explains the situation to a bewildered Elmo and Rosalita. Abby鈥檚 friend Birdie 鈥� whose parents, we learn, are also divorced 鈥� also swoops down from a nearby fire escape to join in. (And to help start off the peppy and confident song that has the refrain: 鈥淭hey live in different places but they both love me.鈥� Which, I have to admit, is pretty darn catchy. Nothing like humming that one over coffee to get some strange looks from Husband.)

Anyhow, Abby鈥檚 situation is part of the Sesame Street multimedia package, 鈥淟ittle Children, Big Challenges,鈥� which was created to tackle everything from bedtime blues to bullying, from making new friends to having a parent incarcerated.聽 This particular project is to give 鈥渕uch-needed resources鈥� for divorcing families with young children, aged 2 to 8, the show says.

鈥淓ach year about 1.5 million children confront the divorce of their parents, a transition that can be challenging for the entire family, especially young children,鈥� said a press release put out by the Sesame Street Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the show. 鈥淲hile 40 percent of families experiencing this, there are few resources to show children they are not the only ones with big questions and feelings about divorce.鈥�

Which kind of makes one wonder 鈥� has Sesame Street avoided this topic for 40 years? "R" is for ... Really? After all, this is the kids show that has tackled everything from race, adoption, and pregnancy to death and natural disasters.

(After Hurricane Sandy, producers re-edited a series from the early 2000s that showed Big Bird coping with a storm that had destroyed his nest and damaged his neighborhood.)聽

Well, as it turns out, the show鈥檚 producers did try to put together a segment on divorce in 1992. It just didn鈥檛 work.

In an article earlier this week, Time magazine and Tumblr Storyboard tell how, after a US Census report showed that nearly 40 percent of the country鈥檚 children would soon live in divorced homes, Sesame Street鈥檚 best writers, researchers and producers got together to design a script where Snuffy 鈥� aka Mr. Snuffleupagus 鈥� confides to Big Bird that his dad is moving out of his family鈥檚 cave.聽

The creators took the normal Sesame Street approach: Gordon explained why divorce happens, everyone assures Snuffy (and viewers) that his parents still love him very much, the characters talk and sing about how Snuffy will have good homes, and so on and so on.

But when producers tested the segment on a group of preschoolers, it bombed.

The kids were in tears. They thought nobody loved Snuffy. They worried their own parents were going to get divorced.

鈥淚t was really the first time we鈥檇 produced something, put all this money into it, tested it, and it just didn鈥檛 work,鈥� Tumblr Storyboard quoted Sesame Street researcher Susan Scheiner as saying.

And so the show avoided the concept 鈥� until this week.

(Now, maybe I'm just a kid of the '80s, a member of what has been called the divorce generation. But isn't this ... I don't know ... amazing? Even even now, Sesame Street divorce won鈥檛 come into parent's living room unexpectedly. It is only online, available for interested parents, avoidable for the rest.)

The segments are varied, from Abby and Birdie鈥檚 peppy song to tougher scenes such as when Abby cries to Gordon that she鈥檚 worried it鈥檚 her fault her parents are getting a divorce, or when she has her magic crayons draw for her friends the story of how her parents told her they were splitting.

Along with the videos, the website has tips for parents, extended family members, links to webinars and a mobile app called 鈥淪esame Street: Divorce.鈥�

"With the frequency of children experiencing divorce and or separation today, it is critical to help children understand that the feelings or questions they may have are typical and should be discussed with a parent or caregiver," said Jeanette Betancourt, senior vice president for outreach and educational practices at Sesame Workshop, in the release.聽 鈥淭hese strategies will help children cope with changes as well as support them in understanding they are not alone.鈥