Adults commenting on the hit kids’ TV show, Bluey, has become all the rage lately. Muffin, specifically, is a hot topic – people right now are flooding the forums to say that Muffin is Spoiled.
So, what’s the real deal?
Is Muffin from Bluey spoiled?
If so, which episodes show this behavior?
Let’s get right to it.
Some facts about Muffin
If you’re not familiar with Muffin Heeler, she’s a small grey-ish/white spotted character in Bluey that is present in over 2 dozen Bluey episodes.
Her full name is Muffin Cupcake Heeler.
How old is Muffin from Bluey?
Muffin is 3 years old in the Bluey series until the episode titled “Pass the Parcel”, where she turns 4 years old.
As of 2023, she is still 4 years old.
Is Muffin a boy or a girl?
Muffin Heeler is a female Bluey charachter.
What kind of dog is Muffin?
Muffin is a type of heeler called an Australian Cattle Dog. She is the child of Trixie and Stripe.
Stripe is Bandit’s younger brother, which makes Muffin a cousin to Bluey and Bingo, both heelers, as well.
Now that you know some general Muffin facts, let’s get to the bigger question.
Is Muffin from Bluey spoiled?
Muffin is the recipient of a lot of online hate. The truth of the matter when it comes to whether or not Muffin is spoiled is that no, she’s not spoiled.
Muffin demonstrates normal age-appropriate behavior for her age.
She’s demanding at times, demonstrates difficulty with sharing, and has what many people refer to as “temper tantrums”.
This has shown to be offputting for many parents whose children enjoy watching Bluey.
These parents believe that Muffin’s behavior is inappropriate and that it shows that she’s spoiled.
Calling Muffin “spoiled” ignores the realities of child development, however.
“Temper tantrums” are simply expressions of feelings that children can’t express with words and more appropriate actions just yet, according to Johns Hopkins University.
There are many different reasons a child might experience these emotional outbursts, such as tiredness, not fully understanding the “why” or “how” of a given instruction, and not getting what they want.
Let’s look at the 2 Bluey episodes that Muffin gets dumped on the most for.
Facey Talkey
In Facey Talkey, Muffin is seen not letting Socks have a turn with the tablet to Facetime their cousins Bluey and Bingo.
Muffin’s father threatens her with a “time out”, which prompts Muffin to run through the house with the tablet trying to get away from him.
The phone ends up falling to the bottom of the Heeler’s pool and Muffin finally agrees to the time out.
This might be upsetting for some parents to hear, but Muffin is demonstrating age-appropriate behavior in this episode.
Muffin doesn’t want to share the tablet with Socks, which is normal. Sharing skills doing being to show up in kids until around the ages of 3.5-4 years.
Empathy, an emotional intelligence skill required for consistent sharing, doesn’t develop in most children until the age of 6. Muffin had just turned 4 in the Facey Talkey episode.
As far as Muffin running away from her dad in Facey Talkey, that’s normal behavior, too. Muffin not only wanted to keep playing with her cousins, but she also didn’t want a time-out.
So, a 4-year-old wants to continue having fun and also doesn’t want to sit in isolation – sounds normal.
If Muffin were 6 years old instead of 4, she’d have more skills she could utilize in this situation, provided Stripe and Trixie help her develop these skills.
Charades
People in the Bluey groups on social media often cite the episode titled Charades when it comes to why they believe that Muffin is spoiled.
In this episode, Nana has organized a game of charades for her grandchildren, Muffin, Bluey, Bingo, and Socks.
Bingo draws a ballerina card and acts it out.
When it’s Muffin’s turn to draw a card and act it out, she draws a frog but is upset because she wanted a ballerina card, too.
This is understandable – She’s 3 years old in this episode and it’s normal for 3-year-olds to not understand the rules of games. She likely expected to draw the same card and became dysregulated when the card was different.
As the episode goes on, Muffin demands a tutu and music to go along with her ballet performance. She stomps her feet and yells, as well.
This is normal for this age group and it does not indicate that Muffin is spoiled.
Nana is teaching the older girls, Bingo and Bluey, that sometimes we change the rules and do things to make toddlers happy.
It’s also Nana’s house and that’s what she wants.
Nana could have redirected the behavior, but she was enjoying the time with her grandchildren and didn’t see the need to interrupt a fun game to discipline Muffin.
Muffin compliments Bluey on guessing Bingo’s charades character early in the episode and she says “Thank you” every time someone gets her what she asks for.
Muffin seems to be a normal toddler that is doing great at developing kindness and empathy.
Further thoughts on Muffin being called “spoiled”
In kids’ shows, children are rarely shown how they are in real life. (We’re going to ignore the fact that we’re referring to talking animals for a moment.)
Characters like Daniel Tiger and Bluey are faced with challenges in each episode, which they calmly overcome with the help of an equally calm adult.
This is not realistic, though.
In real life, children hit, stomp their feet, yell, and refuse to share – and none of this makes real-life children “spoiled brats”.
It just means they are humans with brains that aren’t anywhere near done developing.
The fact that so many adults are referring to Muffin, a cartoon dog, as “spoiled” is a reflection of how adults perceive normal childhood behavior.
Normal toddler behavior shouldn’t draw such a negative reaction from adults.
Bluey tackles topics that get overlooked by other children’s cartoons and there are always lessons and opportunities for self-reflection buried within the episodes for parents.
Maybe Muffin is written into the show with these normal behaviors to teach us something.
Thoughts? Do you think Muffin from Bluey is spoiled?