[laingc]

As the father of two young daughters, I adore Bluey. Quite apart from how good the episodes are for adults, I really enjoy the following aspects:

1. It portrays wholesome and positive family relationships, particularly between father and daughters. The girls are also good to one another, with occasional conflict kindly and realistically resolved.

2. It tells simple stories without pushing political messages. Unfortunately, children’s television at large has become another victim of the culture wars, with heavy-handed social messages infecting what should be simple cartoons. Bluey is something I can trust.

3. I don’t have to expose my kids to American accents. They’ll have more than enough of that from regular programming when they grow up.

[JumpCrisscross]

> children’s television at large has become another victim of the culture wars

Out of curiosity, as a non-parent, do any galling examples come to mind?

[awilfox]

> with heavy-handed social messages infecting what should be simple cartoons.

I kinda giggled at this, because I just last night saw "Pass the Parcel", which to me was the one time they sent this up and they did it so well.

[robbomacrae]

That's because its never heavy handed.. How about the episode with grandpa struggling with the new app centric lifestyle: Phones "Are you sure we're playing this right?". Subtly provocative and brilliantly done.

[nozzlegear]

> 3. I don’t have to expose my kids to American accents. They’ll have more than enough of that from regular programming when they grow up.

What’s the concern here? I understand American media dominates everything, so I’m guessing you don’t want your kids to pick up small bits of American accent when they’re still developing?

[tambour]

I'm not the OP, but as a child growing up in an anglophone country but with a 'low-prestige' accent (think Indian English or Singaporean English), it was ingrained to me pretty early on that the only 'proper' ways to speak were RP or General American, and one of the reasons was because all the kid shows I watched had characters who talked almost exclusively in those accents. 'Exotic' accents were used mostly for comedic value.

Having a greater variety of shows that model the diversity of the English language would probably have gone some way to dispelling that damaging self-belief? I really love the existence of shows like Derry Girls, because they make me less self-conscious of my 'exotic' accent.

[nozzlegear]

That's a really interesting perspective that I hadn't considered, thank you for answering! I have what anyone would call a General American accent, so your experience isn't one I'd ever been personally exposed to growing up. I remember a lot of older sitcoms and cartoons using "exotic" accents for comedic value though, like you said, and it's obvious that can be damaging to anyone's self-esteem.

[test1235]

>2. It tells simple stories without pushing political messages.

I did wonder if there'd be any outcry over the DIY episode which is about evolution. Certain cultures seem to have serious issues with that. It did also hint at afterlife, however.

[xyzzy_plugh]

There is plenty of hinting at there being an afterlife throughout the show, but it's aspirational, not prescriptive. It would be nice, wouldn't it?