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Comment by ursuscamp | Hacker News Reader

Bluey blew me away when I saw it with my daughter. It's sweet, positive, emotional, well written. It's not the slightest bit cynical, handles every issue with tact, doesn't contain heavy handed messaging and has traditional values. It also has a very positive two parent dynamic. This is an absolute unicorn of a show.

Note: my usage of "traditional values" is not meant to evoke anything political or intended to be interpreted from a culture war lens. I just mean it positively portrays a family dynamic that can be universally appreciated.

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It also sets the bar very high for parents.

Yes—in an encouraging way.

Eh, well, I dunno. I’ve got kids and I don’t personally let them give me as much crap as Bluey and Bingo do. Like, if they’re running up to the screen at a kids movie I’m taking them home. There’s other people in the theatre to consider. Kids need boundaries along with compassion, and yes, I know that there are the odd Bluey episodes that deal with boundaries, not getting what you want, etc…

…but there’s a lot of what seems like the kids just steamrolling their parents. That’s not sustainable for me. Being a parent is like having two full time jobs. It’s hard enough as it is to just get through the day. The bar is set a little too high.

But hey, my wife and I agree with this, so y’all do you! I’m sure most of our kids will probably turn out just fine no matter how much we model ourselves after Bandit and Chili.

I think it is a wonderful show regardless.

Edit: Knowing the average age in this industry, I have the distinct feeling that quite a few people who are not parents are involving themselves in these discussions and moderations. Just wait. I'm offering a realistic viewpoint positioned against a cartoon. And I'm not being a jerk about it.

I tend to view parenting discussions on HN with a strong gell mann weight.

the key point is that you and your wife agree what those boundaries are. i can't comment on the specific situation, but yeah, if the kids do something that i can't tolerate, then it's game over.

My friend says she tries to model herself on the Mum from Bluey.

I say it gives children unrealistic ideas about how much play time the average parent can engage in without getting a crick in their back.

Children are capable of understanding the difference between pretense and reality.

My 4 year old loves playacting scenes and games from Bluey but he also understands that I'm not an anthropomorphic dog. Or, for that matter that our dog can't do most of the things the dogs on Bluey can.

This made me laugh, I often think of what bluey's dad would do in certain situations, especially if I'm losing my temper. Though I do almost resent / dialike him, irrational as it is, for being too perfect as a dad.

I respectfully disagree with your second point, while it might make parents (like me) guilty about not playing so much with kids, I think kids themselves can separate reality from TV pretty well.

I don’t think the amount of play time is impossible, it’s just that I can’t focus on playing as much as they do in that show my mind an imagination give out before my body does.

You're right, though a "high bar" in itself is not a bad thing! Hopefully not too many people struggle with pressure to behave like cartoon dogs. On the other hand, we might all take some inspiration from them here and there.

I think you can also see a shift to "lower the bar," though, especially in the third season. Bandit also seems to take a less prominent role. This was disappointing to my family; it seemed like some of the show's "purity" was lost to social pressure or something.

My wife and I discussed this too. We just remind ourselves that the episodes are 8 minutes long (yes, the plots sometimes are for a whole day), so realistically the parents could be spending all this 'time' which is just in 8 minute increments throughout a day/week.

But yes, ignoring that kind of reasoning, it does set a very high bar.

Also, the parents do have quips/groaning about the requests of the kids from time to time which is does add to the authenticity.

> Also, the parents do have quips/groaning about the requests of the kids from time to time which is does add to the authenticity.

I love the episode where the mom is trying to leave the house with the kids, and she just runs back into the bedroom to scream for a bit before coming out to talk.

Might misremember the details, but it immediately made me love the show.

She has the breakdown in the doorway in front of the kids. But they all calm down together after the Bluey (mostly, IIRC) asks why they're going to the park.

(We haven't watched an episode in many months, but referenced it when my son was taking forever to brush his teeth and I got frustrated.)

Is that a bad thing? (I'm a parent and I love it)

I recently listened to an interview with Joe Brumm, the creator of Bluey, on the podcast "How Other Dads Dad". He said this is a common criticism, and he thinks a fair one.

The problem is his aim was never to be an educational show for parents, but to be an entertaining show. It wouldn't be as entertaining if Bandit didn't play with the kids all the time.

So yeah, although it is a great kid's show and a much better example of parenting than other shows...we should keep in mind it's ultimately entertainment, not a parenting bible.

You are right, but some kids might compare their parents with Bluey's, and it's of course an unfair comparison, they being fictional characters, but children don't care about that.

Edit: typo.

Good. That is one bar that should be really high and one that parents should strive to achieve.

> It also sets the bar very high for parents.

Every time I hear this framed as a complaint, I feel the tiniest bit guilty—just for a moment—for personally identifying with Bandit's level of playtime effort and enthusiasm. But I can also commiserate with the few episodes where he let's on just how exhausted he actually is.

