Parents empowered by message of connection in beloved animated series

Bluey creator Joe Brumm received a hero’s welcome at Merici College last week, celebrating the ‘valiant efforts’ of parents and sharing his inspiration for the show that has won hearts across the globe.

Six-year-old Bluey, her little sister Bingo, and parents Chilli and Bandit have filled our screens with playful energy since 2018 and the message is simple, Joe told more than 100 eager parents and teachers gathered in the school auditorium.

“The message in Bluey to parents is, ‘You’re doing great’, not ‘You should be doing this’ or ‘Maybe you should do that’. It’s just ‘You’re doing great’,” he said.

“There’s a lot of suffering in life, and when you become a parent, you expose yourself to a lot of suffering that you have very little control over, and anyway you can face up to that in the parenting scene is worth a kind of thumbs up and congratulations.

“I decided very early on Bluey was going to stick to that recognition of how difficult it can be and how valiant an effort we parents put in sometimes.”

Joe shared his favourite character (Rusty), his favourite episode (The Sign), and hinted at an upcoming announcement about the show’s future (“I can’t say anything yet, but perhaps in a few weeks”).

Hosted by the Council of Catholic School Parents, audience member Loryn Reynolds said A Bluey Perspective fostered strong connections within Catholic school families and provided valuable insights into family life.

“My key message would be about the impact of Bluey in strengthening family bonds through its storytelling. Bluey offers a positive and authentic portrayal of family life, showcasing important themes such as communication, empathy, and problem-solving in a way that both children and parents can enjoy and learn from,” she said.

“Incorporating play, understanding, and emotional connection into family routines is important. Joe’s insights into creating content that resonates with both children and adults were particularly inspiring.”

Nicole Pollock agreed, noting the event highlighted the importance of facilitating situations for children to explore through play.

“Joe’s comments about children being required to bring themselves and their narrative to the game and their input being worthy are equally applicable to adults in work and life,” she said.

“As a qualified early childhood educator, the importance of creating the space for children to play and not interfering in the play spoke to me.”

This concept – an ongoing theme throughout Bluey – is known as the ‘magic circle.’

“The kids will form a magic circle; inside that circle, all the rules of reality are different – they have created their own rules of the game. It is the most fascinating place,” Joe said.

“Episodes like Helicopter and Shops and Bus and Taxi and Circus – all these different episodes when you get under the hood of them are me trying to explain to adults watching what play can do for a kid’s development. That is the only agenda I snuck into Bluey. There is so much more going on in kids’ play than you think.”

Joe said as parents, one of the things Chilli and Bandit, and others including Lucky’s dad, did well was understand the magic circle.

“They understand and value it – they don’t see a good reason not to instantly engage with the magic circle the kids have created,” he said.

“The one thing I like to emulate in Bandit is to respect the magic circle the kids have got, instantly take on a role and not refute the game – join in on their level and have input.”

Joe said creating Bluey had been the most amazing five years of his life.

“Everyone thanks me for making Bluey, but I would have done it for free,” he laughed.

“It has been the absolute highlight of my career. Thank you all for taking the show in and getting whatever you do from it. It is something I wish on every one of your kids – to experience this in their careers, whatever they may be.”