For months, my daughter asked to start her own YouTube channel. Naturally, these requests typically happened after her “tablet time” when she often watched YouTube videos and (gasp) watched kids open or play with their toys.
(I know, I know; some parents absolutely abhor these videos. I used to have mixed feelings about them myself, but I came around to the idea that they could be “okay.” Keep reading to find out why.) (Affiliate links included).
I was 100% skeptical about the idea of her starting her own channel. For one, I knew it would require a ton of oversight by me, and not just because I would be the one to film those videos. But her requests were persistent.
Why Does My Kid Want to Make a YouTube Channel?
I didn’t get it. At all. What was the fascination with these videos? And why did she want to make her own? Was it because she thought she’d get “free” toys too?
The draw of free toys was definitely a part of her insistent requests, but it wasn’t the only reason.
After editing the book School, Disrupted: Rediscovering the Joy of Learning in a Pandemic-Stricken World by Emily Greene, multiple messages stuck out to me about how we approached learning at home. One message in particular: “Yes, I’m talking about using the dreaded screen time in a productive, hands-on way. How can you do that? By encouraging your children to use their screens to be creators, not consumers.” And a few paragraphs later: “Consumers watch YouTube; creators make the videos.”
Okay, message heard loud and clear!
Little Miss was asking to create. Rather than consume, she wanted to make her own videos. When I looked at it that way, how could I say no?
Ground Rules for the YouTube Channel
Even so, I thought it was important to establish ground rules for the YouTube Channel.
For starters, I went back and forth about whether or not to make her channel private or public. I talked to other parents. I talked to Little Miss and explained (multiple times) that anyone in the world could view her videos. In the end, what Little Miss wanted for her channel played a big part. She wasn’t doing it for “free toys” exactly, but she asked if she could, maybe one day, get free toys. If that was going to be a possibility, we needed to make it public.
To maintain some privacy, we agreed she would have a “stage name.” She decided to call herself “Emy.” Since little brother was going to make a “guest appearance” once in awhile, he had to choose a stage name too. The name he went with?
Benjamin Franklin; Benji for short. You can’t make this stuff up! We were already off to a good start. The kids were having fun.
We also agreed on a few other ground rules for Emy’s YouTube channel:
- Videos would only last a few minutes (4-8 minutes or so). With my experience in social media, I knew shorter videos performed best. But let’s be honest; I also know my kids can ramble on and on when it comes to talking about their favorite things. This helped them get to the point!
- Little Miss/Emy was in charge of coming up with content — but I had approval.
- Little Miss/Emy needed to take the lead in creating the videos… this included editing them.
We Turned it Her Channel Into Learning Opportunity
Creating the YouTube channel turned out to be a HUGE learning opportunity. From the setup of the channel (including choosing a name and banner) to filming and editing each video, Little Miss was using everything from organizational skills to writing and editing. She created lists detailing what she wanted her videos to feature. She drew her YouTube banner and came up with a name for her channel: “Abby and Gabby’s Toy House.”
Then there’s the video editing. While we’ve kept it simple (so far), there’s still stuff to be done. For example, since my kids weren’t used to “stage names,” I’ve already lost count of how many times we had to cut out real names and splice together clips. As for Little Miss’s favorite editing task, she loves to choose what “transition” to use between clips. This “surprise” video is one of my personal favorites, not just for Little Miss’s creativity but what transitions she chose.
My Kids’ Creativity (and Joy) Exploded
But even most importantly than the learning opportunities that came up from creating a YouTube channel, Little Miss’s creativity and joy exploded. Her excitement about making videos has been contagious.
Little Miss has always been creative, but this has been a whole different outlet for her creativity. She gets to showcase things she’s learned (like this static electricity experiment), teach favorite art projects (like this), and, of course, show off some of her favorite toys.
While we haven’t been posting as often lately, it’s still 100% a source of joy for her. She still keeps lists of videos she wants to make. She reminds me that we have some “editing work” to do. She helps me come up with titles/descriptions for each and every video. And every once in awhile, she checks her subscriber count, her comments, and her views. (Hint, hint, nudge, nudge; you can subscribe to her channel here).
Why did I hesitate for so long in allowing her to start a YouTube channel?
Honestly, I’m not sure. But I’m glad that I changed my perspective, that I saw creating a YouTube channel as a learning opportunity, and that I realized there are worse things than making videos about kids playing with toys.
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