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What Kagi or anyone could work on, is an actually working version of YouTube Kids. I literally Pi-Hole Blocked all of YouTube after my son started reading the

What Kagi or anyone could work on, is an actually working version of YouTube Kids. I literally Pi-Hole Blocked all of YouTube after my son started reading the Bible after a Minecraft Influencer started preaching throughout most of his videos to the point my son became a bit too much interested in the topic. Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a thing, but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short allowed time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what else is coming his way through it. I'd love to give him access to valuable videos between rules I describe by natural language and can test myself, but nothing like this exists.

smusamashah 1y ago
For my 3yo, I have setup YouTube kids but with only approved content. He gets to see only selected channels or videos. YouTube with search enabled for kids isn't as walled as one might expect.
pyuser583 1y ago
What did these videos say? I'd like to let the leaders of our church know, so they can add it to the sermons.
mvieira38 1y ago
May I ask how are you dealing with the hole Youtube left in his life? I grew up on the internet, but seeing the effects it had on me and the world I don't want the same for my kids. The problem is I don't even know what to do in my own free time if not browsing Youtube or playing games, imagine a kid.
- skydhash 1y ago
  My advice would be hobbies. Learning and practicing stuff can take a lot of your free time if you’re passionate about it, meaning you give it your full attention.
  - mvieira38 1y ago
    Maybe I'm weird, but hobbies just feel like work anyways, except maybe reading. Learning Japanese just doesn't have the same feedback loop as grinding Dota or something... Alas, how would I tackle this issue with a kid? Maybe just throw a bunch of activities at him and see what sticks as a hobby?
    - 7thaccount 1y ago
      Yeah that works. I've done piano, jujitsu, hockey, and half a dozen other things with my kid. If they ask to do something I let them, but make them do a commitment. If they hate it, they can stop when the season is over and try something else. The tricky part is to balance ensuring they learn not to quit just because something is hard, with not making them do something for too long that they've just figured out is not for them. Piano and gymnastics were a big no, while they fell in love with the right jujitsu gym. Not everything has to be competitive or official either. Like you can just go to the community pool during the summer without joining a swim team. I think some parents forget this, but this was normal for previous generations. So my kid has a few extra curricular activities and then I also do plenty of activities with them at the house like play chess or card games or whatever. They're also watching some of my old favorite sci-fi shows with me. Nearly all of YouTube kids is steaming garbage designed to turn your kid into a mindless consumer. Netflix kids is pretty good though. There are a lot of shows that have character progression and multi season plot arcs that cover complex subjects. Avatar the Last Airbender is an example of a show I was comfortable with my 7 year old watching without worrying about brain rot. Mind you, I think all screen time needs a limit.
      - wngr 1y ago
        That’s a great, nuanced view! Thanks for sharing!
        7thaccount 1y ago
        No problem! We're all on this journey together as parents. It isn't easy. The way I look at it though is that spending a lot of time with your kids early on to build a strong relationship and work on any behavioral or other issues will ensure you will set them up better for success in life. I see a lot of kids being raised by tablets and can't help but predict that the parents are going to regret it later down the road. Sorry if I got a little off topic there.
- theshrike79 1y ago
  PBS and whatever equivalent there is in your country. There is a metric ton of professionally made non-commercial content for kids.
skydhash 1y ago
Why not curate a video repository? I think novelty is actually overrated and even harmful for kid. Deeper exploration on familiar subject may be beneficial as that would let his/her imagination to take on the job of inventing new things.
- mvieira38 1y ago
  This seems like a cool idea. Maybe using something like a Peertube instance to join like-minded parents would end up working out for scaling
- kridsdale1 1y ago
  I did this. I set up a plex server in my home that connects to a NAS which has the full runs of every PBS style kids show that I could find and found good reviews of. Along with classic movies. Just trying to recreate the media conditions of my youth, with modern content as well as long as it’s “pure”. I’m also putting me-vetted YouTube content like Kurzgesagt on it.
  - Minor49er 1y ago
    You might want to vet your video collection more closely. Kurzgesagt got into hot water a few years ago after it came out that they were being sponsored by large corporations to push messaging that used those sponsors' publications as primary sources. They're not as unpartial and objective as they lead people to believe
    - vinni2 1y ago
      Care to share the source?
      - tiagod 1y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzgesagt#Sources_of_funding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzgesagt#Sources_of_funding
      - 1y ago
MostlyStable 1y ago
I had a lot of frustrations with the Youtube Kids app until I realized that if, when setting it up, rather than choosing the appropriate age range, you picked the "custom" (or whatever it was, it was annoyingly hidden all the way to the right, so you can't even see it at first), you are able to white list channels and videos, rather than just blacklist. Why this feature is hidden behind a different age selector rather than being part of any of the age settings I do not understand, but it's a lot better, and it could prevent the issue you describe, although admittedly it does require more work on the parents part to find and approve appropriate content. This is easier for younger kids at least.
