On a recent vacation to New York City, I noticed something while watching the little mini TV in the back of the cab. It seems my once-beloved cartoon character Dora the Explorer looks way different now in her new series, "Dora and Friends." The Dora on current episodes of the show is a little older and is much taller, slimmer, with huge eyes and long luxurious hair. Basically, Dora has become hot.

Now, Dora was always cute. She was spunky and smart, and I’m sure current Dora is too. What unsettles me is why the show creators felt the need to make little Dora look like a glamorous movie-star child. Dora was way more realistic before for her age, and now this new hot Dora creates another example of young girls having unrealistic expectations set for them.

Dora is a role model for young girls, and the "Dora the Explorer" franchise is extremely popular among kids. Barbies have been criticized for years for being all tall, skinny girls with impossible proportions giving the millions of girls that play with them the feeling that they should look that way. These TV characters and toys inadvertently teach our young girls that this tall, slim figure is the way they are supposed to look.

I am especially concerned about the impact hot Dora could have on the youth considering the show changed a perfectly normal child into what looks like an animated supermodel. I understand that Dora has aged and might need an updated look, but her new look looks like what girls have been taught is the standard of beauty.

Girls across the country struggle with self-confidence issues, and things like this matter. Why can’t Dora the Explorer be a role model for girls that might have a little extra body fat or a lazy eye or a facial mole or anything that girls every day feel self-conscious about? Having a famous character like Dora express any of the things girls have been taught is a physical flaw could really change the way girls feel about themselves.

I know "Dora the Explorer" is aimed at kids who are toddlers or in elementary school, but girls take note of what the characters of their favorite movies, games, or TV shows look like, and from an early age they aspire to be like them, too. Making Dora hot does nothing but reinforce the idea that being cute means being skinny.

I challenge Nickelodeon or any kids' TV network to create and promote a character that represents what a normal girl of that age looks like. It is time that the business of kids' entertainment show kids that there is not only one way to be beautiful.