Hey Duggee recognises working dads with special badge

Working dads have earned a badge from kids TV favourite Hey Duggee.

The cartoon dog will award a ‘Parenting in 2020’ badge to dads and mums who have had to contend with everything 2020 has thrown at them. That’s included months of homeschooling, explaining social distancing to kids and dealing with children’s anxieties around the pandemic.

The two minute special is billed as a fast-paced, good-humoured look at navigating parenthood throughout 2020.

Hey Duggee

Hey Duggee’s become a firm favourite with pre-schoolers and their parents since his debut on Cbeebies in 2014. The dog character spends episodes of his eponymous series leading the Squirrel Club and encouraging his charges to earn activity badges. The show is narrated by comedian and presenter Alexander Armstrong.

The special episode goes live on the Hey Duggee Facebook page today, November 3. It concludes by presenting mothers and fathers with the badge. It is to reward them for their hard work, as well as serving as a reminder they are not alone in the challenges they face, the creators said.

Simon Clarke, from BBC Studios, said, “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to offer content that resonates with parents – from makes and bakes, helping their children earn their ‘hand washing badge’, fun facts and quizzes as well as some light reprieve such as our Friday riddles and recent ‘guess the movie’ poster strand. Seeing all the comments, conversations and pictures of family activities shared by parents has been a real tonic for us at Hey Duggee HQ and we salute you parents of 2020.”

Facebook

The episode has been produced for Facebook to highlight their parenting networks. The social media giant claims its parenting groups have in excess of three million members across the UK. That figure has swelled by more than a million since the first lockdown began in March.

Steve Hatch, vice president of northern Europe at Facebook, said he hoped the one-off episode would bring ‘some light relief’ to parents. He said, “This year has shone a bright light on the power of connecting with others online when it’s not been possible in person, and how simply knowing we’re not alone can help us through the most challenging of times.

“We teamed up with the creators of Hey Duggee to give something back to parents and we hope this one-off episode brings some light relief to all the mums and dads courageously navigating parenting in 2020.”

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