TL/DR: Season 3 of Bluey became available on Disney Plus on July 12. If you have young children, watch this show! Your kids will love it, and the characters are excellent role models of loving, positive parents.

Bluey is an Australian children’s show that airs on Disney Plus. It features Bluey (a dog – Australian Blue Heeler), her little sister Bingo, Dad and Mum (Bandit and Chili). The show is simple – just reflecting the everyday life of this little family, and the ways that the parents and children interact. It is aimed at preschool age children, and they love it. Surprisingly, so do adults!

I listen to a podcast called the Filmcast. Hosts Jeff Cannata and Devindra Hardawar often rave about Bluey. Jeff has said “watching this show has made me a better parent.” (Brian Walsh agrees.) Even after hearing these recommendations, I didn’t watch it, because my youngest child is 12 – outside the Bluey target audience.

Then I read something about an episode (“The Show”) that indicates that Chili had experienced a miscarriage before Bluey was born. (There are also hints in an episode called the Bedroom, and infertility is reflected in the episode Onesies.) Bingo and Bluey are doing a silly show, acting out how their parents met and fell in love, and Bingo has a balloon under her shirt to act out Chill’s pregnancy. The balloon pops. The camera goes to Bandit and Chili who grab for each others’ hands with pained expressions. That’s all there is… a scene that may go over children’s heads, but has connected with and been meaningful for parents who have experienced a loss to see their story reflected. Michael Vaughn, a father of a Bluey Fan, said on TikTok: “One area where Bluey excels is making parents feel seen when they’re struggling.”

So, my family gave the show a try. My 12 year old likes it, but has other higher priorities for his screen time. On the other hand, my husband loves it. Bluey’s 8-minute episodes have become his go-to for “I’ve had a long day, and just need to do a little something relaxing before bed.” He’s not the only adult who feels this way, according to this WaPo article.

Why Many Adults Love Bluey

Bluey has a huge adult fan base, and these fans on Reddit explain why. Here I’ll just share a few that are about parenting and learning how to interact with children, but there are MANY reasons to love the show:

• “I had no idea how to interact with kids prior to watching this show. But after watching Bluey, I could easily play games with my nephew…. We played keepy uppy but we also invented new games… And I had fun doing it.”
• “I want to watch Bingo and Bluey have a beautiful childhood with great memories of their parents. It’s a way of healing my inner child. … AND if it helps us parent better, we are healing generational trauma, too.”
• “Bandit is dad goals”
• “Because you as a parent can relate 100% to every episode.”
• “I’ve always been afraid of not being a good parent… The show has made me reevaluate being childfree. I just never thought about gentle parenting and seeing other people’s experience with it makes me think I could do it some day!”

This thread covers some of the moments that parents found most relatable:

• “When Bandit buggers up the cake and just flops down onto the floor. He’s torn between bursting into tears and an almighty swearing fit, but at the same time … needing to continue being a positive role model.” “I feel so seen in that moment.“
• “Any time the kids go ‘Lets play______’ and Bandit says ‘oh no not ______'”
• “when Bandit says he isn’t the best dad. I have those moments with my children … “
• “Mum School! The end, when Bluey asks, ‘did I fail mum school?’ And Chili replies, ‘yeah. Ya did. That’s ok. We all fail mum school sometimes. We’ll just try again tomorrow.’ Never have I felt more validated as a mum. “

Parenting Lessons

Here are just some of the takeaways people have from watching Bluey. Clilck through to all the articles to read more.

Romper references specific episodes and what they learned:

• Pool – always be prepared. (It takes effort to pack up all the stuff, but you’ll have more fun it you do.)
• Bike – Let kids know it’s OK to fail.
• Sticky Gecko – Kids move slowly – in their own time.
• Copycat – We all grieve in our own way.
• Baby Race – Don’t compare your child to other children or yourself to other parents. Just do the best you can do.

