New Bob, new Dora, who really cares?

Is it possible that maybe we parents get a little bit over fixated with the television programs that our children watch? Maybe?

I have watched with interest the reaction of parents this week to the modernisation of two much loved television characters and it has made me smile. How dare they let Dora the Explorer grow up. What it the meaning of this new Bob the Builder?

Now come on people, I think we need to get a grip on reality here.

Poor old Dora has been seven now for over fourteen years. Fourteen years of singing pre-school songs and hiding from Swiper the fox is more than enough for any girl to take. Personally, I say she deserves to grow up a little.

As for good old reliable Bob the builder, he is a familiar character to any parent as he too has been fixing things for about the same time as Dora has been saying ‘hola’. My kids were never huge fans of Bob but in those early Cbeebies or bust days (constant Cbeebies just to survive the day) we would often watch it. But let’s face it, it probably is looking a bit tired and in need of a facelift now.

So why as parents do we get so upset by these changes? I am talking collectively here too as whilst I am agreeing that moving on with these programs is a good thing, I must confess to never quite recovering from Chris and Pui leaving Cbeebies as presenters without even saying goodbye. I suppose that these characters and their funny little stories become part of our everyday lives when our children are young and if your child becomes particularly keen on a character or program it really does impact daily, thanks to all of the merchandise that comes with it.

Do the children get upset by these changes? I don’t think that they do.  Things in children’s lives change as they grow and new television shows come and old ones go and they embrace that. My daughter did once ask me why some characters such as Peppa Pig, always wore the same clothes and played with the same toys.  I explained to her that as it was a cartoon, often characters did always wear the same clothes or maybe Peppa had a whole wardrobe of red dresses as she loved red so much.  My daughter wasn’t convinced.  But it did make me think about the ‘reality’ that a lot of these pre-school programs offer to our children, yes a lot of programs encourage using imagination and that is wonderful, but children do get wise and television programs have certainly raised some interesting questions in this house over the years.

In the case of Dora, my daughter is very excited about the new series.  She has grown up a lot this year and having started school she sees herself as a big girl and her program tastes have changed too.  Whilst she is still happy to watch the occasional pre-school offering, she is now looking at more ‘grown-up’ programs and when we have tried out a few new programs like Winx Club, I am actually quite relieved to see the new series of Dora. I realise that these programs are aimed at older girls but the colours and characters appeal to younger ones and some of the content really isn’t appropriate.   Hopefully, there will still be the educational side to the Dora and friends. without the pre-school element and I am pretty certain that Dora won’t be wearing skimpy clothes, arguing with her boyfriend or fighting with anyone.

Our Bob the Builder days are done but for those hardy fans, surely the new series will offer the Bob experience to a whole new generation of fans. Yes it looks different and there will be different characters and new voices, is that really so wrong?  I’m sure that old series will still be shown on a channel somewhere and thanks to the wonder that is YouTube, nothing disappears forever.  Nothing lasts forever and if a program’s popularity is waning; like anything else in life, the natural thing is to update it.  Thomas the Tank Engine has had several revamps over the years and different narrators and that is still really popular and if they were still showing the original Postman Pats I am sure very few people would still be watching.

I asked my children what they thought about it all and the general consensus was that it is a good idea to change and if it makes it better then why not.  I must admit that I agree with them.  Change is always good and if you don’t like it, you can always switch off.