Bluey is great and we love it, but I do have to say that it is not as directly beneficial for very young children as something like Daniel Tiger. Daniel Tiger has episodes that directly and clearly address things that young children are going through (little siblings, using the bathroom, managing emotions, etc). Bluey has episodes that address those things but does so in ways that are less direct and comprehensible for a pre-school child. Many Bluey episodes are more for the parents, than the children. Bluey will be with us long after our last Daniel Tiger episode is watched.
Daniel Tiger is so much more difficult to watch as an adult, but I have to give it credit for its potty training episode: that was a huge help when trying to potty train our 2.5-year-old. So I definitely agree that a targeted application of Daniel Tiger can really help, and also easier to digest for a pre-schooler.
However, I do think that having complex messages that aren't easy to understand is probably important for young children. "The world is a complicated place" is a lesson I wish even more adults understood. And I've learned that children may show no comprehension of something the first few times they hear it, but it's in there, making connections, shaping the brain as it grows. I can't tell you how many times I've told my daughter something I thought went way over her head (and did, at first), but randomly came out again months later. So by all means go for the simple Daniel Tiger message when it helps them through a problem they're having. But don't underestimate their capacity for deeply integrating ideas from everything they see and hear -- and I love Bluey for being by far the best young kids' show for them to integrate into their brains.
I agree Daniel Tiger is great for targeting particular challenges with those little sing songs they do to help kids learn and also targets a slightly younger audience. When we were having our 2nd and our 1st was 2 years old we played the baby episode a few times "a baby is coming to our family...". Our son welcomed our newborn daughter perfectly and somehow even found a little red book to (almost) drop on her.
I love that this post is on HN. It's helping me frame why I like Bluey so much. I'm also going to try that Sarah and Duck mentioned elsewhere.
I know it's a little thing, Daniel Tiger's very-heavy autotune on all the singing (and there's a lot of singing) drives me nuts. I'd be shocked if Fred Rogers would have been OK with it. Young kids should hear natural singing voices in media aimed directly at them.
My daughter really likes Daniel Tiger, but there's something about it that really annoys me that I can't put my finger on. I think it's that the characters and relationships just feel too sterile, where as with Bluey it actually feels like you could be watching a real family.
