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Lingering questions I have about Daniel Tiger

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I choose what my son watches based on whether or not I like it.

So far, Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street are the only two TV shows that have made the cut. Daniel Tiger is great; it is a show chock full of great lessons in compassion, consideration, friendship, and patience. It got me through the first thirteen weeks of my second pregnancy. It continues to get me through a morning shower. I am forever indebted to Daniel Tiger for these reasons.

I hate to say it, but there are some loose ends to tie up in regards to the show that I value so much.

In fact, I have at least 20 lingering questions looming after watching nearly every episode…Ok: every episode of Daniel Tiger.

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  1. Why does Daniel Tiger wear pants to bed, and only wears a sweater around town? Why does he need pants in bed and not in public?
  2. On that note, why does Mom Tiger wear a scrub shirt and pants, and her husband and son only wear a sweater?
  3. Margaret Tiger always has her bum covered as well. Will she go pant-less when she is toilet trained?
  4. Do Lady Elaine, Music Man Stan, and Miss Elena every get sick living in the museum-go-round?
  5. Why, oh WHY does Henrietta Pussycat sound so strung out? ALL. THE. TIME.
  6. Why does every sentence that Henrietta and Katarina speak end with ‘meow meow?” Daniel doesn’t roar unless he needs something, so why do they have to remind us they are cats ALL THE TIME?
  7. Why isn’t Prince Wednesday homeschooled? Shouldn’t he have a security detail?
  8. Why can’t teacher Harriet and Doctor Anna have husbands? Or Mr. McFeely and Baker Aker have wives?
  9. What happened to O’s parents? Why does he live with his Uncle X?
  10. Are Uncle X and Henrietta Pussycat an item? Or is the treehouse supposed to be more like an apartment complex? Also, why do Uncle X and Henrietta Pussycat have to pick up their kids (or guardians)? Can’t they just send them out the door?
  11. Where does Baker Aiker live? What about Doctor Anna? Or even teacher Harriet? Mr. McFeely? Are we protecting their residences, or do they just live in their places of employment?
  12. Why does Prince Tuesday have so many jobs around the neighborhood? He’s a prince, right? Wasn’t he born into money?
  13. Who are Prince Tuesday’s friends?
  14. What exactly does King Friday do as a King other than boss everyone around?
  15. Is Mom Tiger a stay-at-home mom? What about Henrietta Pussycat? How can Henrietta pay rent if she doesn’t work or have a husband who works?
  16. Why does O the owl wear shoes? And why is he up during the day?
  17. Why does the tiger family always eat vegetable soup? They’re tigers, for pity’s sake. Give that family some protein.
  18. Is Miss Elena’s first name “Miss?”
  19. Why doesn’t the class pet walk and talk like the other animal students? I think Snowball probably has a lot to say.
  20. Why is trolley always at the Tiger family home? I’m sure the other residents in the town of make believe have places to be as well.

I suppose my next question is–why do I care to have all twenty of these questions resolved so much??

Comments

  1. We love Daniel Tiger in our house too – your list of questions cracks me up. I often wonder why Daniel Tiger doesn’t wear pants. And why the cat girl is always saying meow meow. So weird!

    But better than Mickey Mouse any day – those high pitched voices can only be tolerated for so long!

  2. yes. All these.
    And please… Why is the tag on Miss Elena’s shirt always out? Is it just to show that her blouse is backwards? What for cripes sake does the tag say?!?

      • So did I. It doesn’t make any sense why we see her tag on the front of her shirt. Or why she always calls Daniel toots…

        • Hello.. if you read the original mr. Rogers Neighborhood bio Miss Elaina in that always called people toots… just carried it on to these characters

  3. Ha!!! I love that I’m not the only person who questions these details! Googling why O lives with his Uncle is what brought me to this post, and the other day I was trying to figure out why Miss Elena had a tag on her collar. 🙂 At least Daniel Tiger is causing us to use our critical thinking minds in our exhausted parental stupor 😉

  4. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I *think* that Miss Elena has the title “miss” at the beginning because her mother is Lady Elaine and a cousin to the king? So I think that makes Miss Elena a relative of Prince Wednesday?

