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How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

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Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#191

Post by indymike »

gambiting wrote: post #139
lotsofpulp wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> including physical violence(one episode the kids decide the dad now has a stomach ache, so they punch him in the gut They are pretend playing. There is no indication Bingo meant to actually harm her dad. I pretend fight and let my toddlers beat me up, but I am sure they know only to do that when pretending.

The core of pretend playing, is pretending. Bluey very clearly punches her dad square in the stomach, he lets out an audible sound of pain, and......nothing happens. I agree that maybe Bluey didn't actually mean to hurt her dad - but the way the scene plays out she clearly does and she isn't told about it, the dad just takes it. Because the dad is portrayed as a (in this episode - literal) punch bag who has to accept…

> Bluey very clearly punches her dad square in the stomach, he lets out an audible sound of pain, and......nothing happens.

What would you like to happen? I’m not sure I understand here. I’m completely ok with Bluey’s dad not retaliating. Being a Dad means sometimes, you have to take a punch.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#193

Post by IanCal »

jboggan wrote: post #18

Bluey is a godsend in our household. It's not annoying and the amount of classical and original music woven into each episode is wonderful. There's one particular episode - "Sleepytime" - which I cannot bring myself to watch anymore because I get so emotional. Every parent I talk to with young kids who has seen the episode agrees and knows what I mean. It's really that good, and despite being a fun little show there…

> there are a lot of episodes that are actually art.

Indeed, I can't emphasise enough just how much this is underplayed in:

> One storyline contrasts the adult dogs struggling to construct flat-pack furniture while the children create their own adventure

This is a short episode that's fun for kids to watch with some adventure and a bit of parents struggling to build some furniture. It also covers the evolution of life on the planet and futures beyond, growth, aging, letting your children go. It's like 5 minutes and entirely self contained, it's truly incredible.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#194

Post by gambiting »

indymike wrote: post #191
gambiting wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The core of pretend playing, is pretending. Bluey very clearly punches her dad square in the stomach, he lets out an audible sound of pain, and......nothing happens. I agree that maybe Bluey didn't actually mean to hurt her dad - but the way the scene plays out she clearly does and she isn't told about it, the dad just takes it. Because the dad is portrayed as a (in this episode - literal) punch bag who has to accept…

> Bluey very clearly punches her dad square in the stomach, he lets out an audible sound of pain, and......nothing happens. What would you like to happen? I’m not sure I understand here. I’m completely ok with Bluey’s dad not retaliating. Being a Dad means sometimes, you have to take a punch.

No one said anything about retaliating - a simple "look you hurt dad, you need to be careful" would have been 100% sufficient, and as another comment said - it would have been a nice counter lesson to one of the previous episodes about rough play.

>>Being a Dad means sometimes, you have to take a punch.

Sure - but as a dad you are also responsible for making sure your child understands that hurting other people is not ok, and they shouldn't do it again, pretend play or not.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#195

Post by warner25 »

gambiting wrote: post #69

I feel like I'm the only parent on planet Earth that really doesn't like Bluey. Every time I watch it(which is often, my son likes it), it just seems to be promoting bad behaviour at the expense of the dad(like many other shows to be fair - looking at you Peppa Pig), including physical violence(one episode the kids decide the dad now has a stomach ache, so they punch him in the gut - and the dad just plays along with…

I have two data points for you:

My wife and I banned Bluey in our house a couple years ago. We use TV as "quiet time" for our kids (currently ages 3 to 9) after lunch, replacing the time when they used to nap, and Bluey seems to make them go crazy. I haven't even watched any of the episodes, so I can't object specifically to any of the content; we just observed a consistent, counterproductive effect on their behavior.

My neighbor, another dad of two toddlers, expressed something to me a few months ago that was similar to your opinion.

