I’ve watched a LOT of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in my day. I spent four years nannying for multiple families and now I have my own children–and they have all loved Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
I liked it too! (For their sake of course, kind of a yawn for me.) It’s so interactive, colorful and imaginative. It prompts problems solving and even encourages dancing at the end! What’s not to like about this cute little TV show for toddlers?
Well I found something. More accurately, my toddler found something. And I think we might be done with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because of it.
I was sitting next to my two-year-old son when he asked a question that shocked me. He was watching the last of an episode while I was busy tending to his baby brother and folding laundry. Once I heard that “hotdog dance” music, I looked over at him to see if he would start dancing like he usually does. But this time, he was deep in thought. He spanned the screen and with a puzzled look on his face finally asked: “Mommy, why doesn’t Pete get to dance?”
I was speechless for a moment.
Pete: the notorious antagonist. Nobody likes Pete. Why doesn’t anybody like Pete? Because Pete is mean; he is always up to no good.
But WHY is Pete mean?
Think about it. The answer has to be because he is always excluded. Mickey and his besties have formed an exclusive club (it’s called a clubhouse, right?) and Pete is not a part of it. No matter how hard he tries, Pete cannot join the club. Thus, Pete has no friends. Who can really blame the guy for acting out toward the group as often as he does?
Admission: I was a cliquey, mean girl in my younger years. Regrettably. And I remember this same scenario in elementary school when my friends and I left someone out of the fun. The poor kid acted out! And then they’re perceived as mean because of it, but really they’re just hurt. That vicious cycle of exclusion –>hurt feelings –> mean actions –>more exclusion –>more hurt feelings (you get the picture) can carry a kid through many formative years as friendless and embittered about it.
Maybe I’m overreacting. But if my two-year-old can perceive exclusion and sense that it wasn’t right, I know he can pick up on many other unspoken lessons from that show. Celebrating the exclusivity of a clique is one of them.
So no more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for us. Because I want to raise a child that will reach out to others. Even the ones who seem a little off because they typically play alone. Even the ones who say mean things sometimes. I want him to be known for indiscriminate friendliness and unashamed inclusion. And I know that won’t be accomplished by simply turning off a T.V. show, but it’s one step back from the wrong direction. And now it’s my job, as his mom to take the next step in the right direction.
Here are some great books I found if you’d like to help teach your kid(s) about friendship (these are affiliate links that help support this blog and the family behind it):
The Juicebox Bully: empowering kids to stand up for others
How to be a Friend: a guide for making friends and keeping them
Stand in My Shoes: Kids Learning about Empathy (no photo but this one looks really good!)
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Wow I never thought of that but your Toddlers right and if my child was little we wouldn’t watch it either.
I think that Pete just isn’t one of the main characters, there’s a lot of side line characters like Mabel and the giant , it’s not just Pete , I always feel like they are actually really nice to Pete even tho he never does anything for them!
Thats exactly what I thought. Kate is literally looking into it waaaay too much…which seems to be a big problem with the world these days.
Also Pete is a cat.
Goofy is a dog. Mickey & Minnie are mice. Donald and Daisy are ducks. In the animal world they typically don’t get along.
All of u are a bunch of karens!!
You have a perceptive little one there!
Mine watched it a few times at their grandparents’ house, but my son was always bothered by it. Now I’m wondering if it had to do with Pete.
He teaches me more than I teach him, some days! You never know what your little guy was absorbing, but it’s so good to have conversations about this stuff. Thanks for reading and commenting, Christina!
You do realize that Clarabelle and the professor don’t get to dance either? It’s because they are minor characters in the show. It has nothing to do with anything you’ve said here.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment, Mariah. This is all food for thought, prompted by the very honest and real concern of my toddler who is forming a foundation for the way he’ll treat others as we speak.
I do realize those characters are minor and don’t get to dance either. However, they’re treated differently than Pete. Clarabelle appears to be a well-liked acquaintance who is just busy with other things and the professor is a respected elder who is always working. Pete is a peer who is excluded without regard just about all the time. And if my toddler can see that, then it’s enough for me.
And it’s perfectly okay if it’s not a concern of yours.
