I'm deleting the YouTube kids app. I have personally seen some weird and creepy stuff on there even after I changed the settings to the youngest age possible. Is anyone else also deciding to delete the app? And are there any other apps for kids you like? I've heard Noggin is good. Is it worth it at $7.99 a month?
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@agold: StoryBots has one that’s super cute and educational. My six year old likes as does my two year old.
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I took youtube kids off a long time ago after seeing some weird stuff. We just use the Nick Jr app. It's free and my son doesn't get much time on my phone anyway (no tablets over here anymore).
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Ugh I was just talking about this with my coworkers. I haven’t personally seen anything super weird/creepy on YouTube kids but I believe there can be for sure. My son watches Blippi every morning at breakfast while I make lunches and I feel that I can hear and see what he’s watching pretty well. He doesn’t get unsupervised time really. But it’s made me want to encourage him to watch Netflix or other streaming where creeps couldn’t put freaky stuff in the videos.
I wasn’t quite sure if the momo stuff was actually real or just all our local Facebook mom groups freaking out and never letting their kids have screen time again. Just came across this:
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It's funny, I just deleted YouTube kids from our ipads and devices last week because I was sick of it - and now all of this craziness about this scary lady... Awful!
I was wanting to delete it anyway, it turns my kids into zombies and I hate it.
I got my older son the Homer App which so far is great, but it's 7.99/month.
@muffinsmuffins: My little guy loves Blippi, but I found it on Amazon instead! So if you have Prime you can stream it there!
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I deleted YouTube off the ipad awhile ago because it just results in the worst behavior outbursts from my kids. At Christmas it made a come back because we were letting them listen/ watch music on YouTube. But I just deleted it again this past weekend off DDs and will dot he same today to DS's after seeing all this stuff come up. Between Amazon and the endless apps and Disney / Nick JR I think we will be just fine. I will make them a playlist somewhere so they can have the music they like.
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@hellobeeboston: we had to stop using YouTube a while back anyway because my daughter would turn into a zombie and the FREAK out when I turned it off. Now the only time they watch YouTube is at bedtime, we watch one Littlw Baby Bum video together before a story, and I manually search for it and we watch it together so I would see if there was anything creepy right away.
Unsupervised kindle time is almost always in the car with no WiFi anyway so I download shows from Netflix and amazon prime. My kids are 5 and 3. I imagine as they get older I will have to do something else but for now it’s easy enough to just manage what they can see and how (like usually I turn on the tv and Netflix too).
These stories make me glad we cut out YouTube a while ago anyway. But I am also pretty sure the Momo thing is overblown. But one time when we watched random YouTube crap DH and I both thought this random cartoon looked way too much like Hitler and we changed it before it went any further.
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@pinkb: it’s a subscription but amazon music is really good. My 5 yo listens to it on her echo dot in her room. It’s hilarious hearing her “alexa, play doc mcstuffins music. Alexa, play music by Queen.”
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Agree on the behavioral issues after YouTube...we got rid of it last year as well. And they weren't allowed watching it even remotely unsupervised anyways, after DS1 (when he was 2) was watching it right next to me and his video entitled "Peppa Pig Daniel Tiger [insert other cartoon names here]" had a GIANT TARANTULA ATTACKING A SLEEPING GIRL IN HER BED. People are creeps.
When they have unsupervised iPad videos, it is strictly Netflix/Amazon Prime videos (that I have already downloaded). For apps we really like the Endless apps and Teach your Monster to Read. They are so good I don't feel a bit guilty about letting the boys play them!
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@bees_knees: endless apps are the best!
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I’ve been trying to just use PBS kids but my DH was still letting her watch YouTube until I heard more about this momo thing. No clue the validity of it but I don’t want her watching random YouTube videos anyway so it was a good motivator to delete YouTube apps from our phones. Now we need to get out of the bad habit we have of letting her watch videos on our phones when she gets up at ba ugodly hour on the weekend
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We do not like YouTube and pretty much only use it to play specific kid songs we don’t own. Which I could use Alexa for if I weren’t too lazy to set it up.
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We used to download specific things as saved videos then turn off wifi, but I decided it was just not worth the hassle. We deleted youtube about a year ago.
We do favorite shows on Netflix or purchase them from iTunes, depending on where they are available.
We still use the iPad on weekends, but only for apps we've selected, not videos.
And a tip for that iPad separation moment: I usually surprise my LO with the tickle monster. Then, after that bit of fun, she gives up the iPad so much more easily. I guess tickles are a much nicer way to break the zombie zone!
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PBS kids and use common sense media to filter.
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We only use Netflix and Amazon Prime.
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Did anyone see the CBS News Sunday Morning segment with you tube ceo Susan Wojcicki? It was the biggest joke response ever to all of the creepy sh*t I've seen on you tube kids that made me delete the app. Several minutes spent pumping up Wojcicki, talking about how she's a mom, strong female ceo, don't forget the daughter of immigrants. What about the overwhelming crap that caused my kid to not be able to sleep at night? All that was mentioned was that you tube consults with professionals and has disabled comments. Well.. my 2 year old doesn't read comments so that does nothing to make me want to use you tube again. I don't care that Justin Bieber got his start there. Yes, that was mentioned as well. What a joke. Did anyone else see that?
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@agold: I didn't see it, but that no-response response would prompt me to delete it too!
