What are your kids watching?

Horns blow, 4 dogs drawn to perfection dance across the screen to the melody of the beat.  “Mum,” , One dog stops and the others keep dancing,

Hey, there is a pattern, the biggest dog continues to dance to something similar to “the Sprinkler” or the Lawn mower.”  Two dances I’ve never yet performed, but as a Dad, I could resonate with the lame humor behind the action. 

Once the music stops, Dad removes himself, now we have two smaller dogs, jumping around, as wholesome as can be, when the music stops, Bingo moves to the side leaving one dog in the middle to herself.  After a few jumps and a unique spinning motion all dogs have finally stopped. “Bluey”

What is this Bluey and why are my kids so interested in the dogs. 

But more important, why am I, a 30-year-old black man, so interested in an Australian based cartoon following the social development of puppies who personify children?

I can’t answer but somehow, I’m attached. I’m invested, and I’ve come to enjoy the show as I sit alongside of my little ones.

Bluey is a show that sparks the interest and development skills of children, but most importantly, it provides a sense of security that encourages the growth of parenthood despite the many challenges that are associated. 

Season 3 episode 31, we have the 7 min episode “Onesies”

Here, we get an opportunity to meet Chili’s sister (The aunt of Bingo and Bluey) but it seems like this is the first time in years since the she has visited the children.

Brandy, The Aunt, brings gifts, Onesies, for both Bingo and Bluey.

Since the show promotes an open-ended play mode of parenting, we see both Chili, and Bandit (Bluey and Bingo’s parents) encourage social interactions and imagination, while promoting problem solving skills.  We almost never see Chili and Bandit yell at the kids, encouraging an “Gentle Parenting” model all too familiar with millennial parents (such as myself).

Let’s get back to the episode,

So, Brandy arrives to her sister’s house and she has a moment of hesitation as if she doesn’t want to enter, but she goes against her instinct and rings the bell.  Chili opens the door, greets her sister with open arms and she notices that Brandy brings the kids Onesies as a gift after reintroducing the kids to their Aunt.  Brandy notices how big the kids have gotten and immediately recognizes her resemblance to Bingo.   Since the onesies are animal onesie, both Bluey and Bingo pretend to be the animals in which they are dressed.  Coincidently, Bluey is dressed as a Zebra and Bingo, the Cheetah, whereas Bluey really wanted the cheetah onesie.  One is the predator, the other is the prey.  Bingo personifies this role by chasing all of her family members (where the adults also play along) across the yard, through the house, by the garage and in the back yard.

As Brandy and Chili try to escape, we see both sisters have a moment, where Brandy second guesses her visit to the children, Bingo, I mean the cheetah, interrupts captures Brandy, and both Chili and Bluey get away. 

The episode takes a turn to another heart-felt moment where Chili has a conversation with Bluey.  Bluey notices the sadness in Aunty Brandy’s face and asks her mom about this concern. Chili responds.

“You know how you wanted the Cheetah Onesie, but you couldn’t have it because it was out of her control well, Auntie Brandy wanted something really bad but she couldn’t since it’s out of her control.  Here we see the camera pan over to Bingo running away trying to find the other family members.

The episode ends with both Chili and Brandy performing a dance in which they used to do as kids, distracting Bingo, I mean the cheetah to end the game. 

Now why were those interactions important.  First the emphasis on imagination and open-ended play.  Many studies support the growth and academic development of our little ones through the concept of open-ended play.  Maxwell, Mitchell and Evans states that “Dramatic and constructive play behaviors are considered “Higher order” play behaviors” ( ), much of what we see through the interactions of Bluey and Bingo dramatizing their characteristics based upon their onesie.  If you are in education or familiar with the Education buzz words “Higher order thinking” is a way to tap into the critical thinking skills of the students.  We want our students to approach tasks with the mindset of accomplishing the goal, or solving the problem at hand.  Here, we see Bluey begin to set the foundation for the skills in which our students must access during their later years in education.   Maxwell, Mitchel and Evans go on to further state that “[Children] may imitate a person’s or animal’s action and speech patterns using real or imagined props…which are important in the development of social, emotional and cognitive development” (citation Vygotsky, 1976). Yet another key component for the foundation of education appears in social emotional and cognitive development.  Much of a child’s learning later in life comes from social interactions and lived/learned experiences where the development of emotional and cognitive awareness must be established in order to digest, analyze and interpret such interactions.

Now for the adults, the show Bluey touches upon the significance of having conversations with children in the moment, taking on, and acting upon teachable moments.  The lesson of understanding one’s desire comes into the mix where Bluey wants the onesie, but inevitably, she can’t have it because it’s too small.  Subsequently, we see Brandy wants children (implied by the scenes) but inevitably she can’t have her own children, which we then learn is the essence of Brandy’s absence from the lives of Bluey and Bingo. Lessons like this allow parents to take a retrospective approach on parenting where we consistently grapple with the questions from our children “Can you play with me.”

Overall, the wholesomeness of Bluey, along with the connection of her family and friends make the show easy to enjoy.