Bounty Parents shares these takeaways:

• “Play is the powerhouse of child development… Bandit and Chilli are masters at maintaining connection with their daughters, squeezing precious moments of play between work and household tasks… playfulness is clearly beneficial for them as well.”
• “Be the parent you want to be, even when you don’t feel like it… Bandit and Chilli frequently give a sigh and a skywards glance before playing yet another game… yet, being a fun and playful parent is clearly a core value for both of them. So they jump right in regardless.”
• “Bandit and Chilli aren’t afraid to allow them experience the  consequences of their own actions… so children are learning a genuine and useful life lesson.”

Work. Play. Mommy. shares these lessons:

• “I’m not alone. The creators of Bluey send subtle messages of understanding: messy cars, laundry on the floor, meal planning, convincing kids to eat.  Bluey taught me that I am not alone in these little parenting struggles.”
• “Bluey helps me talk to my kids about some hard and complex subjects.  Bluey taught me to have some of these difficult conversations about feelings, loss, and even disappointment in words and scenarios that my children understand.”
• “If you have ever watched Bluey, then you might have inwardly chastised yourself about not being quite as fun as Bandit, Bluey’s dad…. [But] Chili is the voice of reason in the father’s endless shenanigans.  She regularly tells Bluey and Bingo to comply with certain rules…. Chili even lets the girls know that she can’t stay to play when she needs to go to work… Chili reminded me that it is ok to be a mom who is not always fun.” (see also: “Bluey’s Mom Gives Me Permission to be an Introverted Parent.”)

Challenge Community learned to: get back to the basics, be present, say yes, be an active part of your child’s imagination, and unstructured play is important.

Love to Know shares these lessons, again listing episodes that encapsulate the lesson:

• Takeaway: Childhood only happens once – let kids be kids.
• Sheepdog: sometimes parents needs 20 minutes to themselves.
• Bin Night and Omelette: step back and let your child do things themselves.
• Library, Perfect, and Mini Bingo – our words and actions shape how our children see themselves.
• We can tell our kids parenting isn’t easy and parents are far from perfect. … Bluey’s parents are upfront about their mistakes and uncertainties.

What I like about Bluey: it feels very realistic in the way it represents life with two young children. Yes, the parents are great in many ways, but they’re not perfect. They love their children dearly, and their children exhaust them at times. I do think it models parenting skills really well, and I encourage parents to check it out.

And the thing Bluey is best at? Modeling how to play with your child.

Playing the Games from Bluey

Several websites have listed out the games found in Bluey: the official website lists 10, Fatherly lists 19. Dad Fixes Everything has 21, and Bluey Wiki has them all. Here are a few to get you started.

• When you just want to lie down: Hospital. You’re the patient – they examine, diagnose, and treat you. Or Pet Feet. While you lie in bed, they pretend your feet are pets and take care of them.
• When you’ve got one balloon and need to keep kids busy for a while: Keepy Uppy. Don’t let the balloon hit the ground.
• On a sunny day in the park: Shadowlands – you can only step where there is a shadow.
• To teach musical notes: Magic Xylophone – when you play the right note, everyone freezes.
• To motivate them to do work: The Claw. If they help with a task, they earn coins. You play a claw machine – sit with a collection of toys – they “insert” a coin, and use a joystick (any stick you hold in your hand) to direct the claw (your other hand) to pick up a toy.
• To teach close observation skills. Fairies. They close their eyes, the “fairy” hides little objects around a room. They find them.
• If you have an exercise ball: Raiders. Set up an obstacle course to get to a treasure, and then when they reach it, roll the ball at them.
• When you want to talk to other grown-ups: Boomerang. You pretend to throw your child – they spin out and away, and eventually come back and you throw them again. You could also do ping-pong and bounce a child back and forth between you and another grown-up.
• After Dark: Torch Mouse (aka Flashlight Mouse). They pretend to be a cat and try to catch the flashlight beam or laser pointer.
• Fruitbat – pretend to fall asleep reading a bedtime story.
• Favorite Thing: At the end of the day, each person takes turns sharing their favorite thing of the day.

Tip: the Bluey website has some fun crafts – some your kids can do and some for you (how to crochet a Grannies costume!)

More Resources:

If you want to learn more about parenting young kids, that’s what this site is all about! To get you started, here are a couple posts on topics mentioned above: Consequences, Play-Based Learning, It’s OK to make Mistakes, and Talking to Your Child about Hard Topics.