The Ultimate YouTube Guide for Families

By Leah Nieman | February 20, 2018 |

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The Ultimate YouTube Guide for Families

There is so much great content on YouTube. But along with all the great content, you’ll find some downright raunchy stuff. Does this mean you need to throw out the baby with the bathwater? No!

YouTube offers many features to help parents monitor and select content that’s age appropriate for their kids. Parents will also find several YouTube Safety Options. Families who take a little bit of time setting up safety options will find they have significantly fewer issues with inappropriate content coming up on YouTube.

You can install a parental control app for YouTube like Safe Vision [AFF]. Using an app to help screen out inappropriate content from YouTube for your kids is an easier options for families who have young kids. Or, for families who use YouTube heavily.

In addition to YouTube Safety Options, there are some basic things you can do to gently guide your kids and help them develop good digital media skills as they are growing and learning how to search and safely watch videos online. My hope is this YouTube Guide for Families will encourage you to join your child as they begin learning how to find quality content online.

There are a few basic guidelines parents should consider as they think about YouTube. These, in addition to implementing the safety options in my YouTube Guide, can be a powerful way to walk with your child as they learn how to safely search videos online.

YouTube Basics for Parents

Set up a Family Google Account

Starting out with a Family Google Account makes things easier. It means each member of the family can have their own account at the age you feel they are ready. You can monitor apps and YouTube since YouTube accounts are tied to your Gmail address. It gives you the ability to monitor as your child grows. For instance, if you have a tech savvy child who deletes their “watch history,” you’ll still gather some information about their viewing by the recommended videos since YouTube recommends videos based on videos previously watched.

Watch YouTube with Your Kid

Our kids love for us to be interested and engaged. Use this when it comes to technology. Watch YouTube with your child and ask them about their favorite videos and channels. Most often, kids are watching YouTube channels or following specific YouTube personalities because they are entertained by them.

Watch YouTube Yourself

If your child is a bit reserved when it comes to watching their favorite YouTube videos with you, get the name of their favorite channels or YouTubers and watch them yourself. Be sure to watch a few videos by the same creator to get a good idea of the type of content they typically create. Keep your ears open when your kids are with their friends and ask them about their favorite YouTubers. You’ll be surprised that kids will often share their favorite content creators just like they share their favorite music and movies.

Encourage your kids to subscribe to their favorite channels. Subscribers receive a notification when a new video is uploaded. And, their channels are displayed in My Subscriptions. This makes it easy to find great content without having to search.

Create a Playlist for Your Child

This option is especially good for young children who can’t fully read yet. But, it’s also a great way for older kids to organize their content on YouTube. To create a playlist, click the “Add to” link at the bottom of the video and select the list you want to save it to, or create a new one.

Now that we have a few guidelines down for YouTube, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty how-to in our YouTube Guide

To Enable YouTube Restricted Mode in Your Web Browser

1. Log into your Google or YouTube account.
2. Go to the YouTube.com site in your web browser.
3. Click on your profile in the top right-hand corner of the YouTube homepage. Then select Restricted Mode.

4. Toggle Restricted Mode from Off to On.

5. IMPORTANT!

To prevent your child from just turning Restricted Mode off, you must log out of your Google/YouTube account by clicking your username link in the top right-hand corner of the browser window. This will lock the setting in for the browser and prevent your child from disabling Restricted Mode. Repeat steps 1-4 for all other web browsers your child will be using.

To Enable YouTube Restricted Mode on the YouTube App

1. In the YouTube App, click your profile.

2. On your profile screen select Settings, then select General.

3. Toggle Restricted Mode from Off to On.

Remove Videos from Your YouTube Feed

1. Click on the 3 dots next to the title of the video. You’ll need to scroll up to the title so they display.

2. Select Not Interested.

3. You’ll receive a message letting you know the video has been removed. Click on Tell Us Why and let YouTube know why you prefer not to see the video. Here you can also opt to not see videos from the channel.

Clear the Watch and Search History so YouTube Doesn’t Offer Related Suggestions

YouTube will suggest videos based on your viewing history. This is normally great. But, if your child views a video that contains content that isn’t age appropriate, you’ll want to clear their viewing history so YouTube doesn’t suggest related videos.

1. Log into your Google or YouTube account.

2. Go to the YouTube.com site in your web browser.

3. On the left-hand side of your YouTube homepage, under Library, select History.

4. Under Watch history click on Clear all watch history.

5. Under Search history click on Clear all search history.