Oh, Biscuits!
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Has Beef With Bluey's Dad Bandit Heeler
“The dad on Bluey, he is setting these expectations for our own children that are unrealistic.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke out recently about an issue that has clearly really been getting under his skin. One Mr. Bandit Heeler, the beloved father of Bluey, has simply been setting unrealistic expectations for fathers everywhere, according to the NASCAR star.
Earnhardt Jr., who is dad to 5-year-old daughter Isla and 2-year-old daughter Nicole with wife Amy, spoke to The Athletic recently on a variety of topics including his daughters’ love of that Australian animated series Bluey. And boy did he have some big feelings.
“We watch Bluey and the kids are like, ‘Come on, Dad, do this. Come on, Dad, pretend this,’” Earnhardt Jr. explained. “So every episode, my kids watch Bluey and see the dad is like the kids’ best friend. Always available. Always there. Anytime they want the dad to get in on the fun or to play, he’s never too busy.”
The disgruntled dad went on to say that Bandit never has to go to work, which is incorrect since we all know Bandit is an archaeologist while his wife Chili works at the airport. But Earnhardt Jr. did make some excellent points about Bandit’s impossibly high parenting standards despite this error.
“He’s never got this thing he’s got to do or he’s never mowing the lawn and whatever, right? It’s always, ‘Yep, you got it. I’m gonna do what the kids want me to do and pretend with them,’” the race car driver added. “So my girls, mainly Isla (who just turned 5), they have the same expectation of me.”
Earnhardt Jr. added that it’s tough to keep up with the constant availability his daughters expect after watching that dastardly dad Bandit. “I know you’re supposed to let them pretend,” he told The Athletic. “You’re supposed to let them create and imagine. But the dad on Bluey, he is setting these expectations for our own children that are unrealistic. Because my daughter thinks, ‘Oh, yeah, my dad should do that. My dad will do that. We’ll ask him to do it and he’s gonna do it.’”
He’s not wrong, Bandit Heeler is kind of the best dad ever. But he’s also a dog and a cartoon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. might benefit from reminding his kids that he is a human dad and they are different. Without trash-talking our darling Bandit, of course.
