Grandson’s obsession with YouTube

[Blueskiescoming]

Grandson (8) been allowed to watch YouTube. Totally against it. Popped in to visit us on way home. I was in kitchen,came in with mum who joined me in kitchen,never said hi but went straight into lounge picked up the remote control found YouTube and was “away”. He can have spectacular “meltdowns” if things don’t go his way. They are coming for Christmas and there is no way he will get the remote. Any suggestions?

Is there a way to disable YouTube on the tv?

You lock the remote in a cupboard. His mum deals with the temper tantrum.

Agreed. Take YouTube off the TV. I took it off ours when our son decided to watch it at any opportunity

Depends…. would you feel the same if he had come in picked the remote up and put “normal” tv on? Is it just YouTube you object to, and what sort of things is he watching?

DS17 watches YouTube much more than normal tv but he’s watching specific videos related to a sport he does.

Speaking as a grandparent, it really is none of your business.

Agree with pp's, delete the app from your TV. Ridiculous parenting from your daughter.

We are a completely no YouTube zone af home. You need to completely remove access to this in your home (remove remote, delete YoiTube from tv, install passwords, change WiFi password etc). Our child is 8 and wouldn't allow this for so many reasons. Stand firm!

You are not the parent here so you have to respect their choices.
However you can calmly speak to the parents and say you don't want youtube on your main tv, especially at Christmas. They can then decide what they want to do. I think this is very reasonable.
No good will come from being judgemental here.

Maybe the op is concerned rather than judgemental.

Hopefully he will not be thinking about YouTube on Christmas Day. Surely he will have lots of other things to distract him. But if he does, just say no. Unfortunately lots of children do watch it and it is addictive for them.

do the rest of you want to watch TV over Christmas? if not, unplug the TV at the wall and tell the child it is not working. you can always plug it back after he has gone home.

I took the app away ds was watching shorts and they were not appropriate

If its your house and your TV you do get a say if not then you have to suck it up

To be fair not all YouTube is shit. DS likes to watch videos about theme parks, Debunked (science channel) and quizzes about the solar system/Great Fire of London/other random historical events.

It is when it's her house and TV

Can you direct him towards bbc iplayer - create a profile for him and say that’s what is watched in your house. Our ds 7 occasionally goes on YouTube and ends up watching rubbish but we feel most things on kids iplayer are okay.

How is it none of her business if it's her house and her TV? My kids have (limited) access to YouTube but I'd never expect my parents to put up with it on their TV, I wouldn't even be rude enough to ask let alone just going ahead and putting it on.

It’s OPs business in her own house. And if the child is watching shorts then it’s different to watching a normal programme on the telly because they’re designed to be short reels that provide a dopamine hit, having a huge impact on kids ability to concentrate.

delete the you tube app on your telly op and make sure there is a password to download apps so he can’t download it

A parent allowing an eight year old to become addicted to Youtube from an early age is the business of everyone in society. Subpar parenting, be it allowing your child to get dental decay, become obese, behave asocially, become addicted to social media/internet content, view pornography, and any number of other things, need to be shamed and shunned. You have the right to parent however you wish within the bounds of the law - you do not have the right to do so without judgement. The parenting described in this post is shameful, just as it's shameful when babies are riding around in prams holding mummy's phone, transfixed by Ms Rachel. That's how this begins.

Just keep the tv off, radio on and put the remote in a drawer? Why would you have the TV on whilst friends amd famiky are round anyway? Maybe get some boardgames out or play charades.

My DGS age 6 loves you tube but his screen time is limited and parental controls are on. He uses it to learn stuff (maths science etc) but also loves Lego builds on it

This is the point I was trying to make.

YouTube can be educational and I’d rather DS was watching this kind of stuff than than endless mind numbing cartoons on the likes of iplayer or CBeebies.

Simply deleting YouTube and giving her DGS access to the tv still, doesn’t fix the issue if it’s general brain rot addiction that’s the issue.