As a still-pretty-new parent, I spend a lot of time watching children’s TV, and one show that my wife, daughter, and I all adore is Disney’s Bluey. In fact, no matter what is going on around my daughter, the second that catchy opening theme starts playing, her attention snaps to the screen. Bluey centers on the everyday adventures of the Heeler family, four Australian heelers playing and learning life lessons together. While plenty of the episodes feature fun games and hijinks, where Bluey really excels is in how it nails the sentimentality of parenthood. As Bandit (dad) and Chilli (mum) parent their two daughters (Bingo and the titular Bluey), they learn as many lessons as they impart, and the show regularly offers joyful glimpses into the past and future to show how these lessons unfold. The more I’ve watched the show, the more I’ve realized there’s a certain spirituality at work in how Bluey handles time, nature, nostalgia, and so on. Let’s dig a little deeper.

One caveat: While I took a hard look at the economics of Sesame Street a few posts back, I will do no such thing for Bluey! According to the official Bluey website, Bandit is an archaeologist, and Chilli works in airport security. Unless the cost of living in Australia is ridiculously better than in the U.S. or someone in the family is independently wealthy, it’s highly unlikely the Heelers could afford their palatial home, all of their daughters’ toys, and Bluey’s very expensive-looking Waldorf-style school. So yeah, we’re not touching the economics of Bluey; this is just about the show’s spirituality. Anyway…

Imagination
Imagination is a major theme of the show, and the bulk of the action usually revolves around whatever game the family is playing that day. Whether Bluey’s asparagus turns everyone into animals or Bingo’s feather can make any object super heavy —and yes, these are both real episodes—, the whole Heeler family always goes along with the game. I love how Chilli and Bandit let their kids set the rules, and both parents almost never back out of a game once it has started. Not only does this empower Bluey and Bingo, but it also lifts up imagination as something almost holy. If one of the kids takes the risk of imagining a game, the rest of the family will always honor it (even if they deeply dislike the game).

Play
While the Heeler parents do go to work, with the exception of the occasional shot of Bandit’s home office, we never really see anyone “working.” The show sends the message that, not only is play crucially important, but play is often about mindset. The Heelers’ household chores take on fanciful game-like elements, and there’s even a whole episode (“Stumpfest“) devoted to the idea that, whether they recognize it or not, grownups need play just as much as children. Even the show’s opening theme is a family game of “freeze dance.” According to author Brené Brown in her audiobook The Power of Vulnerability, “play” contributes to our resiliency and adjustment; it’s a crucial life skill often missing from our society, but Bluey has it in droves!

Everyone Learns, and Everyone Teaches
With the possible exception of Bluey’s sagely teacher who appears in a few episodes, every Bluey character is a constant learner. None of the Heeler family are perfect. Bluey can be inconsiderate. Bingo is insecure. Chilli’s competitiveness can create conflict, and Bandit is impulsive. But none of these characters stay static. Regardless of age, all of them wear the roles of teacher and learner at some point. Parent learns from child. Child learns from parent. Siblings and spouses constantly learn from each other. The show sends the message that none of us are perfect, and all of us can learn something from every person we encounter.

Sacred Time
Time has a certain fluidity on Bluey. Older characters (most notably Granddad) may flashback in time and recall idyllic pasts, while other child characters like Lila and Jean-Luc give us little glimpses into the future to show how minor kindnesses from the Heelers ripple out in big ways. I also love the way time seems to stand still when the grownups engage the kids in play. In the episode “Rug Island,” Bandit accepts being a little late to work so he can play a desert island game with the girls. Bandit reflects on the meaning of adulthood across what seems like ages during the game, yet by the episode’s end, it appears only a few moments have passed as Bandit prepares to get back to work.

Author and historian Mircea Eliade coined the term “sacred time” to describe the way time in spiritual spaces flows differently. For example, take the Christian practice of communion; when Christians take communion, they are simultaneously in the present moment, in the past at the Last Supper, and sharing with every other Christian who has taken communion throughout the centuries. When Bandit and Chilli play with their daughters, time moves in a similar sacred fashion. The “real world” outside the game doesn’t keep going in the same way, and the Heeler family are connected with themselves and one another within and outside of time.

