Making YouTube A Little More Kid-Friendly

If your kids are like mine they love getting on YouTube and watching their favorite shows.  While there is a lot of great content on YouTube — Tom and Jerry, Fraggle Rock, etc. –there is also a lot of stuff on YouTube that I would rather my young children not watch (i.e. I found a Sesame Street clip that had been edited to include Bert and Ernie getting stoned…hmmm).

Now while YouTube was not created with children in mind, I think I’ve found a way to give myself a little piece of mind when my children are on it. What did I do you ask? I created a YouTube channel and filled it with videos from YouTube that I prescreened and that I feel are appropriate for my children. 

Setting up the channel was super easy and has made it easier for my kids to select and watch videos that they love and that I don’t have to worry about. 

Here’s a quick overview of how to set up your own channel on YouTube and populate it with kid-friendly, age appropriate videos for your children. Please note that this is NOT a sure fire way to make sure your kids watch videos that you approve of but it does make it a whole lot easier for them. I recommend only letting them on YouTube if they are within your viewing range as there are still ways for them to click on videos outside of your YouTube channel (see important things to note at end of post)

 

Setting up a YouTube channel

1. Visit www.Youtube.com and follow the prompts to create a YouTube account. Once your account is created, you will see a screen that looks like this:

2. From the tool bar (top right) select ‘more‘ from the ‘account‘ drop down menu

3. You should now see a screen that looks like this. 

4. On the far right click on the link to ‘edit channel.’ Here you can decide what you would like to appear on your YouTube channel, who you would like to have access to it, etc.  You can also design your channel background by clicking on the ‘channel design’ link.

 

5. Once your channel has been set up you are ready to start adding kid-friendly videos to your page.  In the search bar type in the name of a video you would like to include.  As an example, I typed in Global Wonders.

6. Once you have reviewed the video and feel that it is appropriate for your children, simply click on the word ‘Favorite‘ below the video screen. This will add it to your YouTube channel:

     

7. Continue surfing YouTube and adding videos you approve of to your page.  Here’s a look at the channel I created for my boys:

8. Once you have your videos up you are ready to sit down with your children and explain the new process/rules to them.

Our Rules

1. They can only watch videos that I have approved on our YouTube channel.

2. Once they have viewed a video they need to click on the channel name link (mommybits, etc.) on the top of the screen to return to our channel. Then they need to click on the ‘Favorites’ link to see the videos they have to choose from.

3. If there is a video that is not on the list, but shows up in the “related videos” box, they need to check with me before watching.

4. They cannot get on YouTube unless myself or their Dad is in the room.

Important things to note

1. When children are watching your approved videos they can still click on videos from the “related videos” section that are not on your channel. I have told my boys that they are not to click on these but that if they see one that looks interesting to check with me first.

2. I recommend checking out the comments of the videos you select as kids can view them. I found a couple of Fraggle rock videos that I liked but didn’t add them because someone had left an inappropriate comment on the main page.

3. There are a lot of great video channels that have been set up by the companies that produce many of the videos.  Companies like PBS and others have uploaded their own content, making it easier to trust the videos they’ve featured.

4. YouTube was not created for children. You should always be within viewing/listen distance while they are using it.

5. When selecting videos for your kids make sure you watch the entire video if you do not know the source that uploaded it. I have seen videos that seem normal but in fact have been altered – think Bert and Ernie smoking pot…. Thundercats cursing, etc.

*Please note that the above information is based on my experiences with YouTube and in no way guarantee that your child will not stumble upon videos that you do not approve of.

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