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I personally avoid Dora & Diego as much as I can. After having to live with kids who were addicted to the shows and seeing just how shallow the shows are I can't stand anything of that sort anymore. At first I appreciated how the show attempted to draw the kids into playing along with the show by making them stand up, jump, stretch and speak words along with the show but I've rarely seen kids actually do any of those things when watching it. I also came to resent Dora always asking what the childs favorite part was then saying "That was my favorite part too!". And don't get me started on the musical spots in the newer episodes that feel heavily tacked on and devoid of any real musical ability.

Personally, the kids show that stands out to me the most is The Backyardigans. While it follows the same basic script guidelines every time those guidelines leave amazing flexibility for the scripts to be different instead of just cookie cutouts of each other. The characters are very likable even though each has their own personality issues though they even take the time to fit those into the episodes as well. Certainly get me started on the music of the show as well. After having a single DVD episode on in the background one day I spent the next two days singing the music from it. They deal with various musical themes in each show and the characters are always dancing along the music. I even have my favorite episodes of the show, some for the fact that they are fun stories but mainly because I adore the music. It's so rare to see a kids show that actually deals with harmonies and various layers of music instead of things just being flat and dull. I'd suggest checking out "We are the Do-Gooders" from the "Special Delivery" song as it is by far my favorite of all the songs.

Most importantly while Dora tries to entice kids by making it seem she needs the kids help (and trust me, the kids find out fast she does not) the stuff that the Backyardigans get up to seems to be more fun, which gets kids going along with it. I've watched the same couch potato kids who won't move an inch during Dora sing and dance along with the Backyardigans. The show also normally has a lot more depth to what is going on than the standard shallow kid show which not only makes it tolerable for adults but also keeps the kids from getting bored later on.

About my only complaint is that they made a series of books that end up looking terribly shallow compared to the episodes themselves making me not want to bother to read them to my son. I'll just stick with reading Discworld & Dr Seuss for now.

I've got a desktop in the basement with just a vga cable, usb cable and audio coming up through the floor. This way he (and, more importantly, his 2 year-old brother) can't damage the CD drive, etc. Tray-loading drives are immensely popular with the "break things" set.

He spends the vast majority of his computer time in Chrome, at:

Starfall (by far my personal favorite, if you've got a toddler around, spend some quality Starfall time with them)
PBS Kids
Playhouse Disney
Nick Jr.

We also have 2-3 Dora games installed, as well as a Cool School keyboard, which came with some very cool games. Amazon carries them, and eBay has quite a few for cheap.

He loves Photobooth on my macbook, so I found Snap, and set up a webcam for him to make crazy pictures of himself and his brother.

Also, I would make sure that there's an easy-to-find shortcut to good ol' Paint. He loves playing with it, and it's one of the more creative things he can do, rather than just doing what a game or a website tells him to.

I think my favorite thing about asking parenting questions on the internet is the number of "holier than thou" answers you'll get in response. Actually, scratch that - if you ask a straightforward, scope-limited parenting question specific to your needs and situation anywhere in the world and you'll get an answer that basically boils down to "you're doing it wrong." It's all part of the experience, so I've learned to chuckle at the cognitive disconnect that comes from asking about the right age to introduce popcorn and getting a lecture on the best way to wring out dirty rags in return.

Anyway, to actually answer your question, I believe you're looking for this:
    http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Keyboard-Mouse-Pad-Bundle/dp/B001KVNRXU

As for software, I've found that creating a password-protected guest account on the machine with a limited number of pre-screened options to be best. Individual hyperlinks to YouTube videos on subjects your child enjoys (for us, it's Pocoyo videos, parrots, and babies laughing) on the desktop largely do the trick, along with links to kid-friendly sites ( http://pbskids.org/ , http://www.nickjr.com/kids-games/ being two examples, depending on your tolerance for advertising ). Others have mentioned games like minesweeper, solitaire (even if they don't grasp the actual game itself), or even Portal. These are all good choices. I'm sure you'll know of some more options based on what your child enjoys.

