I am, and always have been, a huge fan of cartoons. Is it childish or immature? Maybe. But who’s worried about that? Plus, having kids lets me get around the fact that cartoons are “supposed” to be for kids. I put that in quotes because we all know that cartoons have surpassed the for kids stage and have been used for entertaining adults for quite some time. With all this said, there are a lot of terrible cartoons for kids. So when my family came across Bluey on Disney Jr., it was a pleasant surprise.
Details about the show
Each episode of Bluey is about 7 minutes long and doesn’t normally build off the previous episode, meaning each episode can be watched in any order without needing to know what is going on. Bluey, a 6 year old blue heeler pup, along with her sister Bingo, a 4 year old red heeler pup, use their imagination to do just about anything. Their dad Bandit, a blue heeler, and their mom Chili, a red heeler, are involved in almost every episode as well.
The big draw for me with this show is the fact that they are very family oriented. The parents are constantly teaching the pups lessons about behavior and life in ways that they can understand. But at the same time Bluey and Bingo are constantly watching the interaction between their parents and how they act together. This isn’t very common with kids shows. Sure, a kids show might show the parents hug or kiss, but they don’t normally show the kids response to it.
The Pool Episode
There is one episode where Bluey says Bandit is more fun than Chili. He doesn’t care about the “little stuff” and just wants to get right to the fun. They go to the pool for a swim and they soon learn that the “little stuff” is important. Without it, there is no fun. They didn’t have any of their swim gear so they had to stay in the shallow end with no pool toys. Then they were hungry but there was no food. Eventually, Chili showed up and saved the day with all the gear. And at the end of the episode, Bluey dove down to the bottom to get a toy and looked up to see her parents swim toward each other and then kiss. And this is just one example, this happens throughout the series.
The Takeaway
Is this a perfect show? No. Are there inappropriate things? Some might say so: Bandit will sometimes pass gas in front of the kids, there are a few instances where he is on the toilet and the kids are gagging, or Bandit just ends up in ridiculous situations at the wrong time that can be taken inappropriately. But all in all, the show is pretty wholesome and definitely worth the watch with your kids. Even our teenager will watch a new episode here and there and our niece “introduced” it to her youngest brother, but that was just an excuse for her to watch it without shame.
