Have my posts been TV-related lately?

As you know, we consider the TV our friend (particularly on days when I lose sleep because of one daughter or the other).  In any case it’s summer and while I still try to find things for us to do in and out of the house, Sam likes to ask for her shows when we’re at home.  It’s also not easy to have both girls out of the house all the time, so I find that I concede to one show or the other — just to catch a break.

In any case, Sam has learned to flip through our Netflix application on the iPhone and look for her shows.  My guess is that she was searching for a Barney episode but somehow stumbled upon Dora and decided to watch that instead.  Ever since then, I wake up to the opening credits of Dora on my iPhone (Sam generally wakes up before I do and can spell Dora on her own, so she gets the phone and types it in herself — I suppose that’s the “trouble” with teaching them to read at such a young age!)

Now up until then I hadn’t been a Dora fan.  No particular reason, I just never grew up with Dora so I didn’t know what it was about or what it taught kids, other than some spanish words.  Plus, I wasn’t too fond of the merchandise – some Dora dolls look scary!

Of course after educating myself on Dora and her friends, I felt better about Sam watching her over Barney (And we all know how I feel about Barney).  They don’t sing as much, but she is learning about sequencing events and problem-solving through Dora’s adventures.  It’s amusing to hear her interact with Dora or Boots when they ask the audience a question.  She answers immediately!

Dora as well speaks a little Spanish on the show, and Sam is picking up some words and phrases which we use around the house. It’s always good to learn a foreign language, is what I always say!

In conclusion, Dora is alright in my book.  Rather, on my TV.

Other shows we let her watch (Aside from the Disney movies and musicals):

• Sesame Street
• SuperWHY!
• Dinosaur Train