Best of luck!

I would be interested in the same thing. My daughter is 9 months right now, but I don't want her touching my computer. I got my nephew a "my first laptop" kind of thing from the store and it has word puzzles and things, but he's also 6 and knows letters and words pretty well. What I'm going to do for my daughter is probably get her a cheap laptop and let her have at it. Online they have some pretty good games too for kids. I think one of them is Nick Jr. With just a mouse, they can interface with many games, which is doable for an 18 month old I would assume. Maybe online is your answer. http://www.nickjr.com/kids-games/

Can we get link-speak added to that Lake Superior State University list of things that must die? The links you assigned to all the words there had no special meaning to any particular word. Particularly with Slashdot's little citing engine throwing block quotes behind every one, it just makes it terribly annoying to read. Why not keep things legible and list links in an orderly fashion:

Nickalodeon
The Daily Show
South Park
MTV
TV Land

See, it's not hard.

Stealing? Who's talking about stealing?

Viacom puts many of their shows online.

I'm guessing you don't have kids.

Geeze, Sumdumass is putting the spanking on Karkconnors and the best you can come up with is an attack on a moniker.

Go troll somewhere else you idiot. When you grow up you will realize that it is "what is said", not who said it. If you can't get past a name, you aren't qualified enough to be on this site. You should go back to the nick for kids pages where you belong.

http://www.nickjr.com/
Dora the Explorer series.

Thanks for the info. My son and daughter (5 & 2) like to play flash/shockwave games on:

http://www.noggin.com/

http://www.nickjr.com/

http://pbskids.org/

I have an Xbox and wish there were more kids games for it. I will be buying a Wii next.

Lazy Town is great and it proves that those Icelanders can produce stuff better than most of the stuff that comes out of the states.

Wonder Pets has catchier tunes that never leave you and a cute animation style.

http://www.nickjr.com/parenting/parents_tv/index.j html?videoid=48388 (IE Only - not my fault)

http://www.nickjr.com/

http://disney.go.com/disneychannel/playhouse/mmch/

> If, as you admit, there is no reasonable way for a website to enforce minimum-age restrictions, then the law is unjust and should not be upheld.

This isn't about kids lying and saying they are 18 to view porn. This is kids saying their true age (or never being asked), and some company ignoring privacy and marketing and rules that limit how they can track and market to young children.

Go to http://www.budweiser.com/default.asp -- The first question you're asked is your birthday. If you're not 21 they send you a site for Anheuser-Busch theme parks instead of one about the beer.

Go to http://www.nickjr.com/ -- A popup will (try to) appear for a survey -- If you say you're under 13, the survey ends and the popup closes.

I have never known a Ph.D. that did not have a particular axe to grind. Dr. Thompson would seem to be anti-computer games (entirely, not just the violent ones).

From TFA: it is important to keep in mind is that games rated E are played by children as young as 2 and 3 years old, and the developmental psychology literature indicates that young children do not have the developmental capacity to distinguish reality from fantasy until approximately age 6 or 7

I have a five-year-old little girl. She does watch television (mostly childrens' television but also a certain amount of "Boomerang" with their "horribly violent" Tom & Jerry cartoons. She has never played one video game. Never.

Perhaps it's because I'm old, ancient, decrepit, almost a complete fossil that she has no access to video games. I must be a totally mean and nasty daddy, according to Dr. Thompson. Here I have been consciously, deliberately and with evil intent parenting my daughter in such a way so as to limit her experiences with things like television, video games and other forms of childhood entertainment. Gawd, I must be completely horrid!!

But I think not.

There is one program that my little girl watches called "Dora The Explorer." She likes that show because there is a problem to solve and a map to follow. There's also the odd Spanish word and I want her to know that there are languages other than English that she can learn. Dora also exists on-line as a video game and for sale on Nickelodeon Jr.'s website (Please note, this site will cause popups on some browsers). The television show has many video game aspects to it, complete with mouse cursors and highlit objects when chosen. My daughter has seen me and her mother on the computer but we're both waiting for her to read before we even think about exposing her to the on-line stuff for children available on the Internet.