  5. Hah! Yes, to all of this.
    Also, why does the Tiger family decorate with Tiger striped decor?
    Curtains, cushions, toilet seat cover, stools…
    That’s like people having human skin decor.

    And I have also always thought that Mom Tiger’s shirt looked like scrubs.

    • OH MY GOODNESS! I have not noticed this, but it made me laugh out loud and nòw I’m grossed out…

  6. LOL! My husband and I have discussions on Daniel Tiger all the time. Our daughter LOVES Daniel Tiger. We have some theories on why things are the way they are on Daniel Tiger. I wonder if the the writers of the show did that so both kids and parents would watch the show.

  7. I think Daniel Tiger shows that there are all different types of families out there. You have the Tiger family who has a mother and a father and then a little sister for Daniel Tiger. Henrietta Pussycat is a single mother of Katarina kitty cat. O the owl doesn’t have parents and lives with his Uncle. Miss Elena has mixed parents. I love how Daniel Tiger shows that no matter what you go home to everyone’s family is differnt but everyone is loved

  8. Yes!! All of these too!! My theory on why Katarina and Henrietta say meow meow all the time is that when Mister Rogers would talk through the hand puppets, he’d say the meow meow so it’s like the trolley bring a part of the show and Daniel taking his shoes and sweater off at the end of episode- just an ode to the original.
    Regardless, such an awesome show! It’s my 6 month old’s favorite thing to see on TV, which is lucky cuz it’s momma’s favorite too! Lol

  10. I too found this list because I was wondering about O the Owl’s back story regarding how he came to live with his uncle. Since I’ve seen every episode at least 4 times I knew the answer would have to come from elsewhere but I didn’t know if there was some other source of Daniel Tiger lore, like book tie-ins or what have you. Could be an opportunity for fan-fiction to shed some light on this. Some other very good questions raised in this list.

  11. Does anyone notice the music guy and teacher Harriet talking? I wonder if there discussing custody of ms. Alaina.🤔 I knew teacher Harriet was her real mom.

    • Yes!!!! This was my Google search for today. Miss Elaina loves outer space, and I noticed in the Love Day episode Teacher Harriet received a rocket ship card from Daniel … totally her real mom.

  13. I just started watching Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood while looking for good TV programs for my son to watch. After watching a few episodes, I was feeling so ashamed of myself for taking so much of my time to meditate about some aspects of the show. But now I see I wasn’t the only one doing it 😆.
    The list of questions was awesome. It made me think about even more stuff that I wasn’t aware of.
    One answer I would like to find is how did the romance between Lady Elaine and Music Man Stan started. She used to be such a crazy, scarry character in Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. How did she managed to get a nice, cool husband?
    Oh, and I have another question: When did Lady Elaine’s transformation started: before her romance with Music Man Stan so he could feel attracted to her, or after, as a by-product of love? Because she used to look like a drunk witch in the past, and now looks so much better.
    Regarding Prince Tuesday’s odd jobs, my only guess is that maybe King Friday wants his son to know the value of the dollar (or whichever kind of money they use in the neighborhood) and appreciate what he has. Or maybe the king wants his son to work just like any citizen of the neighborhood so the prince will be better prepared with knowledge and experience to become a good king in the future. Well, that’s my theory 🤔

  14. Yes . I’m very bothered that the tiger boys do not wear pants An the woman do!!!! It is actually really starting to bother me!!!

  15. Yep, I wonder ALL of these…. and then some! Both my kids watch Daniel Tiger and so I’ve seen every episode many times….its allowed my husband and I plenty of opportunities to ponder stuff.

    Can we talk about Grandpaire Tiger….why does he have a French accent and dad tiger doesn’t?

    And the veggie stew….agreed, eat some damn meat!

  16. 8: they could, but not everyone has to be married. Doctor Anna is also a part time fire fighter with Music Man Stan so she may be too busy.

