To want to ban my two year old from YouTube?

[NotInAsda]

I’ve got my flameproof knickers on for this because I know, I’m being lazy allowing my child to use a phone to keep him quiet for a moment, but I really don’t want him using YouTube any more.

We tend to let him look at our phones for a few minutes to brush his teeth (he hates it so the couple of minutes playing with the phone usually buys us enough time). Last week I heard my partner saying “no, that’s not nice!” and our son crying because the phone had been taken off him. Turns out he had been watching one of those ubiquitous ‘Mummy Finger Daddy Finger’ videos and it had animals fighting each other in

I was upset about it at the time and now there seems to be news all the time about apps and videos aimed at kids being something horrible instead (like the Blaze app that went viral). I want to stop him using YouTube altogether and only have access to “safe” stuff like CBeebies content.

My partner says I’m overreacting and he’s got all his settings such that our son won’t see anything harmful. But I don’t really want to take the risk.

Who is BU?

Wow - and I worried about inappropriate content on YouTube when DS was 12! No, of course YANBU to want your DC to only use age appropriate Apps. And not judging you for using your phone to occupy your DC - there weren't smart phones around when my DC was that age but if there had been then I'm sure the CBeebies App would have been much used!

When my boys were little I had an app on my iPod called "Brushy Time". A little pirate cartoon countdown.

My 2 and 5 year olds gave tablets so I'm not judging the tablet/phone usage but come on. No two year old needs to be on YouTube. You can sign up for kindle kids and make sure they're accessing age appropriate material that you can also enjoy with them. I don't understand why anyone would just hand a toddler a device and let them crack on.

We use kids tube

Ejphrasis When you say YouTube do you mean the original YouTube or kids YouTube (or both)? Thanks.

My 3 year old watches toy videos sometimes but on my knee with me holding the phone. Just don't leave him unattended with it.

You can also lock settings on the 'you tube kids app'

I wouldn’t trust the YouTube kids app. I think YouTube is fine but absolutely never unsupervised.

Alternatively, buy a few episodes of a tv show on Google Play, then download them, and turn your phone onto airplane mode before giving it to him.

(It helps if you set the Google TV and Movies app to show downloaded only, but it's not essential.)

There doesn't seem to me to be any reason to let your son has unsupervised access to your phone. He is two
First answer, right answer.

Fuck knows how we all managed before the internet.

ElsaGate

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsagate

www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2017/11/28/youtubes-elsagate-illuminates-the-unintended-horrors-of-the-digital-age/#765f05546ba7

Yes its a conspiracy type stuff, but there is no way I would leave a child unsupervised on Youtube or the kids app, a lot of the videos are still online and once you go down the rabbit hole..

Personally, we didn't let our dd watch YouTube at 2, even under supervision. She was barely watching Cbeebies. There are plenty of child friendly things you could let him have access to. The BBC Kids iplayer app is great and you could download videos and films that you can pre-screen for him and know they are safe. Mine is nearly 5 now and I still don't let her watch anything on YouTube unsupervised. When she does watch it, it's mostly for a school project or to learn about something she was interested in and we do it together. It's a website made for adults really and it's so easy to click through to other random things that aren't age appropriate. I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. Just find something that is better and more appropriate for him.

Just delete the app. I did it six months ago and I haven't regretted it for a second. At least you know the content on iPlayer/Netflix kids is suitable for their age.

Wow. 2??!! YADBU

My 8yo DS has just started watching YouTube for minecraft videos. We have sat down together and agreed the channels he can watch (DanTDM, Thinknoodle etc). I deliberately moved the computer into the living room at this point so I can both see and hear what he is watching. We have had and continue to have conversations about safe internet use. Even so I worry and supervise the WHOLE time he is on it because YouTube is awful for leading you from innocent fluffy bunny rabbits one minute to psycho zombie sex bunnies in the space of only a few clicks.

Not a chance in HELL I would want a 2yo accessing YouTube independently.

He’s also on the autistic spectrum and hates brushing his teeth. We use an app. Get a tooth brushing app. Use Netflix. Use bbciplayer kids app. So many more appropriate things out there for 2yo.

Realistically though, it is common to use a phone or tablet to entertain or distract. Even in hospitals they're used to distract kids from painful procedures! Equally realistically a parent may well be distracted for a moment fetching a toothbrush, changing a sibling, etc. Setting up a system that relies on 100% attention is bound to fail.

So, don't do that. Don't use Youtube Kids. Don't trust any company to actually watch user-generated content for you - they won't, they are all set up to react only to complaints and frankly, the sheer volume of content posted every single second makes it impossible. Assume that you are the only human in the loop.

The problem isn't the phone per se, it's letting a child of any age have access to the internet. The article that has been linked twice now in this thread is long, but makes it very very clear that creating thousands and thousands of videos that traumatise and upset young children is profitable so it will not stop happening - what we can do as parents is to avoid letting our kids access that content. Download videos to watch, turn off wifi/data access on the phone or tablet. And watch with them anyway.

A child of 2 should be supervised when brushing their teeth.

A two year old using a tablet?

I'm shocked, why wouldn't you just parent them?

I wouldn't let my 2 year old hold and play with my £300 bit of tech.
They like dropping things!

I've seen some really disturbing stuff on the kids YouTube app.

Netflix for kids is a lot safer. I've gone as far as hiding thr YouTube icon from my phone so the kids can't access it. Seriously I've seen Old MacDonald had a farm cartoon songs where the farmer was electrocuting his animals. Completely innocent at first glance, but it's really Fucked up.

I don’t let my 4 year old watch YouTube for the same reason and no, the kids version is not guaranteed to be much better either. I know parents that have been caught out by that.

There’s no reason to use YouTube anyway. You could use the BBC iPlayer for example and download a couple of episodes of something or if you have Netflix or Amazon you can do the same

No way would my 2 year old be watching You Tube. I don't understand why you would think that in any way OK.

I've come across some really nasty stuff on YouTube. And the kids one. For goodness sakes put your good parent hat on and don't let him watch it again.

My eldest is ten and I don't let him watch YouTube! Why risk exposing your child to things outside of your control?

I'll probably get flamed for this but I honestly don't see any need for phones/iPads all the time. I'm all for kids learning to use technology but I think that screens are screwing our kids up.

I don't think you should be letting him choose a video himself unless it's from a pre-screened selection. Other than that, if you're going to do it, the fact that it's on Youtube rather than something else is neither here not there.

here nor there