To not get the love for Bluey?

[Snuffkintravellingsouth]

I think it will be an overwhelming wave of YABU based on how popular it is, but I just don't get the Bluey hype.

I was oblivious to it for years but lots of people were raving about it so I put it on one day for my 3 year old. We were both a bit bamboozled. He couldn't sit through an episode and wandered off. I found it very irritating- loud, whiny voices, irritating characters. One episode had the dad doing a mad sock puppet thing and the other episode was about kids on FaceTime. It was utter chaos and my son was nonplussed. I think because it was so chaotic and without any story to it. I find the colours really bland too.

It seems to be a hit with parents first, who put it on because of all the jokes they can appreciate that are over the kids' heads.

My son loves The Moomins, Postman Pat, all of the Julie Donaldson animations, The Wombles, Fireman Sam, Pingu, Thomas the Tank Engine and so on. He seems to really enjoy programmes that were made with real models in particular and these just seem so much more well made than Bluey, and have a gentler feel and better storytelling.

@FiveWhatByFiveWhat Yeah you're right, I was being bitchy with that one. I'll blame perimenopause. 😅

Completely agrees with this about Flatpack. I think it's my favourite. My children will watch and enjoy it on a surface level but as a grown up I see it with a much deeper meaning. The ending of Grandad gets me every time ("no it was yesterday" 😭) because it makes me think about my relationship with my kids but also about my relationship with my own aging father. I love that there is stuff for the adults as well as the children in the episodes as well.
Even Faceytalk - the adults discussing the way to raise and discipline their children really rang true. I also like the way Bandit enforced boundaries by making the kids turn the volume off on the call so they couldn't hear Stripe and Trixie. I feel like other shows would have had Bandit earwigging in on his brother or would gloss over disagreements and pretend to children that parents are always perfect.

I think 3 could be too young for Bluey - I know 3 year olds who enjoy it, but it takes on a new level once the children are closer in age to Bluey and Bingo. Faceytalk, Takeaway and Movies are three of my DC's favourites because they are more exaggerated versions of real life, and they see elements of themselves in those episodes.

I can see that as the mum of a 3yo the Bluey voices might sound annoying, because 3yos still have cute voices, but by about 5/6 that's gone and kids voices are annoying (sorry)!

I will also be forever grateful to Bluey for teaching my child to play imaginative games. He never seemed to get them until he watched Bluey and then things like Fancy Restaurant and Libraries just 'clicked'.

I think I thought she was slightly older and it was more her personality than general 2 yo behaviour!

She's the one who goes mad when she skips her nap isn't she? So I've always put her at about 2.5.

@BarbaraHoward yes she is. Think I had her as more of a 3yo!

I do agree that sometimes the parents seem amazingly patient but I think that's part of depth of Bluey when watched as an adult; it's teaching strategy! There's definitely an episode where Chloe (the dalmatian girl) struggles with her dad trying to play with her. Dad's too rigid and has to find an angle to connect to her through. I think that probably speaks to more parents than Chilli's bottomless patience sometimes.

YANBU to not like Bluey. I don't like it for different reasons - the parents' unwaning appetite for role play has given my son completely unrealistic expectations of how much I am willing to do 🙊 I avoid those kind of episodes.

YABU for saying the colours are insipid! The artwork is objectively gorgeous. The way it looks is one of my favourite things about it, even though overall I am not a big fan. I don't find it particularly groundbreaking like others do, but maybe that's because my partner does a lot of parenting so I don't hail Bandit as some kind of hero of fatherhood like others with lower expectations of dads might.

I've not seen enough of it to have seen that but that doesn't sound like my cup of tea either. I'm more in the benign neglect camp of parenting and my son plays fantastic elaborate imaginary games by himself. I'll do some role play games with him but not much.

I think the colours are lovely, just bland.

One thing I really like is the theme tune.

There is an episode where Chili takes herself off to the bedroom and needs 20 minutes with no one talking to her.

To be fair not many people want screeching in their house. Originally as a mother of a quiet daughter our home was quite blissful. When my disabled son came along with a profound learning disability our house is now a whirlwind of chaos and screeching. We all love bluey here.

I remembered this one after I posted! She's still a lot calmer than my mum would've been in the same situation. There's definitely balance - I think we also get Bandit being frustrated or feeling lazy a few times - but the show overall models them keeping their cool.

Some of the darker Bluey theories crack me up as well. Worth getting into the show for those alone!

Ah I love faceytime. Reminds me of DD's cousins 😂

Faceytalk sorry!

Octopus! We saw that one again - this is one of the episodes that speaks to parents much more than kids. I’m a bit of a geek so could relate to how awkward that dad felt trying to be a cool parent!

i also feel the same about rain, sleepytime, flat pack, baby race and even bin night - all say something about parenting

my gosh if I had someone say I was doing great during Mat leave (baby race) I would have felt so much more confident as a new mum - and it must be more difficult for chilli without her own mum around. And that ending gets me every time

and the sleepytime ending - I tear up when it shows how important being a mother is

and even taking the bins out weekly with your kids can be special (bin night)

I have no idea if my kids understand the meaning behind those episodes to be fair

didn’t realise this but there are literally university articles on what parents can learn from bluey!

https://cssh.northeastern.edu/what-parents-not-just-children-can-learn-from-watching-bluey/

and the New York Times called sleepytime one of its best tv programmes of 2020!

www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/arts/television/best-tv-episodes.html

What darker theories?

I sobbed my heart out at one of the most recent episodes when they were going to sell the house.
I love rain, it always reminds me/makes me feel guilty about being fussy about cleaning/tidying the house and to just let Dd just be.
I love sleepytime, that makes me cry also and Grandad.
The camping one where she meets Jean luc is lovely too.
Can’t remember flat pack or what was special about it?

Screechy, whiny and shouting. Sounds like racism towards Australian accents.

@biffbaff my husband also does a lot of parenting - but that position is still nowhere near the norm for society or for kids' shows which, in my view, would do well do model this set-up more often. That's what I meant when I praised how they portray Bandit.

@Snuffkintravellingsouth yes Alan Bennett voiced my childhood cassette tape of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I still remember many of the lines to this day and I'm 43. A complete classic.

I bloody hate Peppa Pig. Whingey, spoiled - just...no.

The kids really do screech and shout though, and have whiny voices. Nothing to do with the accent. Would be the same if the accent was British or American.

I'm quite surprised that there is so much hate for Bing from Bluey fans - from my perspective, Bing is quite a similar premise to Bluey but with a younger child and the associated challenges.

Bing is far far less annoying than Muffin for a relatively similar age and there are a lot of effective parenting strategies scattered through the episodes (eg connect with the emotion, empathize and validate briefly, then find a solution and move on). It also feels realistic in that the characters (both adults and kids) are relatively realistic with different strengths and difficulties, so can need different strategies, but more or less get on well. Even if they are sometimes annoying (Padget's inability to hold a boundary with Pando).

Another thing I love about Bing is the attention to detail in the animation. The woodland has oak trees with realistic leaves, the banana is peeled before going into the smoothie (side eye to Duggee and Peppa), they have actual seasons.

Omg I was looking to see if Baby race had been mentioned- it makes me blub too! The last scene where Chilli is feeling like a thoroughly useless Mum and Bluey finally gets up to walk 'because you saw something you wanted'... 😭😭😭

Ahhh. Apparently Baby Race makes lots blub - the end scene right? 😉

The theme tune is a bop

& I love the voices