Max & Ruby live in a cute little cottage, but weirdly enough, all by themselves (which made my son somewhat concerned at one point and he wanted to know what happened to their parents). Max is a typical three-year-old boy (I mean, bunny) and likes to get into mischief. Every time he does something naughty, Ruby, in her signature sing-songy voice says “Ma-ax!” and then very patiently explains to him that he should stop his mischief and do something else instead. It is hard to explain her tone of voice, so if you’ve never seen the show, just watch the second episode on http://crackle.com/c/Short_Films/Max_and_Ruby/1936369. (fast forward to 8:00).

Watch it carefully… When Max brings a noisy toy to the room the first time, all she tells him is “You need a quiet toy to play with” and redirects him to a puzzle (9:07). Then, when Max brings another noisy toy to the room while she’s on the phone with a friend and is dying to learn a secret her friend promised to tell her, again, even then, all she says is “Max! I can’t hear Louise’s secret. Loud toys go outside. Come on. Let’s go.” without a shade of anger in her voice. (10:33) Similar scene repeats two times, as Max flies a toy a helicopter into the room (11:52) and sends in a toy talking parrot (13:20). Despite all that, Ruby never loses her cool and yells at Max. I am full of admiration for her. I don’t know how she does it… (other than being a cartoon bunny, that is)