Parents share what they learned from watching ‘Bluey’ : NPR

Bandit (left) with his daughters Bluey (center) and Bingo (right).

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Disney+

Bandit (left) with his daughters Bluey (center) and Bingo (right).

Disney+

The anthropomorphic cattle dog has been captivating her target audience and then some. We spoke to parents about how the show has provided comfort and guidance in the wild world of parenting.

Who is she? Bluey Heeler is a six-year-old Australian blue heeler that is the protagonist of her eponymous children’s show — as well as several toy collections, an album, books and a popular stage show.

• The show follows Bluey, her little sister Bingo, and her parents Bandit and Chilli as they all experience the challenges and joys of family life.
• Bluey’s got a big imagination, lots of energy, and even more questions about how the world works (in other words, a very accurate representation of the average six-year-old.)

What’s the big deal? Aside from her name dominating the search bar suggestions on YouTube as soon as you begin typing the word “blue…”?

• In July, the newest season of Bluey dropped on Disney+. And as has become very clear, kids aren’t the only ones who enjoy following the Heeler family and their gang of characters.
• Plenty of parents have shared online how the writing, humor and subject matter of the episodes have captivated them alongside their kin, made them feel seen among the struggles of parenting, and allowed them to bond as families.
• That’s no accident, by the way. Joe Brumm, the show’s creator, said he wanted to create something that parents could enjoy alongside their kids.

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What are people saying? Pretty good stuff! NPR’s Scott Detrow spoke to some Bluey viewers on why they’re drawn to the program from down under.

Linda McGee, a Chicago area mom of two, on why she first got into it:

It’s taught me to really just play along and just tap into my childlike innocence and sense of wonder. There’s so many things that I’ve done that I probably would never do if I wasn’t watching Bluey. I probably would not be, like, a horsey ride or, like, a car driving to the grocery store for some reason.

Joseph Peterson, a Frederick, Md. dad of one, on which episode first caught his attention:

For me, I think that episode is Sleepytime.

It’s just so heartwarming and empathetic, I think both for the difficulty it is for children — it really sees them in kind of the struggles to stay in their own bed at night — and also, it’s really empathetic towards the parents’ point of view, right? What that struggle can mean, going back and forth from bedroom to bedroom to the bathroom, to sharing space on the bed or on the floor.

And Mari Brisco, a mother of one in New Orleans on how she found herself totally engrossed with the show:

So my daughter was born eight weeks early. So I’ve always worried, in the back of my head like, “Oh, my God, is she hitting the right milestones at this age and everything?” And even watching that episode [Baby Race] I was like, “It’s OK. You know, she’s going to crawl when she crawls. She’s going to talk when she talks.”

So, what now?

• The new season of Bluey is available to stream, expanding the Bluey universe to include new parents and kids.
• And like any good online community, new episodes mean new chatter, online discourse, and new analysis to dive into.

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