Michele Hunter: Should I let my child have a YouTube channel?

Like anything in parenting, boundaries are important and these will need constant updating as our son’s life experiences and knowledge expand, writes Michele Hunter. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

I think my parents’ generation may have struck some of the best decades to raise children - before the internet and smartphones, after World Wars and the Great Depression and between pandemics. By comparison it seems the 70s and 80s were parenting easy street.

Our son will turn 9 in February and he’s been hounding us for months to start his own YouTube channel. We’d successfully brushed it off with promises to discuss it as a couple, followed by ‘when you’re older’ until his best mate set one up and we simply ran out of easy ammunition.

Under pressure, I did some hasty research on the topic, but it turns out it’s not as simple to Google the phrase ‘should my child have a YouTube channel’ as it is to research ‘how much sleep should my child get’ or ‘can my child live without vegetables?’ – things parents genuinely know the answer to anyway.

The irony is that I even Googled it in the first place. My parents relied on their GP, kids’ teachers, or their own parents – or talked to friends with kids the same age when making these kinds of decisions. Mostly they used intuition and common sense, but what’s different is there was precedent from the previous generation on most common parenting topics.

When their kids were growing up YouTube and the internet didn’t exist, so age-appropriate channel creation wasn’t a topic they had to ponder.

Fast forward to 2023 and in camp 1 are the parents who claim privacy is the issue, protecting identities and the threat of internet predators or trolls. Creeps posing as someone they’re not or hurtful comments on their kids’ hard work – when previously they’ve only experienced praise or constructive criticism.

In camp 2 are those who are so immersed in the digital world themselves they see no issue with it – in fact, they encourage it for the skills it brings, the confidence it promotes and the fact it keeps the kids well entertained during a rainy summer.

In a world where tolerance for bullying is lower – it certainly still happens, and these days it can follow kids online and into what should be a safe space at home.

There’s not a childhood lesson I can dredge up to help with the decision – like the ones I have about bike or roller skate safety and what happened when I tried to go to sleep after six hours sleep of playing Sega games at the neighbours.

Nobody really knows what the repercussions of a generation of little kids growing up in the internet age will be, or what they will tell their children about the lessons they learned from it.

What I do know is that for the majority of kids, screens have more instant appeal and pull right now than bikes and board games. Some will argue that’s not the case in their household but most, if they’re honest, will admit it’s true. They’ll look up from their phones and tell you their kids have restricted screen time and don’t watch ‘TV’ – the free-to-air sort is often what they mean.

So after a quick poll around my most trusted parental friends, I surmised what matters most when considering a YouTube channel is the parenting you’ve already done and backing ourselves we gave our son the green light.

If you’ve taught your child about stranger danger, good manners, appropriate language and self-respect they will take these lessons with them into the online arena.

If they are strong and confident, know their own worth, if they are capable and brave, they will approach a YouTube channel in the same way.

Like anything in parenting, the boundaries are important too and these will need constant updating as our son’s life experiences and knowledge expand, and he questions and challenges more of what his parents tell him.

We’ve reinforced that all content must be reviewed and uploaded by us. If we’ve done a half decent job of parenting, he already knows what will get past us and what won’t.

It’s also teaching him about consent – a buzz word of the 21st century. He can’t add a friend or family member into the video unless they have agreed to it – they simply may not share in his search for internet stardom, or their parents may sit firmly in camp 1.

What’s most important I think are the values you’ve already instilled in your child – which means maybe there is generations of parenting precedent to call on after all, it’s just the topic that’s different.

It’s not without risk – there’s others on the internet who certainly won’t share these same values, but we can’t control the whole world – only best prepare them for it.

Michele Hunter is a local business owner, mum of two school-age children and a former Bay of Plenty Times chief reporter. She is Tauranga born and bred - with opinions on most things. You’ll often find her by the water – sea or lake - enjoying all this great region has to offer.