And even then, we don't plan to expose her to video games until she is past what Dr. Thompson considers an age where she can determine fantasy from reality (though at age 5, she does know the difference).

Perhaps there is a fantasy that Dr. Thompson has that needs exploring -- mainly: if there is a video game out there, all children of all ages will be playing it all of the time. As a parent, I'm happy to disabuse the good Doctor of her fantasy.

My little girl needs to have a solid grounding in the kinds of things she can do not-on-line, like coloring, learning to read, learning to write, playing at the park, learning to swim, drawing, playing with stuffed animals and dolls and using her imagination. She'll have plenty of years for those things her horrid daddy is neglecting to expose her to.

So I suppose I would tend to have the same bias as the Doctor. My daughter doesn't do video games. But the reason why she doesn't do them is not due to some game rating system but, rather, to my parenting (or my being a total meanie who just doesn't understand the need for children to be constantly fiddling with a mouse or joystick instead of getting enough exercise to build muscles). Dr. Thompson is inherently ignoring the ability of parents to "just say no," when it comes to things that won't assist in the development of their children.

Perhaps I'm totally out of touch with the needs of children these days. But I think my daughter will not be stunted in any way in her growth.

Why did Barney the Dinosaur become so huge? Marketing. Do you think a parent who cares about their child would subject their child to the mind numbing antics of a purple dinosaur? Do parents who subject their children to Barney even watch and see what they are showing their children?

The funny thing is, I felt the same way as you, until... I saw "The Wiggles". I have 5 kids (youngest is 2 years old), so I have seen just about every kids show out there. The new crop is downright disturbing. It has left be BEGGING for Barney. While Barney is a little creepy, the content of the show is relevant and pragmatic for the target age group.

In contrast, shows like The Wiggles, Boohbah, and LazyTown demonstrate bizarre, atypical behavior. As a parent, I don't feel comfortable letting my 2 year old watch these shows. They are stupid, disturbing, and vapid of any educational value. It has given me a much better appreciation for Barney.

If they can buy a small player and Card that has 4 Spongebob episodes on it, they'll do it. Even if they already have the DVD.

Actually, Nintendo sells exactly that.

http://shop.nickjr.com/product/index.jsp?productId =1800818

" Educating kids with bedtime tv is evil."
You ever try educating a kid a bedtime? ;)

Nothing educational about the TV; this is more of a give-and-take thing. You have to reward a little... not too much, as we know children need boundaries... but is this really a battle that is worth fighting, and is the outcome really that evil? I've got a wonderful child, and if he has been good there's no reason not to reward him with a movie request now and then. Too bad he hasn't seen many and therefore only knows for sure that he likes Nemo.

My son is learning both from us and by using a computer at places like http://pbskids.com/, http://noggin.com/, and http://nickjr.com/. Sure there are some good kid TV shows on during the day and you can grab a quick shower while he is watching Dora, but TV is for the most part entertainment, and the adults and computers get to educate throught interaction.

Now I am with you somewhat - if I lived alone I may not even have a TV, but I don't live alone, and the TV is on at least half the time during the day. Anyone have any constructive suggestions for limiting TV time for youngsters in a house where that's an unpopular option?

Oh, and to get back on topic: the VCR is dead because, back in the day, we had 4 broadcast TV channels and it was more important to capture what little content we liked. Now we get 150 channels of crap on the satellite and there is almost always something on that can be entertaining, so no need for a VCR to bring the content-level of the TV more in line with our liking.

Ok, so my kid watches Noggin every day from the minute he wakes up until 6 when it becomes "the n" and starts showing lame teen-oriented shows.

But there's one show I love... Dora the Explorer. I admit, I'm in love with Dora. She's so cute and funny. I like how she's plump without being fat. I love her big eyes and her flawless, tan skin.