I'm honestly stunned by the overwhelmingly positive comments on this thread, and I'm wondering if I should actually try watching a couple of the episodes mentioned here.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#196

Post by lebski88 »

rich_sasha wrote: post #89
sspiff wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the children's programming my children have watched, Bluey is by far the nicest for us (the parents) to watch or listen to, and has been the most enduring in terms of popularity with our kids. Similar to Peppa Pig, the scenarios are often recognizable in a family with young children, but they're generally funnier and the characters are more loveable. The animation style is a refreshing break from the bright co…

As a dad, I used to like Peppa Pig, but now can barely stand it - as opposed to Bluey. Daddy Pig is fat, useless, convinced he's an expert in everything but failing every time. His parenting skills hover around 0, and always needs to be rescued, usually by Mummy Pig. So much for healthy co-parenting. Furthermore, Peppa is mean to her friends, who like her regardless, she always gets special treatment. I'm not saying…

The makers of Peppa Pig made another program aimed at slightly older children called Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom that was much much better than Peppa Pig. It was much funnier and the characters were so much better and more likeable.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#197

Post by micromacrofoot »

gambiting wrote: post #69

I feel like I'm the only parent on planet Earth that really doesn't like Bluey. Every time I watch it(which is often, my son likes it), it just seems to be promoting bad behaviour at the expense of the dad(like many other shows to be fair - looking at you Peppa Pig), including physical violence(one episode the kids decide the dad now has a stomach ache, so they punch him in the gut - and the dad just plays along with…

They all make fun of each other quite often in the series in ways that can take the seriousness out of real-life parallels.

I find that in a sense the show takes the "bumbling dad" and "uptight mom" stereotypes and kind of shows them in a more realistic way that says "hey, it's alright... they care a lot about each other and they figure out how it all works together."

A kid hits dad in the groin and he doesn't try to strangle them (a la The Simpsons) he absorbs a common mistake and rolls on. The mom is a bit uptight, but doesn't helplessly groan in the background like Marge. Sometimes these qualities are shown as strengths, other times as weakness... there are entire episodes where the dad's irresponsibility gets saved by mom's uptight nature... or where mom is too stressed and dad needs to take over and be the clown for a bit.

IMO it's not a show that's meant to model ideal behavior, but it's about how families and relationships can work despite not always being ideal.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#198

Post by bglazer »

gambiting wrote: post #139
lotsofpulp wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> including physical violence(one episode the kids decide the dad now has a stomach ache, so they punch him in the gut They are pretend playing. There is no indication Bingo meant to actually harm her dad. I pretend fight and let my toddlers beat me up, but I am sure they know only to do that when pretending.

The core of pretend playing, is pretending. Bluey very clearly punches her dad square in the stomach, he lets out an audible sound of pain, and......nothing happens. I agree that maybe Bluey didn't actually mean to hurt her dad - but the way the scene plays out she clearly does and she isn't told about it, the dad just takes it. Because the dad is portrayed as a (in this episode - literal) punch bag who has to accept…

I don’t think it would make terribly compelling children’s television to just show the children misbehaving and the dad disciplining them.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#199

Post by indymike »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #27
seized wrote: post #12

As a parent it's just a genuinely nice show to watch. There is so much complete crap out there now that Bluey is a breath of fresh air. A few others are good fun as well like Grizzy and The Lemmings. But Bluey reigns supreme. Although I wish the phone game didn't have in app purchases. At least the Bluey video game on Steam is good and without in app purchases or micro transaction nonsense.

> so much complete crap out there now that Bluey is a breath of fresh air Out of curiosity, as a non-parent, what makes it crap?

> what makes it crap?

Parent of five here. Crap = glorifying bad behavior, teaching bad values (this will be different for every family), depicting no consequences for poor decisions, and/or resolving conflict using only violence.

In general, things that mom and dad don’t have to either retcon or have a long discussion about why it is bad.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#200

Post by navbaker »

ceedan wrote: post #189

Bluey is great and we love it, but I do have to say that it is not as directly beneficial for very young children as something like Daniel Tiger. Daniel Tiger has episodes that directly and clearly address things that young children are going through (little siblings, using the bathroom, managing emotions, etc). Bluey has episodes that address those things but does so in ways that are less direct and comprehensible f…

I will be singing “if you have to go potty STOP! and go right away” until the day I die.
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