Search - Arthur Goes To The Doctor on DVD

I could recite all the words if you asked...

Brekkie | 05/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We came across Arthur quite by accident. I bought my then 2 year-old son some lift-the-flap books that featured the curious Aardvark. He absolutely loved the books so I decided to seek him out on PBS. I have to say that the show is quite enjoyable both for kids and adults alike. We purchased the video to use in our car's entertainment system.There are three episodes on the tape that deal with health in some way. The tape starts by giving kids an animated and fun overview of the internal parts of the body. In the first episode you follow Arthur in his adventure as he cuts his knee while going to the dump-a big no-no according to his parents. He attempts to deal with it on his own until his friends convince him that he'd better tell mom or else he could get an infection! Episode 2 finds Buster dealing with the fact that he has asthma. His friends aren't quite sure what to make of it as they don't really understand what asthma is. Francine worries that she could catch it while Binky thinks that Buster is just trying to get out of class (sounds good to him!) when he goes to the nurse's office. After missing an appointment with the school nurse Buster learns the hard way that not taking your medicine could possibly hurt you. He uses a class project as an opportunity to educate his friends about asthma and everyone learns that asthma isn't so scary after all.The 3rd episode finds the kids dealing with a terrible case of lice going through school. They learn that catching lice doesn't mean that you're a dirty person and that although it's not fun you can get rid of it and there are things you can do to avoid spreading it. A cute tale about how lice can take over the school and how being out of school can be not so fun after all.A great buy. We own two tapes and I plan on expanding the Arthur selections. It's not an annoying thing to listen to when you're taking the kids about town (or, folding laundry and doing whatnot when home)."

A Great Video -- a review of "Arthur Goes to the Doctor"

Pam Tee | 02/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The other reviewer is right, this is a very good tape with 3 different Arthur episodes all of which deal with health issues. (I have a kindergartener and preschooler who I am trying to teach not to share personal items so it was of particular interest to us.)

In the first episode, Arthur cuts his knee on an old lima bean can **at the dump!** The dump is a place he and DW know they are not supposed to go, and because of this, Arthur is afraid to tell his mom and dad about his injury.

This leaves DW with a dilemma because she wants to help her brother by getting him medical attention but she doesn't want to be a tattletale. Sitting on the swing, she comes to the conclusion (which as a mom I love) that this is `one of those cases' when it is more important to tell than to keep a promise! DW ends up not having to tell though when she and Brain convince Arthur that he really needs to `tell on himself'.

It is a clever story because it really covers two subjects at the same time. First, how kids really ought to listen to their parents, second, how sometimes tattling is the `right' thing to do.

In the second episode, DW has an unhappy run-in with poison ivy. Covered with calamine and looking rather splotchy, she dons a hockey mask and oven mitts and a persona named Otis to keep people from knowing what happened to her. (DW is convinced that everyone that sees her will run away.)

But the poison ivy is not what the story is about. It's actually about asthma, and DW's woes are only the segway into Buster's own experiences with asthma.

It is while playing with dusty magazines that Buster discovers that he has asthma. The solution to this seems easy. Take your inhalers and go on. The only problem is that Buster's friends have trouble understanding what asthma is. In one case, Francine runs away from Buster because she suspects that asthma is contagious.

The problem is resolved when Buster does his class report on why he sometimes has difficulty breathing. I particularly like that they use this as an opportunity to take a `Magic School Bus' type trip into Buster's airways.

The story ends with DW taking Buster's advice. She tries to educate people about her poison ivy plasters, calamine lotion, etc.

This episode is followed by a segment with real people discussing what it is like to live with asthma.

The final story is about lice. It's pretty cute despite being about a yucky subject. Part of the cuteness stems from the fact that they show the `nit invasion' as a military mission carried out by talking lice in uniform.

It's nice that Muffy (the rich kid) gets the lice first. I think this will help with any old-fashioned thinking. Lice are soon spreading around the school and are only licked when proper precautions and procedures are followed.

Five stars. Good stories about common health issues. I'm using all of the stories to teach my children about lice and cuts and scrapes, and telling the truth! (Especially important as you know how little girls are with sharing clothing.)"