My daughter loves Dora, too.
I figure its got a lot going for it. The lead character isn’t white (we are a multiracial household). No one blows up (a change from what my son enjoys), it can be interactive (my daughter yells out the ansers), I don’t feel like I need to sit with my kids to explain things to them.
My daughter (3) likes the Dora computer games as well.
(However, this thread has forced the backpack song into my brain in a most disturbing manner).
<Dora spanish moment> "Exactamundo!! </Dora spanish moment>
Well, tar 'n feather me, but I like Dora. Aside from the educational/multicultural benefits, I just think it’s a fun 'n friendly show. My son can’t go through a day without watching some form of Dora.
And Tico the Squirrel is the coolest character in the Doraverse – the guy knows everything, can do anything, and is never fazed by anything. I wanna be Tico. 
A friend of mine was offered the part of Dora for that show, but as I understand it, Disney nixed her because they wanted someone with a Hispanic-sounding name. So she was offered the understudy job, but she turned it down.
You know, my 5-year old son is bald thanks to a condition called Alopecia Areata and I’m sure he’d be pained to find he’s a “bald-headed freak”. One reason he likes Caillou is that he’s bald, just like him.
Grow up!
Wait - this is the pit…
Fuck you.
PS: I hear “Little Bill” is black, you might want to avoid that show.
Sorry, Belrix, I had no intention to offend. When you engage in irreverent humor, you’re liable to offend someone at some point, I guess.
Actually, my annoyance at the show doesn’t have anything to do with his baldness (although that’s his identifying trait), it’s just an annoying kid’s show, mainly. That and the narrator sounds like Diane Rehm on acid.
Geez, I hope somebody with no bottom teeth doen’t check in wanting a piece of me…
Seeing as we’ve got the same registration date, An Arky, I guess I should admit I overreacted. Same apology to you, Sue.
Sorry - just caught me wrong.
Hey, you two, none of that reason and understanding stuff, this is the Pit!
I’m a bald-headed freak, and I resent being compared to Caillou.
Oh yeah, this IS the pit.
Fuck you. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck. And felch. Yeah, felch.
C’mon, the show deals with everything under the sun about tolerance (they all do) but everyone else on the show has hair, big full heads of it! My daughter has asked me why he doesn’t have hair and I can’t explain because I don’t know, he just doesn’t.
Belrix, I know you’re sensitive because of your son’s baldness but don’t you think kids ask about stuff like this? If his is a condition that persists, you (and he) are going to have to get used to kids asking about it. Are you going to tell people to fuck off or are you going to educate them?
Anyway, I personally believe it’s a big ole ripoff of Charlie Brown, the original round-headed, bald kid.
Look! A shiny new topic!
And don’t even get me started on Oswald! What acid-dropping executive came up with THAT one? A talking octopus that lives on land and wear a little tiny bowler? Weenie? A talking, roller-skating flower? The eggs that can’t complete sentences? Have you noticed the shape of the houses? ::shakes head::
My daughter is currently really into Dragon Tales and The Fairly Oddparents. Thank gawd.
This is one of the reasons I love this Board. On any topic under the sun, there are people who understand what my life is like. Last week we took the kid to the dentist, and, I swear, my wife and I started chanting "Elevator, subway, DENTIST’S OFFICE! Elevator, subway, DENTIST’S OFFICE! Where are we going…"etc, etc. The biggest problem is, when Dora’s over, the kid goes up to the TV and tries to look for her.
Mine like Dora too. I’m okay with it.
Mayflower: I’m so glad we don’t get the Disney channel anymore. Out of the Box drove me freaking insane. Those people had some serious Joker carved-into-their-faces smiles. They frightened me! :eek:
Dora and Arthur get a lot of air time in my house, because they’re the ones I like best.
Dora is kind of cool, though the songs do tend to tget a little repetitive, as some have noted. Cough. Oh, oops… writing too many damn academic papers… starting to think like one! So, the songs are simple-- at least they have a tiny bity of character to them. They aren’t as sickly, syrupy, icky sweet like dragon tales. Retch!
Arthur is the kids’ version of the Simpsons: three kids of the right gender order, and actual funny stuff happens! The writers actually know that parents will be watching! Example: the quiz show contestants were Sammy Liston and Floyd Peterson. And if you don’t dig the Love ducks episode, you weren’t paying attention.
Be well advised. Dora is going to tour the US this year, and my wife is already signing us up to see it live. At least it’s not the wiggles. Fruit Salad, Yummy, Yummy.
I saw the beginning of “Hamtaro” today.
My kids went through a phase for pretty much each of the shows mentioned on here. My son, 5, still likes to sit and vege to “Bob the Builder”.
The channel they love the most, however, is Noggin. It’s got all the Nick Jr. and PBS stuff from just a few years ago… Maizy, and Play With Me Sesame Street and several others.
Whatever happened to Little Bear? I liked little bear. Very Pagan.
Little Bear is on Noggin several times a day.
My wife used to work for Gymboree, and Dora was one of their “featured” kids shows. She had to watch it and hear it pretty much constantly, and it got to the point that, if Dora came on the TV, she would scream, run across the house, and dive for the remote. Whenever I feel masochistic, I just start singing “I’m the map” and wait for the punches to fly! 
On a semi-related note, my little boy watched Dragontales, and while I was playing with him this week, I caught an episode I was fairly distrubed by. The little boy in the show got mad and was hitting people, and instead of teaching him that hitting was bad, they told him to “hit something else, instead of what he was mad at”. Since when is aggression transferance an acceptable behavior for kids?
Yeah, like I said, I overreacted.
We decided long ago not to conceal it - a lot of parents will reach for wigs & other hair prosthetics. It might be different if he was a girl but as a boy it looks reasonably OK. A lot of people ask soto voce if he’s got cancer. We tell them no, it’s a autoimmune disease & this is a symptom
He’s pretty OK with it. He’s grown up with us telling him that “everybody is different” and we’ve seen him describe it to other children with a dismissive shrug. At five, though, he’s starting to understand insults & I tend to leap between him and the insults at times.
What’s really odd is the complete strangers who feel compelled to touch his head. It happened in the grocery store once; the lady nearly pulled back a bloody stump.
-B
Ah, but you gotta love Henry, the penguin vocied by the recognizable Squiggy.
Well, I’ve got to learn how to keep my words from being in bold type.
Sorry.