The Unbearable Lightness of Bandit

A love letter to a talking dog, and TV's greatest father of all time 🐐

In honour of the final set of Bluey’s season three episodes dropping on Disney+ (featuring Lin Manuel-Miranda as a talking horse, following on from Natalie Portman’s earlier cameo as a David Attenborough-style narrator), I’m re-running an open letter I sent to Bandit Heeler back in 2021. I’m still awaiting a response—though I’m not much faster at responding to email myself.

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G’day Bandit,

You don’t know me—I mean, you're a cartoon dog, you don’t know anyone outside of your fictional pastel-coloured version of Brisbane—but I wanted to say hello. We've been spending our TV time watching your family’s escapades, and we've loved them as much as you clearly adore your two kids.

A few years ago I started a newsletter about the changing nature of fatherhood and wrote about how cartoons can catalyse more interesting, deeper conversations with our children. They help kids navigate our complex world—understanding how to deal with trauma, creating a space for mindfulness, and that love is love.

But for all the progress, something is still amiss. As long as we've been watching TV, it’s been filled with a steady stream of below-par dads. Whilst funny, they’re not something you aspire to be: dads like Al Bundy, George Bluth Sr., or Homer Simpson. Often, they're much worse: you wouldn't wish Don Draper as a dad on your worst enemy; and whilst Walter White said he was doing everything for his family, it was more about massaging his ever-growing ego and thirst for power (a story sadly reflected in many men I’ve encountered during my career).

Kids' TV today doesn't fare much better—the most recognisable father figure to this generation of children would be Daddy Pig: an incompetent fool whose hobbies include watching TV, eating chocolate cake, and generally avoiding any physical activity. He’s father to a daughter who constantly fat-shames him and the cause of—and never solution to—his family's woes.

Anyway, enough about them. Let's talk about you. I'm writing to thank you for gleefully breaking away from this bumbling dad TV trope. Because when we watch you joyously playing with your kids, it changes our perception of what dads can be and inspires us all to be better. It’s no hyperbole to say you're raising the bar for fatherhood. Showing dads what they could be if they put down their phones, closed their laptops, and joined the fun. To be more present. More playful. More patient. And maybe bake a duck cake or two.

You're not perfect. None of us are. When you took the kids to play at Uncle Stripe's pool, forgetting everything essential and only bringing the fun stuff? Yep, I've been there. More than once I've been stranded outside without suncream or wet wipes (and, like you, thankful for Mum who came to save the day.) Or when you got busted on the way to the dump trying to throw out Bluey's old drawings? Hard same. I've since learned the subtle art of hiding things under other things in the recycling bin.

And when you were stuck waiting for your spring rolls, hoping to play "Dad Reads the Newspaper" but not having a chance? It perfectly encapsulates the chaos that five minutes with kids can bring—and a nod to another trio of my favourite characters memorably waiting for Chinese food. Even amidst the mayhem, you reminded us that if we can relinquish the need to control every little thing (like keeping wet kids out of the car), life is full of opportunities to experience joy together.

Listen, you must know you're a great dad. You won Father of the Year in Australia—congrats!—so I'm not telling you anything new. But I just wanted to thank you for being such a great role model for us. (A quick aside: if you're looking for another good one and can get Disney+ in Brisbane, I'd recommend checking out that Mandalorian chap. He's a progressive dad too: not the biological parent of his kid, but caring, protective, and always puts his little one first. But maybe watch it once the kids go to bed.)

You embody what it means to be a modern father today in an honest and relatable way. You don’t sugarcoat it—kids constantly demand your attention, give you grey hair, and anytime you want a moment to yourself, forget about it. This gig isn't easy, but few jobs can be more rewarding.

Most kids’ TV shows aim to teach the little ones a lesson. But I've learned more about being a better dad from watching you and your family than anything else TV has offered. When you played Born Yesterday with the kids, and acted like it was your first day on the planet, you were able to experience childlike wonder, and adopt what Zen Buddhists call shoshin: the beginner’s mind. You closed the day marvelling at the tiny universe contained within a leaf, with the worries of the day disappearing into the ether.

Dads I've recommended to watch your show have come back to thank me, telling me things like, "It's made me more intentional about the dad I want to be", "to be more present in the lives of my kids", and "to take every opportunity to play together." This week, I talked to a friend about how much we love your show. He told me, "I often find myself thinking of Bandit when I’m busy and my daughter wants my attention."

Even though you’ve decreed that you would never take advice from a cartoon dog, I know I’m not alone in feeling the opposite.

My current parenting mantra? Simple. "What Would Bandit Do?"

Un abrazo,

Kevin

(P.S. It seems like dads aren't your only fans. There’s a subculture out there of mums who are very into you? Apparently, you have “Big DILF Energy”. If you don’t know what that means, don’t look it up. And while we're on the subject of not looking things up, don't search for yourself on Tumblr. Things tend to escalate quickly there.)

Catch Bluey in the UK on BBC iPlayer and everywhere else on Disney+.

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3 things to read this week

1. “Ibram X. Kendi On Book Bans, How To Use Outrage, And Teaching Antiracism” by Christian Dashiell in Fatherly. Banning books is sadly coming back into fashion in the US, with libraries being pressured by rightwing efforts to remove books—overwhelmingly from BIPOC and LGBTQI authors—from their shelves. Ibram X. Kendi, author, professor and antiracism activist, talks to Fatherly about access to information and how essential it is to raise children to understand the breadth and depth of the human condition, not a redacted version of it. “As a parent, you have the power to nurture a child who is going to treat people equally. You can actively do that. And you must actively do that.”

2. “The Gravitational Pull of Supervising Kids All the Time” by Stephanie H. Murray in The Atlantic. We’ve had a steady stream of friends with kids visiting Barcelona over the summer who constantly point out how children here are given more freedom and autonomy than in the US and the UK. This piece in The Atlantic looks at how vital independence is to our children’s development, and how to do this in communities where other parents mistake it for neglect. “The vigilant style of American parenting has become not only a norm, but an expectation that can be difficult to defy. In reporting this story, I heard from parents who said that other adults had threatened to call Child Protective Services when they didn’t hold their 3-year-old’s hand as they crossed the street, warned them that their 5- and 7-year-old kids had drifted a little too far from them at a playground, or scolded them for letting their teenage kids walk to school on their own. This social discomfort with childhood independence has become a barrier to it.”

3. “Never Waste Your Midlife Crisis” by Austin Kleon. Kleon turned 40 this year (#team1983) and has been using his always-excellent newsletter to share a series of reflections on the changing of the guard. This post references an interview with author John Higgs, who offers sage advice for all of us hitting this marker: “You should never waste your midlife crisis. You can do great things with a midlife crisis. If you just waste it on like a car, it’s just a lack of imagination. Mine was the decision to write books and attempt to make a living there.”

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Good Dadvice

Not the crossover we asked for, but the crossover we deserve. See more here.

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One Final Bluey Bit

Yet another proof point as to why this is the most thoughtful kids’ TV show, and why its place in the greatest kids’ TV canon is well-deserved.

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Say Hello

I don’t know if you can tell, but I like this show. How was this week’s issue for you?

Loved | Great | OK | Meh | Bad

Branding by Selman Design. Survey by Sprig. #dadgoals by Bandit. I’ll return with something new next week in the last TNF before our summer break. If you’re a fan of kids’ books where characters wear—and steal—hats, I think you’ll enjoy it.