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not a pediphile or anything. I don't jerk to kiddy porn or stalk little girls. I only like Dora. She's so awesome... And I only like her animated. Jesus, the actress that plays her in the live show is ugly. Christ. Enough to make me gouge out my eyes.

I tried googling for Dora porn, but didn't get anywhere. :-(

Think maybe some /. Geek with mad Flash skillz could slap together a Dora episode where she and Boots get kidnapped by a mexican kiddie porn ring and she's forced to fuck boots in front of a web cam? I'd have Boots pull down her little orange shorts and then pull her thong to the side as he fucks her doggy (monkey?) style (she should be wearing a yellow lacey thong to match her socks.) Make sure Boots has a really huge monkey cock and have Dora screem "Si! Si! Si! Boots' Monkey Cock es muy bueno y mucho grande!" Maybe for fun Boots could finish off in her ass and then give her a Dirty Sanchez. Then, when they're finished fucking, they can sing the "We did it" song! Name the episode 'Dora la Puta.'

Yeah... That would be cool. Anyone willing to help me out here?

Thanks,
++ The NEW /. Troll ++
++ Slicker & Sicker ++

re Clue(TM)

Speaking of clues, maybe we should put some blue paw prints around so the RIAA can figure out what the music consuming public is thinking.

My 5-year-old daughter would be very upset if the Flash games on the Nick Junior site disappeared. They all run fine with Mozilla and GNU/Linux.

... or does this picture of original Bob on nickjr.com look like a storyboard for a pr0n video?

I would describe it as "they studied", not that "they feared".

When Apple conducted experiments in the late '70s or early '80s, multibutton mice were faster for experienced users, but increased the errors and confusion of inexperenced users. I'm not sure if studies done today would give similar results. The mouse is so commonplace that television comercials for Hewlett Packard use the hypercard's "index finger" mouse pointer to show selection, and children's cartoons like Dora the Explorer emulate the mouse selection metaphor.

There's also http://www.disney.com and http://www.nickjr.com.

I have nieces who are 6 and 8, I'll see what they like to go to.

I don't know much about Disney.com's Toon Town, but my little siblings are on that frequently.

I also agree that Nick Jr, or Nick/Nickelodeon is popular too for the pre/low-teen crowd.

Friends of ours have a 5 and an 8 year old. I know that the 8 year old is at barbie.com alot, as the article mentions, but the 5 year old likes Nick Jr.

Yeah Mr. Wizard did the dust explosion trick way back in the day (episode 16).

Many different substances can be explosive given the right amount of oxygen surrounding the flammable particles. It's a fairly common trick that middle school science teachers do to wake up their students. :)

Accessibility is not just for the blind. A Web site builder needs to think about if someone like Stephen Hawkings or Christopher Reeves could navigate the site as well, without just "tabbing" through every link. Also Web standards does not equal accessibility either.

A good example of an accessible site is the one for the School for the Blind.

I don't think Flash should go away, but designers need to decide when is an appropriate time to use it. Games sites like NickJr.com and PBS Kids make good use of Flash and shockwave(I have kids). But band sites and company sites that are all in Flash do little but get real annoying fast and alienate those who can't use the site.

Wired just recently did a complete redesign of their site to follow Web standards and use XHTML and CSS. More info is here.

I agree with you on many of those counts, but the issue is still you or me.

I don't have driver problems all the time, and I don't get error messages when I install my games. I too, like to play games sometimes for only 5 or 10 minutes, so I play:

Quake 3 Arena

CounterStrike

Ghost Recon

And for the kids we like:

Nick Jr.

PBS

Now I can image when my son outgrows those sites, he might be ready for a console. No one has really made that point here- they all cite drivers issues, error messages, etc. But my point is that many people may be buying into marketing and thinking they somehow need a console.

It's nice to see E still moving along. The more Desktop/WM's we have the better off we'll be. One of the things that seems to be lost in the ranting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H discussions about "The Linux Desktop" is that with all the different GUI options available we can make Linux look like anything we want and thus it will fit into any environment. If you need it to look like WinXX, CDE, Mac or Bob The Builder's desktop it can.