    Answer to 12 is probably Noblesse Oblige. I always assumed Tuesday was doing volunteer work to establish good relations with his people and prepare himself for ruling. That type of attitude is probably why the royals need so little security. That or the monarchy is poor and it is a mostly powerless title so they need the money and nobody would bother with ransom.

    15: welfare

    18: her mother is Lady Elaine Fairchild, so Miss Elaina is probably Elaina Fairchild.

  17. Here are my questions:
    1) Who all is on Prince Tuesday’s baseball team?
    2) If Chrissie is Prince Wednesday’s cousin, why is she not a princess?
    3) Why is it that Dad Tiger, Mom Tiger, and Grandpere Tiger are the only characters without first names? (besides Mr McFeeley)?
    4) Why doesn’t Grandpere Tiger ever speak directly to Mom Tiger?
    5) When Margaret Tiger gets to be Daniel’s age and attends school, will she be the only one in the class?
    6) Do they use money or pay for anything ever?
    7) Why don’t Dr Anna, Baker Aker, Teacher Harriet, and Music Man Stan have last names?
    8) Who bowls with King Friday?
    9) Who does Dad Tiger work for? I know he works at the Clock factory, but he seems to work alone.

  18. I know this is old, but I have ideas about a few of these:

    6) Katerina and Henrietta are bilingual, and kind of pretentious about it.

    7 & 12) Tuesday and Wednesday are men of the people, which is interesting considering their father insists on always standing on a stool when speaking to his subjects.

    8) I strongly believe Teacher Harriet and Baker Aker are in a relationship. They can be seen holding hands in the background from time to time.

    10) I think the treehouse is a duplex.

    15) I think Mom Tiger is a stay at home mom.

  20. Yes i was kinda wondering the same thing about the “always eating veggie dishes” Tigers are hunters put a slab of ribs or a steak on your plate sometimes…the bloodier the better! I guess its just to get kids to eat their vegetables.

    • I have a theory on where everyone is. The Tiger family (bar Daniel) ate O’s parents and framed Katerina’s father so he is in jail… i know it’s far-fetched but its something right?

  22. It makes me feel a million times better knowing I’m not the only parent who has had these thoughts! My son is obsessed with this show, I’ve seen every episode more than I can remember! So I definitely have noticed all of these things!

  23. Ok, maybe this is innocent, but it’s always stood out to me – why does Katarena always call everyone “toots”?

  24. In the beginning of the Love Day episode, X the owl and Henrietta pussycat share a valentine…
    We all know what that means! 😉

  25. I have to say I have noticed King Monday is REALLY old and has a trophy wife who must be Prince Tuesday & Prince Wednesday’s mother. He looks like he could be her dad and the boys’ grandpa.

  26. When there was a major storm in the neighborhood, why would everyone gather at the Tiger house which is right next to the BEACH?! Seems reckless.

    • The fact that X, O, Henrietta, and Katerina all shared a suitcase for this episode caused me to Google “are O and Katerina siblings”. I have wondered so many of these things as well. I read somewhere that Henrietta is married to Javier, an actor who never comes home. LMAO. Thanks y’all this was so much fun!

  27. Oh my. I just read every comment and got more questions than answers. My three year old just asked why o and katarina live together so I told her I would try to look. Even the young kiddos pick up on these things.

  29. 🎼🎵🎶Parents always come back. Just not yours O. Cause they died! Because you shouldn’t trust a sentient train. No you shouldn’t trust a sentient train.🎼🎵🎶

  30. I googled one question and found:
    Henrietta Pussycat lives in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe inside a schoolhouse located in X the Owl’s tree. (In Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood)
    She also says “meow meow” all the time because that was what the original character did too, and she always soundered really long and drawn out as well. I don’t know why they did this in the original show though.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6dbl4AyQOI

  31. Here’s a few more thoughts and obseravations

    Is Dr Anna a Vet or a Ped? Or does she specialize in Veterinary Pediatric services?

    Maybe Henrietta is a retired Ballerina and now she teaches?

    Where is Grandmere Tiger?

    Is teacher also Miss E’s bio aunt on her dad (music man Stan’s) side?