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We never gave our kids access to YouTube in the first place. I've personally never understood why people like YouTube for their kids other than the fact that it is free and easy to put on a device. We use Prime or Netflix, or PBS Kids (which is also free) apps for shows. Besides the creepy stuff, I feel like so much of YouTube is incredibly materialistic and doesn't have any actual content, like unboxing videos, or videos of adults playing with children's collectibles. I watch those videos occasionally to see what toys might be in a new blind bag series (and decide if I think my kids would like them before spending money)....but don't feel like my kids need any ideas!
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We dont do YouTube for our kids period cause as someone who grew up with YouTube back when it was a new site I've seen my fair share of weird creepy videos. I personally watch YouTube for me but I'd never let my kids have unlimited access to it. Unfortunately the creepy videos have been going on for years since I was in middle school. We use Netflix or Amazon prime or hulu.
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There's some good words to say for YouTube too. Most of my favorite childhood cartoons and movies are there. DH and I are both from abroad, so it would be really hard to share these with the kids if they weren't online. A while back we all had the flu and we were struggling to entertain the kids... DH just went and pulled up this old German kids' movie he saw as a kid, and a really awesome staging of the Nutcracker, with a few keystrokes. No going to the library, no waiting to pick up the video. Nice.
But I've seen the creepy stuff too, and YouTube comments are just... ugh. So I'm a horrible mean mom, and the kids know that even if they know how to click on new videos, they're not to do that without an adult in the room, or there will be a YouTube timeout. I guess it's like life in general... you can't protect yourself from everything, you just have to gradually learn that you don't go down dark sketchy streets at night if you can help it.
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I deleted YouTube off my phone a long time ago. Now my daughter only watches it with me every now and then, and I always pick what we watch. When she was younger, I would put a video of Elmo or something similar on, but I wasn't happy with the suggestions that she could tap on the side of the screen. Things like cartoons of dunking toys in toilets to teach counting. That's just a bad idea! And one time, she was able to click on Deadpool. Thankfully I caught it right away. That was the last straw for me. (It wasn't the kids only app, but still... who suggests that from a Sesame Street video??) We do still watch it sometimes. She really loves the Super Simple songs for kids. And when we went to Disney, we watched videos of the rides and park to get her used to the idea. But now it's only supervised, and I control it.
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@krispi: The Super Simple Songs for kids are on Prime if you have that! We watch them a lot.
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No, I'm not deleting it and I'm not going to do anything differently than we already do. DD is 5 yo and she watches it. I am within earshot 95% of the time and we discuss what she is watching and why she likes it... to the point that sometimes I wish she'd just go sit and watch it alone
I know, I know.. terrible!! Blasphemous... LOL However, if I hear anything like whining or yelling or anything I think is not good I tell her to switch it or to explain why they are yelling.. she knows that I don't like her watching anything bad. One time she got a video that showed "hitting" a kid was playing and was using the LOL dolls to hit another LOL doll and DD brought it to me and told me it was bad. I briefly watched it so I could discuss it with her and then we talked about it and put it away.
I also feel that I am not going to be able to protect my kids from everything.. they are going to have to make decisions on their own and I want them to feel comfortable and confident in doing so..... maybe I'm too laid back... and maybe this will bite me in the butt someday... but for now YouTube is still on our phones and in DD's life.
ETA: I also feel that DD needs to learn that she shouldn't necessarily do what others do all the time either.. meaning that I am ok with her watching something I wouldn't necessarily allow IE: a kid cutting her barbies hair or coloring on them with sharpies or do something not soo great bc DD needs to know that she can't and shouldn't always do what others are doing. There are going to be lots of things that others do that look fun but are not right and that she shouldn't do..
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I too just deleted it from our phones! We have blocked too many videos we didn't like that seemed to slip through even on the lowest child setting. Keeping Netflix and Amazon Prime Free time which came with his pad.
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@Ajsmommy: I used the ipad, aka "show" to entertain my 2 yo when I had to put the baby to sleep. (DH has odd work schedule and I'm home at night with them myself). So, totally as a babysitter. I cut it cold turkey two nights ago and its working out okay. But it sounds like it is still working out well for your daughter.
@paigeface: I have amazon and netflix, so I am going to see how to use these on my girl's ipad. She is really into watching Masha and the Bear.
@cyoung: I pretty much have no YouTube experience. I never go to it for anything. My husband goes to it for everything! I really didn't understand what it was or how it worked. It's crazy that there are just random videos on there. The ones that always creeped me out are the adult hands covered in satin gloves while playing with toys.
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Just wanted to add that if you login, you can restrict yt kids to only specific channels that you approve and the rest basically disappears.
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@katsupgirl: storybots has an app?! I couldn’t find it, is it called by another name? (I may also just be bad at search
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Our rule for a long time is you can only watch YouTube with a grownup. There are a couple things on there related to dancing my kids like but they prefer Netflix or nick jr usually. Their favorite thing to do on YouTube is sit down and watch family videos (usually of them!) that I’ve uploaded for grandparents - easy to go in your account and see them all listed.
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@bhbee: here’s a pic of it.
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@bhbee: I was looking for it too. Looks like it’s gone
https://help.storybots.com/hc/en-us/articles/224430008-What-happened-to-the-StoryBots-app-
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@JennyPenny: sad!!
I know, I know.. terrible!! Blasphemous... LOL However, if I hear anything like whining or yelling or anything I think is not good I tell her to switch it or to explain why they are yelling.. she knows that I don't like her watching anything bad. 
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