I have to question how much of the show you’ve actually watched. Pete is always up to no good but is always accepted by Mickey and friends. The only morality in the show is in how the gang treats Pete. They’re very good to a character that most would say doesn’t deserve it. If you have an example of how Pete is treated negatively, ever, please let me know. So he doesn’t dance. Not everyone dances. The main characters dance, which Pete is not. Let’s not be so soft. The real world is not.
I am watching this show right now, and i dont know how you can tbink hes NOT treated differently. I literally just googled why does mickey mouse clubhouse treat pete like sh!t? And here i am. My kid loves this show. Next time an example comes up ill come back.
Hahaha that is SO FUNNY that your google search brought you to this post! Thanks for commenting and thanks for the example! It’s been a while since I’ve watched (I wrote this two years ago), but it is SO TRUE. Pete acts out against the group because the group is always leaving him out! The rest of the minor characters who are not “in the club” like Clarabelle and the professor are still treated kindly. Thanks for the laugh, I’ll keep not watching this show with my kids. :)
Got one. The princess and the frog episode. Daisy is “locked” in a tower by pete and mickey and donald “save her”. No. She told pete that she would knit him a scarf but then got bored with it. So instead of talking to him about it they try to sneak past him. He is upset and tries to follow them. They run going so far as to push him down. This is a running theme in this show. They scold and exclude pete and at the end of the episode we find out he had good reasons for his actions. Also the episode where pete saves their asses off rhe snow mountainside and literally everyone gets hot coco but him.
You are so right! Pete is just treated like sh*t all the time!
Actually Pete isn’t excluded much in this series (compared to other Disney incarnations with him, hell in kingdom hearts 2 Minnie banishes Pete to deep space just because he cared more about the prize in a contest than helping people)
But in Mickey mouse clubhouse it isn’t nearly as bad in today’s episode they hold a carnival to raise corn for chickens and Pete is involved and at the very end, while he doesn’t dance, Minnie gives him a stuffed version of himself that she won at the carnival. This series is one of the few examples where Pete really isn’t excluded at all it’s generally his choice to not be involved if he doesn’t want to.
True. Pete is a scheming thief who is always trying to still their shit. You are actually teaching your kid to let people steal from him and get away with it. In case you didnt notice Mickey forgives him everytime . He steals from Captain Goofbeard, and he still let’s Pete be his first mate.
Finally common sense!
You could argue that this is true in the opening segment, too. They do include Pete, Clarabell Cow, and the Professor in the main storyline in many episodes. Have you watched the Road Rally show? They include Pete even though he continues to be a jerk. They include many characters throughout the program. It’s just at the end, during the Hot Dog dance, where Disney is too lazy or cheap to redo the sequence and include them during that last segment.
I’m in no way defending Disney, as it’s crack for kids, and I find the industry as a whole not aligned with most of our values. However, most toddler shows have opening and closing segments that are the same in every show regardless of what goes on in the middle. The same is true on Nick, Jr., PBS, etc. So don’t over-analyze it too much. It’s just the industry being cheap/lazy and not creating new opening and closing animation.
That’s a good point, MissM. I haven’t seen the Road Rally show, but I see what you mean. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. :)
Most kids shows have someone who causes trouble. I think the point of Pete is to show kids how to deal with mean people. Mickey and the friends are always kind to him. Mickey and the friends are never mean back to him which is a good example for kids. I think the dance is just a main character thing. Just my personal option. I would have just said because Pete does not live at the clubhouse. All kids are effective by things differently though and you know what will work best for your kids.
Thought provoking…I do think it may be intentional that the show is set up this way to teach lessons just like this. Your son picked up on it. This is good, it started a discussion that allowed you to enlighten him on the topic. This may not be a bad thing.
Thanks, Jen. You’re right, it did spark a good conversation. Of course, he’s two, so it was a deep conversation that was interrupted with, “Hey Mommy did you know that blue is my favorite color and popcorn is delicious?” :P It’s something we’ll definitely continue talking about as he gets older. Let me just say once and for all that the problem isn’t just Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the problem is the flat characters portrayed by most kids’ stories and shows. Good is good and evil is evil, and maybe this will have to be a spin-off blog post for another day, but that’s just not how real people are. Good people do bad things often. And “bad people” got that way for a reason. Anyhow, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I do so appreciate it. :)
What’s interesting is that Pete, also known as Pegleg Pete, is Disney’s oldest villain dating from 1925 (three years before Mickey).
