"Si, se puede!"

"Si, se puede!" or "Yes, I can!" is the tagline of Dora the Explorer whenever she is in the midst of a new adventure. Children all over the world have been captured by the popular cartoon and her team of sidekicks through the use of catchy songs and cheery characters. Behind all the merriment in every episode lies a different educational lesson. Some of these lessons include learning a new language, overcoming obstacles and building strong friendships. Dora achieves every goal through self motivation. This is one of the most important lessons children can get from this show. Dora demonstrates her motivation in every episode when she is embarking on an adventure to find a friend or to get to a distant location. Unfortunately for Dora (but good for me in making my point in this post), she has to overcome many obstacles before finally reaching her destination. Most of Dora’s motivation come from external motives such as seeing her friends or reaching a new location. A psychological variable that contributes to her motives is her need for belonging. She goes through what she needs to do in order fulfill a social need. Another motive that could be argued is sheer curiosity. Often times people will justify a situation by saying they were overcome by their own curiosity. Whatever Dora’s motives may be that drive her to new daily adventures, they are all driven by incentives. She knows that if she prevails in her quest, she will be rewarded in some way, shape or form. Sometimes that reward is finding a friend or finally finding the location she’s been searching for.


In the end, Dora teaches children that they have two choices when it comes to solving problem s and reaching your goals: you either have self motivation and push towards the end or you give up and miss a hell of an adventure!

(Image from Google.com)