When Bluey first landed on Australian TV screens, it was just a month after my second child landed in our lives.
Now world-famous, multi-award-winning and department store omnipresent, the Heeler sisters Bluey and Bingo were just playful six- and four-year-old pups back then.
And their family's fun, thoughtful, chaotic antics were a balm in my toddler-plus-newborn delirium.
Despite (because of?) that delirium, in another few months I'd stumbled into making a podcast about Bluey.
With my co-host/bestie/fellow mum-in-the-trenches Kate McMahon, Gotta Be Done set out to deep-dive the proactive parenting, complicated games, childhood development theory, relatable relationships, majestic music and outrageous artistic audacity of this Australian kids show.
Not just for kids
In the process, we began to suspect Bluey might not be just for kids.
Now, over nearly three series (you can watch the new episodes Ghostbasket and The Sign on ABC iview), Bluey's turned seven (in hit series 3 episode Pass the Parcel) and Bingo five (in series 2's paired eps Duck Cake and Handstand).
Due to some weird (dog-years?) maths, my own duo has now caught up to the Heeler girls, last year hitting seven and five.
Bluey creator Joe Brumm has told us Bluey and Bingo aren't getting more birthdays – when the target audience is preschoolers, you can't have the main characters edging towards tweendom.
(The latest Bluey episode, Ghostbasket, also hints that the Heelers might be moving out of our lives altogether.)
Judging by the frequency with which my two update their monstrous requests for themed cakes, my own Bluey and Bingo are expecting many, many more laps around the sun.
I've made peace with their growing up — but can I parent without my canine guides a remote-click away?
It's a fanatical question, sure. But I'm not the only one asking.
Driving a generation of engaged, playful parents
US researchers have put Bluey under the microscopeand identified ways the show models play — as a tool to build relationships, resilience, adaptability, even self-regulation.
It's not just modelled for the millions of kids who tune in, though. (Last November, Bluey outstripped lawyer drama Suits to become most-minutes-streamed on US telly, clocking 3.7 billion minutes watched.)
Heeler parents Bandit and Chilli, not perfect but absolutely fun, provide a light-touch masterclass in fostering the creativity, space and problem-solving required to navigate kid life – and life after that, too.
Now streamed in more than 60 countries, and estimated to be a $US2 billion ($3 billion) brand, child development academics are even tentatively suggesting Bluey could be driving a generation of more engaged, playful parents.
In the years Bluey has been in high rotation at our house, her Bike episode helped a shaken four-year-old get back on the two-wheeler after careening out of control down a neighbour's driveway and through a window. (And this guilty parent to give him the space and time to regain courage and persist.)
Bad Mood gave us a textbook, and even a Viking-hat prop, for playing a raging threenager (then four-nager, five-nager) out of tantrums.
And Dunny delivered a glib one-line for our rule-focused seven-year-old, that rules change from family to family because families "are just different".
The Brisbane version of colourful camaraderie
But once I'm in the throes of eight-year-old crises, what then?
In a recent interview with US business magazine Bloomberg, Brumm makes clear he is still deciding the ultimate fate of Bluey – and whether fans might get a long-awaited series four.
Another revelation that hit my inner-child heart: the Bluey creator names US cartoon strips Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes as some of his earliest inspirations.
I also grew up with Charlie Brown and Calvin, adored their imaginative worlds and built my own humour around the sardonic, stoic one-liners.
Looking back, though, those classics, both created by solo cartoonists locked away with their sketch pads, offer a bleak perspective on life: you're on your own, kid.
In the same interview, Brumm shares a key motivation for creating Bluey — to build a Brisbane version of the colourful camaraderie he'd found in UK animation studios.
The resulting Ludo Studio team, making Bluey magic happen in sunny Brisbane since 2017, brings together multi-generations of talent, perspective, skills and life experience.
In the seven-minute stories they create, the dogs on screen also work together, ask for help, share hard-earned wisdom, nurture new friendships and grow a better world for their pups, whatever their age.
That's the message Bluey gives us again and again for more than 150 episodes: we're not on our own.
And maybe that's all we need.
Mary Bolling is a Melbourne mum, journalist, and co-host of Gotta Be Done, a sometimes-weekly podcast recapping Bluey episodes via a rambling look at parenting theory, childhood memories, pop culture references and the occasional dog pun. She’s also the voice of one-time Bluey character Librarian — but that doesn’t give her inside knowledge about the fate of Bluey.
Stream the new Bluey episode, Ghostbasket, on ABC iview now, and catch Bluey's 28-minute special The Sign at 8am on Sunday 14 Aprilon ABC iview.