I always saw Pete’s role as a villain, even in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse series. A good story needs an antagonist and someone to move the story along. Also, there are people like Pete in real life.
There’s a show out of New Zealand, Milly and Molly that shows how including the Weird-kid/Bully can be a transformative experience. You can find it on the YouTube. My daughter loves it.
I think the real point here is what is your child getting out of it. Every child is different and we all have a different perspective. I personally think they’re way too nice to Pete. In real life lessons, the best kids are the ones that give everybody a chance and when certain people are jerks they should not continue to have to be around them and include them. That is not reality. They always give Pete a chance and Pete is always a jerk. Would you really want some jerk bully kid to be invited over and over to your toddler’s birthday party (play date etc.) even though he’s going to ruin it? No, you wouldn’t. Another way of looking at this is, if you’re a jerk and you don’t have manners then your not going to be invited into the fun kids club.
My oldest daughter who is now five years old and my now three-year-old daughter noticed the same thing a couple years ago. My oldest also noticed that everything is about Mickey Mouse and never any of the other characters. That bothered her and it bothered me also. Used to tell me that it’s not fair that Pete & Clarabelle could never be in the club. We finally had to take a break from the show because I noticed so much negative stuff in it.
People don’t realize just how much children pick up on things that are in TV shows. We have talked with our children about how things that they see on TV are not always right just because it’s portrayed by a cartoon character. We had a cut off Jake and the Neverland Pirates because our daughter thought that because Jake and Hook take things from each other that it was OK to take things from other people. That’s why know when our children want to watch a new cartoon my husband and I watch it first. Parents need to be careful what they allow their children to watch, because cartoons are innocent anymore.
I agree with what some ladies have already said – Pete is often included despite his deliberate attempts to cause trouble. I can think of many episodes off the top of my head where this happens (someone already mentioned the road rally episode, that’s a big one) So I wouldn’t dump the show but maybe point all that out to your little guy. Honestly I’m more concerned about some of the Disney princesses and tinkerbelle with their provocative clothing. Now that’s something I wouldn’t (and don’t) allow in my house. But I digress.
If my child had mentioned this to me I would use it as a learning experience. I would tell him or her that not everyone likes to do the same as others and maybe Pete doesn’t want to dance. Or maybe he is somewhere else while they are dancing. But Pete is always excepted. I would never turn it into a negative thing and not allow him to watch it anymore. I feel that is too extreme. Everything is a learning experience. My kids love Mickey mouse and I would never not allow it because of something my toddler perceived about it that really is nothing.
And type in hot dog song special and it does include Pete as well as a couple other characters that are missing or ones. I just happened to find on YouTube
Don’t get me started on Thomas the Train. I’ve seen several episodes of the Clubhouse where characters bend over backwards to include Pete like others have said. Maybe it’s reaching a bit. If you can find a good moral, though in your own narrative, more power to you. The real bad one is the little train with amazing intentions to go out of his way every episode to go above and beyond what is asked but learns through failure only to obey orders and do the bare minimum required of him. Every. Single. Episode. Mom. He’s not going out of his way to be defiant or disobedient, he’s distracted by altruism. Every good kid who gets distracted gets to learn every episode that no good deed goes unpunished. There’s not any stretch to that one. The point is obedience is valued over being kind. Thanks, children’s programs. We don’t want that sort of education.
I came to this conclusion a long time ago. The show is not consistent. Disney uses Pete the fat outcast as a mean character and some times a nice friendly one. Why not teach kids how to bully and see evil and good at 2 years old. I just have my kids watch Daniel tiger shows. For example this episode Pete was very nice. Then they say goodbye Pete were going back to the clubhouse to dance. Really so now Pete sits alone in the forest while they are dancing and playing. This show is disgusting and teaches children to treat others not equally based on their appearance. The writer of this story is still feeling regret for bullying,which she should….
I just put it on for my daughter today. Found this post after searching up something I noticed in one of the first few episodes. The one where Donald traded his chicken to the giant for magic beans. I was a bit curious after complaining to my friend about how it basically tried to teach my daughter to steal. They ended up not being able to get away from the giant but they tried. Opening the coop with a key, running when the giant woke up, trying to distract the giant with bubbles so they could get away. Donald traded it to the giant. Started regretting it after he thought they wasn’t magic and ended up using the beans. Yea at the end they gave the giant a teddy bear in exchange AFTER they failed to get away from him but really.. they tried to steal. Come on that’s not something I want my daughter to see. I won’t be watching it and she won’t either after that. Yea sorry kinda upset and just vented. 😬
…except that he DOES dance with the rest of the crew sometimes.
