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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To delete YouTube kids off their ipads

25 replies

Suzanne12 · 21/04/2020 15:31

AIBU to delete the YouTube kids app off my kids ipads? Ages 4 and almost 6. They watch Ben & Holly, Mila & Morphle etc. I've just had enough of it.

OP posts:
OneandTwenty · 21/04/2020 15:44

I am confused, If you agreed to give a 4 year old their own ipad, what exactly did you want them to do on it?

Sux2buthen · 21/04/2020 15:45

It's shit mostly, but has its place. It buys me time when needed lol.

JemNadies · 21/04/2020 15:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gingganggooleywotsit · 21/04/2020 22:00

Yes ok get rid, try and get them to play a game together as they are pretty close in age?

SherlocksDeerstalker · 21/04/2020 22:02

Do it. I did it two years ago. They are now 6 and 9 and barely remember YouTube.

HettyStThomas · 21/04/2020 22:04

I did this a few months ago. They moaned like anything for a week or so but they're so much better now. Do it!

MyNameHasBeenTaken · 21/04/2020 22:05

I tried to remove you tube from dds iPad.
It wouldn't let me.
I would rather she was playing games (spellings, maths, problem solving).
Or colouring to relax.
It shouldn't be built in!
Yanbu to delete it.
They have many more uses than you tube.

lauryloo · 21/04/2020 22:05

Morphle is enough to make you want to tbh

gianthippo · 21/04/2020 22:05

Bin in. I deleted You Tube ages ago and she's now forgotten all about it. I'm tempted to delete the web browser too so that she is restricted to just the apps I have selected.

user1493413286 · 21/04/2020 22:06

I don’t understand why; it is rubbish on there but as long as you’re keeping an eye and limiting too much screen time then it’s not particularly different to any other children’s programme

Abzs · 21/04/2020 22:08

I use the timer and the block video/channel options. I haven't heard that awful morphle thing for months. I don't think ds has even noticed that it doesn't appear any more.

Mustbethewine · 21/04/2020 22:10

YANBU at that age no. I remember my best friends niece who was 5 at the time (friend was babysitting) was watching some woman having a cesarean, the ipad belonged to the niece 😳 my almost 9 year old has YouTube on his tv but its signed into an account I created so I can view the history of things he's been viewing, all he's watching is old, iconic football matches and random facts on his favourite footballers 🤷‍♀️

Qcng · 21/04/2020 22:10

Sorry, but... Their own iPads?

BrooHaHa · 21/04/2020 22:11

I'd get rid. But then, I wouldn't give a four year old their own tablet. Or a six year old, for that matter. Horribly addictive, ruins the concentration span and weakens the imagination.

Chattercino · 21/04/2020 22:12

I deleted when my son started talking about the "trash" and other americanisms. They now watch Netflix on the iPads. Much better.

Yesmate · 21/04/2020 22:15

Why don’t you put iPlayer, Netflix etc on there. YouTube is horrendous.

Poetryinaction · 21/04/2020 22:18

I bought a tablet for my 6 year old to do educational games at the start of lockdown. He has no idea it can go on YouTube. Delete it.

Sorocknroll · 22/04/2020 00:15

I got a amazon fire for my 2.5 year old. It doesnt have you tube directly but has ben and holly etc in her favourites. Also lots of games which help with her hand eye coordination, numbers etc. I can control what it does and put restrictions on... also if it does break accidently I can get it replaced

My dad is a primary school teacher and an advocate for technology like tablets with kids within moderation as it does help with coordination. He also helps my DC with pen holding etc. Life will become more technology bound and this lockdown will demonstrate that so I see no harm in keeping children up to date.

Must admit seen a few videos on you tube kids which I have blocked because they are plain weird, like barbie leaving the child in the house who proceeds to make eggs, fall asleep and burn the place down
..

Not sure about it stunting imagination my DC has a very active one and insists I play make believe games and go on radish raids ... I have to be lily bobtail.

I always thought imagination was dependent on which side of the brain someone uses as the more dominant logic and lateral, creative or analytical etc

BrooHaHa · 22/04/2020 08:29

insists I play make believe games and go on radish raids ... I have to be lily bobtail.

So he has you re-enact episodes of Peter Rabbit?

I am also a primary teacher and don't buy the idea that tiny children need their own tablets. Plenty of research has been done onto the cognitive effects of screen time in the under sevens and adults too, and it does damage concentration because it teaches that actions have an immediate consequence and that there is no need to wait for anything. Sure, they can concentrate on the screen for hours, but they struggle much more faced with an extended real-life activity. As for coordination? Lego, playdough mark making in sand etc... I've yet to see an educational health care plan specify the need for more screen time and tablet play in response to poor motor control.

