YouTube For Kids?
My oldest child is 8 years old. Although she has not been too adamant about it, she has started asking for things like a lap top and a cell phone. Yes, you heard me right. She is only 8 years old!! Recently my husband broke his Iphone. The screen cracked, so we upgraded to the Iphone 4 and let her have the old one to "play" with. As it turns out, the phone will now slide to unlock which it wouldn't do before thus causing it to be replaced! It's okay, though because there is no SIM card inside so it will not call or text. She can pretend to do both and take photos, so she is content with that. Every once in a while she will ask me when she can have a lap top. I just tell her that she is not old enough. Most of the time this will suffice, but I know that no matter how much I wish it would, this answer is not going to satisfy her forever! The truth be told, I don't know how old is old enough it this day and age.
With Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, I just worry that no matter how many internet filters we get, it won't be enough to keep her from seeing things that young girls just should not see! You know what I'm talking about, I'm sure. I get requests quite often on Facebook from people who do not know me. They want to friend me to spam me with porn or the likes. If a young girl gets a friend request and does not investigate, the outcome could be dreadful!
YouTube is a prime example of the internet at it's worst. Don't get me wrong, I love YouTube and use it quite frequently to upload videos of my children to post right here on this blog. But, have you ever noticed the "related videos" tab on the side after you watch a video? Have you ever clicked on those videos? Well, if you happen to do that, sometimes you wish you hadn't!!!
IzzyMom has written an open letter to Google concerning this very thing!
She asks:
"Why don’t you start a video sharing site just like YouTube…except for kids? So much of what’s on YouTube is way inappropriate for children (and that would be putting it mildly) and yet there it is, co-mingled with things that are fine for children."
I think this is a great idea and I hope that the folks over at Google take note of this wonderful post. A YouTube for kids would be wonderful and I guarantee, I would like videos to my blog from there in a heartbeat!
I encourage my readers to take a look at this rest of IzzyMom's Open Letter To Google Post and leave her a comment to let her know how brilliant you think this idea is as well. If enough of us get on board, they might take note. Oh, and Google, if her post happens to lead you here, I'll gladly be on the "parenting board" for rating videos!
Since we are talking of YouTube videos, here's one of my most recent uploads of the affore mentioned 8 year old daughter at church yesterday: (Note that I removed the "related videos" feature from this video.)
