A Case for Bluey – Sleepytime

A group of fully grown men were sitting around a table discussing deep theological principals and the doctrines of the faith. At some point the conversation shifted to their families, and the children who had to go a week without fathers and mothers as they were at Calvin that week working to grow into the ministers of the Word they would become. 

Throughout this discussion the conversation of kid’s entertainment came up and the more annoying ones that our children enjoy that we as parents loathe. 

At one point, a rather wise and clever father brought up the show Bluey and made the comment that it was a groundbreaking show, that not only engaged the attention of children, but had something in there for parents as well. The father went on to say that on certain episodes it invoked strong emotions causing him to release water from the ducts in his eyes. 

Many of the adults at the table scoffed, one such parent accepted the challenge and wanted to see this if this show could in fact induce emotions enough to cause a stoic man to cry. 

The father placed his phone on the table and played episode 9, from season 2, called “Sleepytime”. The challenge was accepted, the arena was set, the show began.

While the author of this piece could go into an in-depth description of what takes place in the episode, and for some that might be enough, the author would rather encourage any parent contemplating the show, to take the 9 minutes it takes to watch the episode and go and watch it themselves. Do so with your full attention, not driving or working, reading, or eating. Allow yourself the full 9 minutes to watch, let the episode sink in, and place yourself as a parent in the family of Bluey; feeling each emotion as it comes. 

The challenge has been placed will you accept? 

If you were curious how the above interaction ended. The one father who felt that Bluey would not invoke any emotions, ending up removing their glasses to wipe away the tears that were flowing from their face. This 9-minute children’s show which was humorous in nature was powerful enough to bring a grown man to tears with an impressive combination of ambient music, funny dialogue and scenes, and a powerful reminder of the joys and pain of parenting. 

By Nate Wright