My daughter is 10 and I set up YouTube Kids but some of the stuff that gets through is still weird. Like there's these creators who basically just scream and do dumb stuff for 20 minutes. Is that actually harmful or am I just being an old dad? My wife says I'm overthinking it. How do you guys monitor what your kids are actually watching without being creepy about it?
Yeah that weird creator stuff gets through way too often. We use YouTube but I've got parental controls set pretty strict and honestly I just watch with them sometimes so I know what they're seeing.
YouTube Kids is still basically YouTube. I've had to supplement with stuff like National Geographic kids and educational channels we actually vet ourselves. The algorithm is definitely sus.
The weird content getting through is my biggest frustration with the YouTube Kids app. My daughter found some strange videos and I was like how did this make it past the filter? Now I just watch what she's watching or at least spot check regularly.
YouTube Kids is still pretty unfiltered. I've got four kids and I've definitely seen some random stuff slip through that shouldn't be there. The algorithm is weird sometimes. I've switched to a whitelist approach where we specifically approve what they watch instead of blocking stuff after the fact.
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Yeah I had this problem too. 10 is old enough that maybe you could involve her in the conversation about what's appropriate? Not saying make her the filter but kids often have good instincts about what feels off. We talk openly about weird content instead of just banning it.