A frustrated mum says Australia’s beloved Bluey has ‘ruined’ her relationship with her children, for setting an unachievable standard of parenting.

We’ve previously revealed the six reasons that parents hate Bluey, but this mum’s gripe is different.

Allegra Chapman admits that although she loves the TV show, the global phenomenon that is Bluey makes her feel like a ‘rubbish mother’.

“Bluey is funny, charming, and refreshing in that nothing bad ever happens,” Allegra wrote in an opinion piece for inews. “But, in my household it’s becoming a problem.”

The mum-of-two says Bluey is the ‘quintessential show of the gentle parenting era’, where the parents never shout or punish their children. And she says it sets the bar impossibly high for playtime.

“My six-year-old objects that I can’t pick her and her three-year-old brother up at the same time, one under each arm, and carry them around the house ‘like Bluey’s dad does’.

“My children want to know why I won’t create an entire restaurant, library, taxi and aeroplane in our small living room. And, the more I watch Bluey’s parents Bandit and Chilli being consistently perfect, the more I feel bad about my own parenting.”

She says the Heeler parents are never too busy for their kids, and are respectful of their children’s thought and ideas.

“It’s beautiful and aspirational. And impossible to live up to.”

Allegra laments that watching how composed and calm Chilli and Bandit remain makes her feel like a ‘failure’.

“Chilli is the more relatable of the parents. No moment of television has spoken to me like the episode where, as Bandit walks through the door, she thrusts the cooking utensils at him and announces, ‘I need 20 minutes where no one comes near me!’ But still, even when rattled, she remains patient with her children.

“I, by contrast, sometimes lose my temper. Sometimes I shout. Sometimes I get tired and I don’t want to play. Sometimes (quite often, actually) I have to work.”

Of course, Allegra is well aware she’s comparing her real-life role as a parent to that of dogs in a TV show, but she says it’s still creating a standard that parents would love to achieve, but never will.

“I maintain that I, too, would be the perfect parent if I had a huge house (with massive garden), that could be set up for a variety of lengthy imaginary games. And, for that matter, if I had children that would engage in one single imaginary game for any length of time.

“My children are pretty close in age to Bingo and Bluey, yet I’m lucky if I can get five minutes of consistent narrative out of them. Bandit and Chilli both have jobs, too, that’s been established, but they never seem to actually need to do any work. Except in that one episode where Bandit was trying to work but the girls kept interrupting so he just stopped bothering to work and played instead. Because childhood is short and family is precious… Do they not have mortgages in Australia?!”

Allegra also points out that the children in Bluey are never irritable, hangry, grumpy, argumentative or ride.

“They never hurl a toy at their sibling for no reason. Even Muffin – who, let’s face it, is a pain in the backside – can be persuaded to play nicely. Bluey and Bingo are always thoughtful when their parents speak to them. I’d take my kids just listening when we speak to them.

“Parenting perfectionism is an issue many of us struggle with, but I will try not to judge myself so harshly for failing to live up to an imaginary dog family. I suggest you do the same. We’re all only human. Bandit and Chilli don’t have that problem.”

Are you guilty of comparing your parenting to unachievable standards? Let us know in the comments below. 

And make sure you check out our article: ‘We Asked AI To Turn Bluey Characters Into Real People’ – the results are amazing!