YouTube seems scary, but it doesn’t have to be

Did you hear about the latest crazy YouTube challenge? You know the one where the kids are challenged to film themselves doing (fill in the blank).  Or, have you heard about the latest scary video uploaded to YouTube and geared towards kids? You know the one where the video looks okay for your kids to watch only to have something terrible traumatizing in it? I’m sure as soon as you read each of these examples you thought of something. Offhand for the first example I thought of, Bird Box Challenge, Tide Pod Challenge, and the Cinnamon Challenge (there’s a few more, but once I actually sat down to write this, I forgot them). It’s helpful to have YouTube parental controls, but that can be hard to figure out. Enter a great app for parents.

(This post is sponsored by Safe Vision App, a great way to create YouTube parental controls)

This YouTube parental controls app isn’t for you if this describes your child

I think this is a great product, but I recognize it has limitations.  If your child is going to push the boundaries, and look for ways around the limitations you’ve set, this isn’t the parental control app for you.

If that is not your kid, then let’s talk details, and why I like this.

How Safe Vision app works to control YouTube videos

You log in as the parent to the app and set up a profile for your child. You put in the age, and the Safe Vision app starts unlocking channels for your child based off of general age.

Next, go to your child’s profile and you can set up interests, and how long they can be on YouTube. This will give suggestions to unlock for your child, and make sure they’re not watching videos all day long.

 

Finally, go in and unlock the channels your kids specifically want to watch. I discovered all sorts of things I didn’t know my kids were watching when I did this. Before I started setting this up I hadn’t realized there were entire channels of kids playing Nerf weapons. I knew about the videogame channels but hadn’t realized my boys had discussed which channels to watch with their friends.

Now, when your kid wants to watch a YouTube video, they click on the Safe Vision app and can watch anything you’ve unlocked. You as the parent can see what they’ve watched in the parent control. This is when I discovered just how much my boys watched videos on Nerf weapons or Overwatch. Princess likes watching Blimey Cow videos, a lot.

But, not more than an hour at a time because none of my kids were ever locked out, or I never heard any complaints about it.

 

The Big wins for me on the Safe Vision app

I looked Safe Vision App up on Amazon because that’s what I do. It is becoming more and more common for parents to give their kids a Kindle Fire for their first tablet. Amazon worked hard to make sure of that and have designed an amazing kid tablet. I read parent after parent say, “I love being able to lock down YouTube to what I want to allow. YouTube can be a dangerous rabbit hole for curious children.”

Win 1, it works on multiple formats (my kids tried it on the iPhone).

The customer service is amazing. I was trying to figure out how to do something and messaged their customer service at 10 something at night. I got a message back within a few minutes and he helped me get it all set up.

Win 2, great customer service

This is one of the things I mentioned up above, but I love being able to see what my kids watch. It fascinates me. It also gives me an insight into how my kids think and what they’re interested in.

Win 3, parent experience

 

Final thoughts on Safe Vision app and parental control apps

I think this is a great app to use as you teach your child how to self-monitor and know when to shut videos off. Ultimately, I want my kids to realize on their own, “I’ve been staring at a screen too long, I need to get up,” or, “This video is not appropriate, I need to shut it off.”

As you grow more confident in your child’s skill to discern for themselves you can lessen the controls. I Like that. All in all, Safe Vision app is a useful parental control app for YouTube.

 

More helpful technology posts

• Rules for safe internet use
• Oregon Trail game (it’s not technology now, but it reminds me of computers of my youth)
• Teaching Kids to Type
• Homeschool Planet online grade book