The "Dora" Approach

Do any of you have a child who loves to watch Dora?  I do!  My 5 year old daughter loves Dora and would watch it for hours at a time if I let her.
This morning she was watching a few episodes of Dora when my 8 year old son entered the room.  Now, Dora is not high on the list of shows that my son would consider watching.  So, he started questioning everything that happened on Dora and pestering his sister about all the non-sense he thought he saw on the show.  The main argument that my son presented was that it was completely unnecessary for the map to lay out the path for them and repeat the steps necessary to take over and over again.
At this point I started to try to explain to my eight year old that breaking things down step by step was very important for younger children.  I also tried to reason with him that repetition is a great way to remember things (even for someone his age!).
My son finally let it drop, but I continued to think about the approach used in Dora to help teach kids how to break down a task and get it done.  And, do you know what?  I use this approach all the time!  I just never had a name for it until now!
You see, my other son, who is seven, has a really hard time taking a job and breaking it down into steps to get the job done.  So, I often come into the room with him and help him break it down into steps.   Then, we go over the steps a couple of times to  make sure that he will remember them.  For example:  his jurisdiction (area that he is responsible for throughout the day) this week is the Bathroom.  When he walks into the bathroom all he sees is an overwhelming disaster area and he doesn't know where to begin.  So, I come in and show him various categories (dirty laundry, toothbrushes and hair brushes, floor).  Then, we go over these steps a couple of times (just like Map): dirty laundry, toothbrushes, sweep floor!  Dirty laundry, toothbrushes, sweep floor!  (can you hear the little sing-song chant?)
So, the next time I use "The Dora Approach" I think I will bring my eight year old in to see that Dora really is useful! Do you think he'll be convinced?