ISO lessons from Bluey
If you haven’t sat down with your little ones for an episode of Bluey, now is your best chance. While Bandit, Chilli and their girl pups, Bluey and Bingo, aren’t in COVID-19 isolation like the rest of us, their honest interactions have more to teach us now than they ever have.
WORK AND SCHOOL ARE IMPORTANT − BUT SO IS PLAY TIME
As a work-from-home paleontologist, Bandit’s office is regularly invaded by Bingo and Bluey. While he momentarily tries to shoo them away, Bandit realises that an impromptu game of Raiders of the Lost Ark in the hallway with his yoga ball office chair becomes the highlight of his day. Yes, we are all busier than we ever were before, but play is vital for kids and adults in learning. For real life! And once this is all over, it’s these fleetingly fun moments that will remain in everyone’s memory. Make lots of them.
FAMILIES WORK BEST IN A TEAM
Chilli says it best in the episode, ‘Mount Mumanddad’, where Bluey and Bingo are making a game of racing up dad Bandit‘s body and not helping each other at the start. “We’re all in this together,” she says. “You do not climb mount mum and dad by trying to race ahead on your own or by competing with your comrades. You do it slowly and carefully by unselfish teamwork. That is the mountain way.”
HOME CAN BE FUN WITH A LITTLE IMAGINATION
Bluey and Bingo have endless imaginary games up their sleeves and it’s all using stuff we all have at home; from setting up neighbourhood houses from couch cushions in the lounge room to turning their family members into squealing animals at the dinner table with a ‘magic asparagus’. Not only do these games make home confinement so much more fun, it’s doing wonders for little brains at the same time. As Bandit tells his daughter, “Making up games is more important than you think.”
BE THE PARENT YOU WANT TO BE, EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT
We’ve lost count how many times we see Bandit and Chilli roll their eyes when they’re roped into yet another game of hotels or hospitals. While they may not be excited to give up their spot on the couch to play a game of horsey weddings, they teach us that every day we have to choose between taking the ‘easy’ option − whatever makes us feel better in the moment − or investing time and energy in doing what matters. If all else fails, do what Bandit does and suggest a game “I can play lying down”.
THE MOST STRESSFUL MOMENTS CAN BE THE BEST ONES
In the iconic episode ‘Takeaway’, Bandit impatiently waits for his spring rolls as Bluey and Bingo beg to stand under a tap and splash in the water. While he initially refuses so they don’t have to go home soaking wet, he changes his tune, sharing the famous Chinese proverb: “Flowers may bloom again but a person never has the chance to be young again.” Pandemics are tough on everyone, but our kids still deserve a childhood to treasure.
WHEN THIS PASSES, WE’LL APPRECIATE THE SIMPLE THINGS SO MUCH MORE
Bluey and Bingo meet their friends at the park to take on the monkey bars, or design their own houses in a trolley at ‘Hammerbarn’ (that’s Bunnings for the newbies), and have a giggle with their classmates at school and kindy. It’s a beautiful reminder of the simple joys that await us all on the other side.
THERE’S ALWAYS TOMORROW
If you’ve had a stressful day juggling everyone’s needs at home or struggled to get the kids to do more than 10 minutes of school work, the episode ‘Mum School’ is just what the therapist ordered. Bluey decides to play mum to a group of kids, made out of balloons, who just don’t stop bouncing around. When one floats away, Bluey asks her mum if she failed at ‘mum school’. Honestly but reassuringly, Chilli tells her: “Yes, you did. We all fail mum school sometimes. We can just start again tomorrow.” And that is the perfect lesson all of us can take with us each and every day in isolation.