Why hasn’t ‘Bluey’ made an episode about losing a parent yet?
Bluey has a lot of episodes to help children and their parents understand things. One that the series hasn’t tackled yet is the idea of losing a parent. Not every one goes through it when they’re young, but it is something that almost all of us, eventually, know.
There have been episodes of the show about losing your parents and the fear that comes along with that. But actually losing your parent is different. Episodes like “Cricket” tugged at my heart not because the episode itself was that upsetting. Rather, I cried because I watched as Rusty longed to play a game of cricket with his dad, and knew that I would never get to do that again.
I’m an adult with the knowledge that I had 30 good years with my dad before he passed away. There are kids in this world who don’t have that. They don’t have their parents with them, and an episode of Bluey could really help a kid going through that.
It wouldn’t have to be centered on the kid in question. They could have Bluey or her sister Bingo asking Bandit and Chili about someone’s mom or dad and watch as the two parents navigate telling their children. Or maybe it is another episode like “Cricket” or the episode where we get to meet some of Bluey’s classmates. But I do think that we are missing an opportunity for the show to let kids know that sometimes, your friends don’t have two parents to turn to, and that’s okay.
The dead parent club is hard at any age
When I was 10 years-old, my dad had a heart attack at a friend’s birthday party. I remember getting rushed into a house and everyone keeping me in the dark for a minute. It forced me to then have years where I’d freak out about my dad’s health and while yes, I had another 19 years with him, that fear never went away.
Like I said, Bluey covered that fear with an episode about Chili’s dad but that’s an adult navigating. I was 11. If I had a show like Bluey helping me understand that everyone has that fear, maybe things would have been different. Or think about all of those kids who aren’t lucky like I was. Imagine if I lost my dad in that moment and had to think about all the other milestones he missed in my life?
A show like Bluey has a unique opportunity to help kids know that they are not alone. They’ve done it time and time again with their more heartbreaking stories and this is the one that I really think needs to be addressed. Bluey and Bingo are two extremely lucky little girls. Letting the show explore a kid who doesn’t have a parent to play with them or misses theirs would help both our girls and the audience.
Being a part of the Dead Dad Club is always going to be a part of who I am now. If a show like Bluey can use something like a parent’s death and help a kid going through it to make it just that much easier, I really think they should.
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