It's a fair move. At ages 40, 51 and 58 respectively Greg the Yellow Wiggle, Murray the Red Wiggle and Jeff the Purple Wiggle were probably advised to stop Wiggling before they popped a ligament and collapsed on stage in front of thousands of panicked 3 year olds.
But the announcement is still a sad one and after exactly 21 years of growing up with the brightly hued skivvies, I'd like to think some homage is owed to the band that revolutionised children's entertainment.
To encourage my twin sisters out of the womb my mother purchased the first Wiggles cassette tape in a move that she would later seriously regret. I was 5, determined to learn the keyboard and insisted on whoever was driving the car to rewind said cassette to my favourite parts.
At a time where trying to get to the right song while simultaneously driving a car was on par in danger and difficulty as smuggling a bomb in your intestines I quickly became the least favoured child in the family.
Yet as well as instilling a healthy level of childhood rebellion in me, the Wiggles, although inadvertently, practically saved me from any winter-related health worries for my first three years of school.
Although the scanty gears of the Spice Girls et al eventually won my favour my determination to wear nothing but skivvies throughout the seasons saw both a sniffle-free child till at least '98 and promising returns for Postie Plus. Of course it wasn't just the reckless rock n roll attitude that engaged me.
The Wiggles as a TV show had it going on every level. Unlike the predictable premise and set location of other productions like Bananas in Pyjamas, Barney the Dinosuar and Playschool, the Wiggles and crew took its viewers on a literal journey through space and time.
While B1, B2 and Rat in the Hat were confined to the suburban sanctions of Cuddles Avenue, the Wiggles and friends had all the bases covered.
Captain Feathersword roamed the high sea, while Henry the Octopus breakdanced under it, the Big Red Car traversed the open roads while Dorothy the Dinosaur tended to her rose garden.
Although I was always a little anxious about a dinosaur that eats the floral equivalent of barbed wire for breakfast I appreciated the variety nonetheless.
Equally unlike other children's series of the time, the antics of the Wiggles never involved bizarre stories or suspicious activity to destroy their wholesome memory for older fans.
Whether factual or not, I could never comfortably watch Steve's replacement on Blues Clues after hearing the original killed himself by shoving pencils up his nose.
Rumours of Po the red Teletubby asphyxiating inside her costume and Tinky Winky being the subliminal leader of some kind of homosexual mutiny were equally confusing.
No, throughout rumours and scandal the Wiggles stayed true to their sensible, fresh-faced selves. Loyalists were shaken during an unfamiliar period that saw Sam the Imposter Wiggle try on the yellow skivvy when Greg fell ill in 2006 but that all righted itself in just a few years and a minor spat over pay discrepancies with Greg returning in January. After wrapping up a world tour ending this December, three new vigorous, youthful Wiggles will join the team including 22-year-old Emma Watkin, the band's first Lady Wiggle.
The band leaves behind a legacy for the masses and an array of cherished memories for me.
I have Greg the bad-ass 'Magic Wiggle' to thank for making the colour yellow cool, bringing at least an inch of credibility to my otherwise vomit-inducing intermediate uniform.
I have Murray the 'Musical Wiggle' to thank for a summer of attempting to learn the guitar, emerging talent-free with calluses and the ability to play 'Smoke on the Water' at half the speed and a third of the aural pleasure.
I have Anthony the 'Hungry Wiggle', my favourite and the only original remaining member to thank for the fact that even though I was a blob of a child I had exceptional levels of potassium due to a constant craving for mashed bananas.
And finally I have Jeff the 'Sleepy Wiggle' to thank for the million occasions I have seen a middle-aged Asian male napping on public transport and having to fight the urge to yell 'WAKE UP JEFF!!'. My advanced social graces may have halted the outbursts, but the idea sure provided a damn good chuckle.
So Wiggles-in-your-original-form, you may be going but will most certainly not be forgotten.
For your inanely catchy tunes, your happy finger points and for transporting children from the highway to the cretaceous period in a single episode, thank you. From all of us.