It’s actually not a complaint more of an observation.

Certainly, noted that it's observation rather than a complaint on your part. But I am still rather surprised just how often I do see it framed as a complaint nonetheless.

Yeah I'll go further.

- It doesn't display the dad as a bumbling idiot for a start, an unmistakably uncommon move in home set shows.

- It doesn't synthetically force women to the center stage for the sake of scoring points with left leaning audiences.

- It doesn't shoehorn in political messages that don't belong and largely harkens back to a time where childrens television didn't require scrutiny of the publisher just to see if it fit the parent's flavor of morality.

- It largely fits the actual day-to-day life experiences of individuals who are most likely to have kids young enough to watch Bluey, namely millennials.

- Parent's are main characters in a lot of the episodes: The parents in Bluey aren't some side-object only included for the sake of completeness. The parents are main characters and are developed as thoughtfully as the children. By doing this the producers were able to garner attention from both the children and the parents. It's honestly a bit of a shame that we've sidelined parents for so long for fear of offending people.

- The show unashamedly depicts an intact household with two loving, heterosexual parents. It's "stunning and brave" in the current culture.

- The show depicts two children who are absolutely uninvolved or unconcerned with their sexual identity, despite the current narrative being that they are the age at which they should be.

- The show is diverse, but not for the sake of checking a box. There is no prioritized group in the show and tension between the breeds of dogs are displayed as equitable and able to relate to one another with minimal conflict (much like in real life, despite what you may have heard).

- There is no mention of a god. There is no big G god, nor any pagan gods. There are no "spirits", no "forces", no "inner being" that is wrestled with. It's a kids show and stays a kids show.

I could go on, but at this point I feel I've overstayed the common HN user's tolerance.

>- The show unashamedly depicts an intact household with two loving, heterosexual parents. It's "stunning and brave" in the current culture.

You seem to be implying that it's abnormal for heterosexual parents to be depicted in children's media. Is that what you meant?

>- The show depicts two children who are absolutely uninvolved or unconcerned with their sexual identity, despite the current narrative being that they are the age at which they should be.

Hm, the "current narrative"? What do you mean by that?

> It doesn't shoehorn in political messages that don't belong and largely harkens back to a time where childrens television didn't require scrutiny of the publisher just to see if it fit the parent's flavor of morality.

As a child of the Captain Planet and D&D moral panic era, when was this time you harken back to?

> The show unashamedly depicts an intact household with two loving, heterosexual parents. It's "stunning and brave" in the current culture.

Eh? I'm trying to think of peer shows of Bluey... Peppa Pig and Daniel Tiger come to mind (Trash Truck anyone? Charming little show), heterosexual parents are by far and away the norm. The idea that it's "brave" to show them feels like a conservative talking point that's out of step with reality.

> unconcerned with their sexual identity, despite the current narrative being that they are the age at which they should be

Speaking of conservative talking points... again, I'm really struggling to think of peer shows that have six year olds discussing their sexual identity.

This reminds me I never cracked how society works in Bing, as well as how kids are born.

Never seen Daniel Tiger, but Peppa Pig makes the Dad the butt of the joke and portrays him as the overconfident idiot in pretty much every story, while all moms are always infallible.

It's not something that kids might consciously notice, but it's grating and not what I'd exactly call a positive message.

My wife and I don't like Peppa for that very reason. One of its main catchphrases is "silly daddy".

> It's not something that kids might consciously notice, but it's grating and not what I'd exactly call a positive message.

While I agree it’s not a real positive note, it does seem to reflect reality to some extend (in the sense that my wife thinks she’s always right).

I’m fairly certain Peppa’s dad is just modelled on an overconfident 50’s dad.

It’s funny though, so I can live with it.

Well that de-escalated quickly!

One moment it's considered brave to even feature a single, intact heterosexual couple of married pigs in a cartoon, but when challenged on this being an insane take, utterly divorced from reality, we've fallen back to "sometimes the cartoon pig dad has humourous foibles as part of his character"?

Have you realized that you are talking about comments made by two different people?

Yes.

I don't really know why you thought it was an appropriate direction to take the "there are no heterosexual couples depicted in modern children's TV! / Yes there are, are you mad?" thread though. Maybe you can enlighten us?

My argument is less about the identity politics and the modern idea of "diversity" and more about how Bluey does not fall into the "stupid overconfident father / smart sassy mother" trope that is pretty much the rule in Western TV shows since maybe the Simpsons?

I'm amazed that you've written this post (presumably in good faith) and not provided a single concrete example.

The replies disagree with your assertions and are providing concrete examples. All of the replies are civil. One might call it civil discourse.

However, I suspect from the priming of your last line that you will not view it that way, and instead view it as "the average HN user" being intolerant of your ideas.

Instead, may I suggest engaging with the replies?

You're doing great! ;)

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