Relationship to the Earth
“Thanks, Brother Wind!” Bluey and Bingo exclaim as a gust of wind carries a paper airplane across the yard to their mother. The line caught me for a second, and a few episodes later when Bingo and Bluey offer a vaguely new age dinner blessing with references to Sister Rain and Mother Sky, it hit me: this show has a special relationship to nature. Sure, many of the games take place outdoors, but every time the kids go to a scenic outside location —the creek where Bandit played as a child, Granddad’s lake house, the riverbank, etc.—, something special happens. Color palettes become more vibrant, music mellows (often incorporating familiar classical music motifs), and the Heelers become very tuned into their surroundings in an almost transcendent manner. While figures like “Brother Wind” and “Sister Rain” may not be literal characters, their presence is very much felt in Bluey, and this presence always brings peace and connection along with it.

The “Flat Pack” Cosmology
Alright, I’ve referenced a few specific episodes here and there, but the season 2 episode “Flat Pack” gets its own section. If you have eight minutes to spare, I strongly recommend hopping on Disney+ and watching the whole episode, but here’s a clip to give you an idea:

So, the setup (with spoilers):
Bandit and Chilli have purchased a porch swing from an IKEA-esque store, and as they assemble it on the porch, Bingo and Bluey pretend to be different animals using the discarded packaging in the yard below. As different bits of packaging become available, Bingo and Bluey “evolve,” and Bingo also pretends to age. Across the episode, the girls go from being fish to amphibians to lizards to dinosaurs to birds to small mammals to primates to early humans (complete with cave drawings) to an advanced civilization capable of space travel. Over the course of their game, Bingo also grows from baby to adult and takes off in her own polystyrene and cardboard spaceship at the end. Meanwhile, Chilli and Bandit have been going back and forth about how best to build the swing. Ever impulsive, Bandit initially wants to ignore the instructions, but after a little banter and a few sore thumbs, the couple harmoniously assemble their swing and look out on their greater creation: the girls. As Bingo and Bluey’s game ends, Chilli and Bandit invite Bluey to ascend the steps and join them on their swing, and Bandit provides the episode’s final double entendre: “This is Heaven.”

Okay, so, lots to unpack about “Flat Pack.”
Sure, there’s the obvious pattern of evolution the girls mimic in their game, but I find the events on the porch even more interesting. Chilli and Bandit go from bickering to cooperating, and their discarded materials form the bones of the girls’ play; this is oddly similar to how many ancient cultures understood the relationship between the gods and humanity. In the ancient Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish, the god Marduk slew the primordial dragon Tiamat and, almost as an afterthought, used her remains to create the world and its inhabitants. In the ancient Greek and Norse myths, humans are constantly subject to the whims of the gods and, honestly, we usually do better just to avoid the gods entirely. The Kojiki of ancient Japan tells of creation as the result of a union and quarrel between two divine lovers. Is the dynamic between the Heeler parents and kids much different during the game?

As Bluey and Bingo “mature” within the game, they also take steps closer to godhood themselves, eventually brandishing their parents’ discarded hex keys and announcing, “Let’s be builders!” At the game’s conclusion, Bingo is fully grown and sets off on her own, while Bluey has aged and acquired wisdom, resulting in her going up to “heaven” to rest with the godly Chilli and Bandit. Could the episode be implying that, as humanity advances, we may take on more and more of a “God’s eye view”, recognizing that to rest and witness the fruits of our creative endeavors is itself heaven? Could this episode about the discarded packaging from a porch swing actually present an optimistic philosophy of eventual human perfection as we grow and mature as a species? Could this episode be a poignant reflection bridging the scientific origin of humanity with our theological origins as bearers of the Image of God (or Image of Dog in this case), as evidenced by our own ability to create?

Then again, maybe the whole thing is just one long joke about how much time it can take to assemble IKEA furniture.

Last Thoughts
In addition to all these spiritual elements concerning play and time and nature and creativity, Bluey is also just a very gentle and relaxing show to watch. The Heeler family model kindness and humility and forgiveness again and again and again across the show’s two seasons (as of this writing), and every episode seems to contain nuggets of wisdom about parenting. Of all the shows to pique my daughter’s interest, this one leaves our whole family feeling the most peaceful and optimistic. If you have kids or if you have vague memories of being a kid at some point, Bluey is worth your time.

P.S.— If you’re a publisher looking to give a giant cash advance on a “philosophy of Bluey” book, the “connect” button is in the menu at the upper right of the screen. Thanks!