Pete is a cat, natural enemy of mouse.
I came here to see if others have noticed their child addicted to mm clubhouse. I think it’s the over stimulating colors and music, like a casino or video game.
I try to get her to watch Daniel tiger or pooh bear, but she doesn’t get the same addictive hit she gets from mm. Sad this is inflicted on our children for corporate greed.
The writer of this article hasn’t watched much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because, not only is Pete mean because he’s just mean, Mickey and the gang are always inviting him to participate in the things they’re doing, and they do often invite him to dance in the hot dog dance yet he is still mean to them. Pete is not mean because he’s excluded not is he excluded because he’s mean. He gets invited and he still mean and he chooses not to participate. I think only Pete’s psychiatrist, Professor Von Drake, knows WHY he’s mean 🤣😂🤣😂
I know this post is old, but I just think it’s our job to add context to these shows. It’s up to us to emphasize the reasons why Pete or the professor don’t dance. I think the lesson they are teaching is we should be nice to people even when they’re not nice to us, but we are not obligated to spend time with people who treat us badly. And it’s okay to distance yourself from people that do bad things. Maybe we don’t have to make characters that our children love into unnecessary villains
Pete has come a long way over the years. Yes he used to be a complete villain but now I’ve witnessed times when Mickey and friends have done things to “help” Pete despite his gruffness. And Clarabelle doesn’t do the Hot-Dog dance either – so why are we excluding Clarabelle? And how about Chip N Dale?
I think we might be looking at this wrong. While Pete & Clarabelle aren’t necessarily part of the “clubhouse” it doesn’t mean that they are completely excluded from Mickey and friends activities.
Instead what I see and what I try to teach my daughter is that you may have a circle of people that you see on a regular basis or are closest too. But that doesn’t mean that you should exclude others from activities when they are around. Instead, invite them to play or to be a part of the ongoing activity. Do not push anyone out.
But as a realist I have to explain to her too that there are people who will for one reason other push back or force the exclusion. But I do encourage them to make every effort to be nice and accepting of all people.
Another thing to look at … is if we want to teach our children how to handle others who behave as Pete does (heck even Donald is selfish) we have to be realistic and put characters like them in cartoons. Yes, Pete is often rude & inconsiderate – but Mickey still does nice things for Pete. That should be the lesson you point out to your child.
Not once have I ever seen Mickey & friends tell Pete “you can’t join us”. Instead of agreeing that Pete is “excluded” b/c of his behavior … why not say … maybe Pete is like a kid that goes to your church but not to your school. He doesn’t live in the clubhouse “compound” but he is still included in random activities when he is around.
By the way … you can find some videos on youtube where Pete & Clarabelle and others have joined in the dance.
Just my humble musings that hopefully offer another perspective.
Ahem.
http://youtu.be/OZWdkZpZsSU
This is not remotely the only example. Pete and other non-regular characters intermittently join in.
My two year old can’t get enough of Mickey Mouse clubhouse. I regret ever allowing him to begin watching it. It looked cute and harmless at the beginning. And for the most part, it probably is.
But it’s addictive. We’ve unintentionally trained him to watch it in the morning, during the day, and before bed. He he usually expects it, especially before bed, at least 1 or sometimes two episodes. And even if he’s watched two episodes before bed, he’ll sometimes ask to watch more Mickey when he lays down. We’ve going to have to curtail is drastically.
And I personally think that it teaches kids to be stupid by not actually trying to solve problems on their own. They have to rely on Toodles to help them in all situations. When was the last time that the characters on the show solved anything on their own? About the only time I remember was the Road Rally, where Goofy was able to “save” or “rescue” the characters using the truck that the Professor created.
I’m tired of Toodles. I’m tired of the same, stupid, grating music that accompanies Toodles every single time. I feel my IQ drop by 10 points. I’m tired of the fact that the show is so visually busy, so visually bright and the music so obnoxious. I can see why my son loves it. He’s learned numbers and days of the weeks. But I don’t think that it’s an overall beneficial show.