THANK GOODNESS FOR NEW EPISODES OF ‘BLUEY’
Iam all for moderation when it comes to screen time. For my kids, I mean. But sometimes there’s nothing for it but to plonk the little ones down in front of the TV, even if it only buys me seven minutes to get dinner started or to stop them squabbling.
Bluey has been one show I’ve come to rely on. My 6-year-old and 2-year-old both enjoy it, and so do I. It’s funny, insightful and has important messages presented in a nonpreachy way. But if I have to sit through that episode where they pretend a big swing at the park is a pirate ship one more time …
I was understandably thrilled to be given access to new episodes from Bluey Season 2 (starts Tue., Mar. 17 at 8am; ABC Kids). Oh, and my girls got to see them, too. While they don’t seem to mind watching the same episodes over and over, the prospect of new Bluey gave me great bargaining power. You know, “eat your dinner or no new Bluey” or “share your toys or no new Bluey”. Even “go to sleep or no new Bluey tomorrow” works.
And I’m happy to say the show hasn’t lost any of its originality or humour in its second season. I can see why it has become such a sensation with both young kids and their parents. Mum Chilli and dad Bandit aren’t depicted as superheroes – in one episode, Chilli bemoans the bad parenting involved in paying Bingo not to make use of her third Dance Mode power (it’ll make sense when you’ve seen the episode). And Bluey and Bingo grapple with situations for which there isn’t necessarily an easy fix – a great lesson that life is often about compromise and context rather than hard and fast rules.
Speaking of flexible rules, the best bit for our family is that one episode switches up the normal theme tune and is called Bingo rather than Bluey. Given that’s what our 2-year-old calls the show anyway (not sure if she identifies most with Bingo being a younger sibling herself or just can’t say Bluey), it’s a nice break with tradition. •