Putting your child in front of youtube is the same as putting them in front of the TV

[Yesitismeagain]

My dsil is v critical of mums that put their child in front of the TV to watch CBeebies. She says it is lazy parenting. It is bad for the child etc.

However, she puts her 14 month old son in front of her iPad to watch Youtube Pepper Pig or Ben and Holly for episode upon episode at a time. I've seen him sat in his high chair for at least 45 mins watching Youtube whilst she tidys up etc.

AIBU to not see what the difference is?

Hi All,??

My two DDs are totally addicted to Stampy and spend any time they can get watching him on YouTube.??

And, like you, that’s been my problem.

NOT the annoying laugh (although a bullet would not be out of the question). When they’re on YouTube they’re only a couple of clicks away from stuff that I don’t want them to be watching. (I caught my eldest watching footage of Kamikaze planes flying into destroyers in WWII when she was looking for videos of Concorde for a school project.)

I have a Wordpress blog and as such found a plugin that can aggregate YouTube videos. I have now set up some new websites for my kids to watch:

www.allminecraftvideos.com - Minecraft
www.allskylandersvideos.com - Skylanders
www.allstampyvideos.com - StampyLongnose (Longneck, Cat)
www.alldantdmvideos.com - DanTDM
www.alliballisticsquid.com - IBallisticSquid
www.allterrariavideos.com - Terraria
www.allbarbievideos.com - Barbie
www.allkatyperryvideos.com - Katy Perry
www.alltaylorswiftvideos.com - Taylor Swift
www.allfrozenvideos.com - Frozen
www.allonedirectionvideos.com - One Direction
www.alledsheeranvideos.com - Ed Sheeran

Each site has the YouTube feed for each subject and NOTHING else. There are updates daily, so anything that is posted on YouTube is mirrored onto the site. My DDs can now watch Stampy without me having any fear they could end up watching something inappropriate.??

If you feel this would be good for you, please use it.

Also if you would like me to set up another site with similar aggregated videos on another subject that your kids watch, I can. It only costs me about £20.00 and it’s pretty easy once you know how.

??HTH.

iPad's are probably worse because they have a retina display screen which is bad for wee eyes. And it tends to be held closer than they'd watch TV.

You can get lock apps for the iPad that stops any one doing stuff on the screen though. That should stop kids navigating elsewhere for those who are worried about that.

If anyone has done any YouGov surveys recently, you'll notice they count YouTube (and Prime, and Netflix) as "TV Channels" ...

I find myself trying to persuade my teens to watch TV. Anything to get them away from the rubbish they watch on YouTube....

Of course it's the same

But more to the point how on earth does she get a 14 month old to watch peppa pig for 45 mins?

Yes it's the same. I do both

The difference is that cbeebies has a selection of programs showing children's lives and some educational pre school content not just animated fantasy from the same drawn characters on loop. The kid watching cbeebies for an hour would have seen a few characters maybe found out something about animals/ sharing/ another place in the world/ ideas for creative play imaginative play or cooking.
I think u tube is like a dvd to play the child something they are already familiar with rather than help them develop different interests.

They are both screen time. Personally I use the youtube approach as its portable but I do lock it using guided access which means ds can't leave the youtube app and I've put on filters.
However with any screen time it needs to be limited e.g. I try for ds who is 2.5 not to have more than 30 mins a day and not in the hours leading up to bedtime as i really to think it makes him dropping off more difficult than it already is.
YANBU

YANBU. Screen time is screen time, whether it's on TV or an iPad, broadcast channels or YouTube.

We don't have cable / a digital box or the means to receive broadcast television, but we do have an Apple TV box and the children make extremely good use of our Netflix subscription! Whenever we're back in the UK I'm happy for them to watch CBeebies as I think the programmes are excellent.

I don't have a TV. My 2yo does love watching youtube videos on my phone.

When looking for "funny kitten" or "funny cat" video clips (which you'd think would be harmless and cute) it's remarkable how many clips have swearing in them.

Once they can read the YouTube comments section is very educational too!

Ds is 8

At the moment he and his class mate are watching YouTube and a science video about a volcano erupting. Last night he was trying to explain to us about the YouTube video showing an extinct shark that may not be extinct (sigh).

I am really, really, really slack about how much screen time he gets. I am absolutely rigid about age appropriate. I also usually sit in the same room as him, at an angle I can see over his shoulder

Mind you, most of the time ds is watching Donald Duck, or Ben10, or Stampy.

I think that YouTube is a tougher thing to police than tv but that it has more opportunities.

Mine's in front of both at the same time .

my 8yo (Asd) is addicted to youtube, but he spends hours watching other people playing computer games
Mine's 14 but yes he's the same, watching other people's computer games. Wonder what the attraction is, he's more than capable of playing games for himself?

Hilarious that she thinks there is a difference. I would have thought she was joking !

YouTube is definitely much worse than CBeebies if you're not careful what you click on.

I accidentally watched the Noddy Song (Ian Dury) with DD1 when she was about 2. Even I was shocked by the language.

Dan from DiamondMinecart is adorable and feels like part of our family these days.

My two watch youtube on the TV in the lounge room so i can keep an eye/ear on what they are watching.

It is exactly the same thing.

Dan is a sweetie IRL too

Well tell him that one geeky Aussie mum approves.