The WHO suggests no screen time at all for the under twos. For 2-5 year olds, no more than 1 hour a day, but that's a maximum not a recommended time. Less is better.

www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-04-2019-to-grow-up-healthy-children-need-to-sit-less-and-play-more

TheMandalorian · 22/04/2020 08:40

My 4 and 6yo have tablets. They have parental controls on and are time limited. They don't have access to the internet or youtube.
They can't download anything either.
You should be able to set up a kids profile on any tablet. However I have no experience of the apple ones.

isabellerossignol · 22/04/2020 08:50

You can, obviously, do as you see best.

But I do think it's unfair to write off YouTube as mind rotting rubbish. My son has honestly learnt loads from YouTube just because things have caught his attention. Things like how tall buildings, and other huge engineering projects, are designed and built. He has spent hours watching videos about history and astronomy and earthquakes and volcanoes.

I keep an eye on him by having him watch it on the TV, and I use the PC to block channels that I don't want him watching.

Camomila · 22/04/2020 09:14

What I would do is say one of the ipads is broken and they have to share.
DS1 (4) isn't too bad at getting off the ipad but I think that's because the ipad is the families rather than 'his' and he knows he has to share.

You can change the setting on youtube kids so they can only watch 'official' channels which makes it safer.
DS really likes 'science max'...does science experiments for kids, and is less annoying than Blippy.
Also, 'The Fixies' - Russian science cartoon (though it has old fashioned gender norms)

Sorocknroll · 22/04/2020 09:14

@broohaha Yes we react episodes of peter rabbit.... i dont get what your issue is? We go on adventures in the garden to find thing she has read and watched on peter rabbit and the Julia Donaldson books/films. She will then go off and make pies in her mud kitchen and help with the vegetables and fruit growing in our own mr McGregor's garden. You are aware that peter rabbit been around for a hell of a lot longer than you or I?

She also plays with the toys and paints pictures and everything else a toddler does... using a tablet and playing games or watching nursery rhymes on you tube has not stunted her ability to do anything.

In fact she can recite alot of songs. Do her ABC and recognise most of the letters. She can do her numbers and put them in order including counting how many of something she has.

When groups are on she loves dancing and music groups

My dad with 18 years of primary teaching has no concerns with her abilities or progress at all and nor did the HV at her 2 year check up.

She can concentrate on making ice creams for alot longer than i want her to. She would be happy to bake for hours if I let her.

By having her own tablet (which I can use) means she isnt trying to get on our phones or watch tv. Also means when I need to tend to the baby there is something to have quiet time.

However I shouldn't have to defend my parenting to someone on the internet with only a tiny insight into our daily habits from a small paragraph I wrote.

With moderation technology is not an issue and is something all kids will need to know about unless it's not going to form part of their ongoing life (mormons etc) Not monitoring that technology and potentially exposing the child to inappropriate content without correct controls in place etc is the issue.

But there is some crap on you tube which I think wtf and block it cause ite nonsensical but when all the animals are playing in the band or down by the sea comes on I join in with full gusto cause they are amazing songs.

BrooHaHa · 22/04/2020 11:35

i dont get what your issue is?

No issue, per se, but given that imagination is defined as 'the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses' I wouldn't say it's an example of a good imagination. It's more memory recall than anything. Which has its place of course, but isn't imagination.

You are aware that peter rabbit been around for a hell of a lot longer than you or I?

Yes, obviously.

However I shouldn't have to defend my parenting to someone on the internet with only a tiny insight into our daily habits from a small paragraph I wrote.

You don't have to defend your parenting to anyone but yourself. But if I see someone extolling the virtues of screen-time, which has been proven to negatively impact cognitive development in young children, particularly the under threes, I will challenge that. It goes against the guidelines (and again, I'm making the presumption here that the tablet is utilised for more than the recommended hour a day, based on them having their own and you not having refuted that so far) because it goes against the guidelines laid down by many health authorities globally. The same way as if you were on here extolling the virtues of leaving newborns to sleep in their own room all night I'd challenge that, based on the guidelines and existing scientific research.

My own daughter spent much of yesterday in front of the TV because I'm working from home. I'm not pleased about that, but it happened and people aren't perfect. She's having far too much screen time at the moment and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. It's not about defending one's own parenting to the hilt so much as making sure that advice given on a parenting forum is backed up by evidence and scientifically sound.

Sux2buthen · 22/04/2020 14:27

YouTube kids is well moderated and doesn't have the same risks as normal YouTube. I allow a bit and try to find a balance. There's something positive to gain in a providing variety of things to do.
And to have ten minutes zombie time so I can sit down for a drink for onceGrin

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