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Comment by skwirl | Hacker News Reader

It is crazy to me that any parent of young children would let their kids watch YouTube videos on their own. Maybe this happened gradually enough that some parents didn't notice, but we had our first kid a couple years ago and I nope'd out of YouTube pretty quickly when I saw what was there. Even the channels known for being good - which we occasionally let the kids watch as long as we were present and choosing the videos - started to clearly optimize for engagement over quality, and so now we're done with it entirely. The stuff there for "kids" legitimately horrifies me.

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We blocked YouTube recently in the household for all devices but one approved tv device that our kids are only able to watch with us.

I let my oldest daughter at 10 watch stuff there a couple times a week which she largely watches Minecraft videos. I know everything she consumes for now.

Eventually that will stop and she's on her own when she is more responsible as an older teenager but the important point here is this isn't helicopter parenting, it's survival at protecting her brain from dopamine overload making her a content addict.

I don't want to go full Amish as I think it's important to prepare our kids for the inevitable world they will be exposed too but I feel I'd fail them letting them loose.

Agreed - even older children shouldn't be exposing themselves to that garbage. Totally garbage in garbage out situation. Youtube can be good if its highly curated -- otherwise its just trash.

Agreed. We understand that some parents in our milieu rely on YouTube for when they need to get stuff done, it’s pretty relatable.

What we ended up doing: download a few dozen videos from the channels we think are good for kids. I hate CocoMelon’s fast-paced videos, but find SuperSimpleSongs agreeable, so we now have a Jellyfin section for toddler videos that teach him something.

Screen time in general is highly advised against, but for that odd moment where we need extra entertainment, at least he’s watching something we’ve vetted. YouTube Kids is a cesspool of content, and your ability to block bad channels is ineffective since they pop up like moles.

> We understand that some parents in our milieu rely on YouTube for when they need to get stuff done

Certainly is, I can't get around this sometimes in order to do chores either. This is why I have a variety of kids movies, shows, series on disk. Plenty of variety, but all vetted.

We were strictly no-screen parents until we were both super sick and the toddler was his usual energetic self. “Just let him watch some videos…” </3

My son does not care about video (yet?), which is good. But sometimes when I'm alone and I just must do the chore and they just won't play on their own for 10 minutes (which thankfully they often do), I don't see another way. I mean, I don't feel safe handling hot pans when a toddler just glues itself to my legs. I can lock them in their rooms, but that does not seem better to me (they'll be very upset).

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