Give Dora a break

One thing that has always bugged me is how cartoon 'children' never seem to grow up. The Peanuts gang is older than I am and are still as young as my children. Cailloo--oh, how annoying he is--maintains his preschool personna. Baby Smurf is still a baby and there was even a move to create baby Looney Tunes characters (why?). Huey, Dewey and Louie are still the precocious nephews of Donald Duck.

The only ones who seemed to have escaped until now were Pebbles and Bam Bam--although, on a more serious tip, their parents have been wearing the same clothes ad nauseum.

So, what is the deal with Dora?

There is just a silhouette...no real sketches...and people are decrying her. Please, give it a rest. Dora will be ten this fall, almost eleven. Is she destined to swing from the trees in her shorts forever? Her mother even had twins (to my dismay? surprise?) so why can't she grow up?

This is part and parcel the problem that plagues child stars. They can't seem to shake the thing that made them a household name. Every now and then, if their parents are cooperative and the child is centered, one will escape and grow up. Like Rudy, Tootie, or Fresh Prince, or Raven. Still many more 'die' into that childlike personna.

But don't let your fifteen year old sit around in a diaper and bang a bat on the ground screaming, "bam! bam! bam! bam!"

Now, if Dora comes out with cleavage, splits, and meets boys behind buildings, then, then, we can stone her character. Until then, go march for something else, something more useful.

March is literacy month...go read a book.