- aNapierkowski 1y ago
  wait is this real? this is a thing ive been wanting, some channels that are fine are not in ytkids and some of the stuff in ytkids is just junk if we could curate a whitelist that would be perfect
  - MostlyStable 1y ago
    I think you can only whitelist channels that are approved kids channels, not from the full youtube library, but it does allow you to avoid the ocean of crap and pick just the good stuff.
    - chrisa 1y ago
      You can actually share any channel! It is a very hidden feature though. You have to link your kids account to yours, and then in the Youtube mobile app (not on the web), you can click the three dots button and then share > "with kids" So that way you can build up a whitelist of channels that they can see in the YT kids account.
  - bluGill 1y ago
    Perfect only if you have a small list that is allowed...
  - philips 1y ago
jkkramer 1y ago
As a fellow parent and hater of YouTube Kids, I've thought about building a replacement. What holds me back is knowing that -- if this was an iPad app, for example -- I'd be at the mercy of both Google AND Apple. It's a minefield of sensitive topics: - Kids & privacy - Content moderation - Intellectual property - Third-party UGC Way too risky.
- petepete 1y ago
  This is why iPlayer is worth its weight in gold in the UK.
jmathai 1y ago
I found that most of the content on YouTube kids existed as a means to advertise products. I don't necessarily care to understand the economics of it because it just doesn't provide enough value to bother. What I do understand is that I don't want my kids being tricked into watching ads because something about watching adults open toys is entertaining.
- newsclues 1y ago
  Kids have many people they can ask for gifts from.
piokoch 1y ago
[flagged]
- daemoens 1y ago
  Read the rest of his comment > Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a thing, but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short allowed time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what else is coming his way through it.
  - dingnuts 1y ago
    it's completely unsurprising that a child raised with no spiritual grounding would be interested in a book that teaches how to live and attempts to answer the questions that rationalists and atheists have nothing satisfying to say about. How does one live a good life? Every religion tries to answer that question. Has the GP sufficiently replaced religion with something else to help their child answer that question? One life is too short and too permanent to figure it out from trial and error so we have an instinct for myth to help guide us. That's why religion evolved. You can help your child navigate that problem and separate doctrine from the helpful parts, or try to shelter them from scary ideas. Good luck with the latter strategy, especially if you want them to have a relationship with you as adults.
    - Capricorn2481 1y ago
      You would have to be completely indoctrinated to think an 8 year old is going to read the bible and see it as a way to live life, and not a confusing blood and sex fest. The only reason you think of it in such sheltered terms is your guardians said "Ignore the parts about donkey dicks, this is a guide to spirituality, we are told." > Good luck with the latter strategy, especially if you want them to have a relationship with you as adults. Again, you seem to live a sheltered life that you think people who don't read the bible are somehow broken people from broken families who are afraid of "scary ideas." I imagine if your child was reading the Quran you would not react this way. Our families are fine. Focus on your own.
    - 1y ago
bsima 1y ago
[flagged]
- d3752934 1y ago
  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that isn't going to be happening for this particular individual.
- Carrok 1y ago
  If you think an 8 year old should read the bible, it makes me think you haven't actually read the whole thing. Some pretty atrocious stuff in there.
  - Aeolun 1y ago
    I mean, if you are reading it together you can skip over those parts? Or explain them in context? Better yet, get a bible more suited for children. The real thing is so dry I feel it'd be nearly impossible for children to take any interest.
phobotics 1y ago
I think DudePerfect have an app that is essentially this. Heavily curated kid friendly content. It might only be paid though.
- jordanmorgan10 1y ago
  Yup - our kids use it and it’s the only “YouTube” kinda thing that’s worked for our family.
  - mattmanser 1y ago
    I had a look, and it seemed to be just their content? I thought the GP meant an app with a range of content.
    - jordanmorgan10 1y ago
      They have their stuff and, I’m not sure how to word it, but like affiliated channels or other channels within their “network” - such Ryan Trayhan (my spelling is off there)
calvinmorrison 1y ago
Church-goer son-of-a-pastor die-hard-reformed christian here in agreement... sorry there are too many whackos out there. I'd feel more comfortable with my kids learning from Catholic Priests than some random youtuber. In fact, my kids are probably going to go to catholic school. The reason why we have denominations in part is to maintain the education of the clergy and keep dogma, or theology, in check. (even if we disagree at times, at least most of the organized christian church can agree on the basic creeds - something that youtube seems hell bent on for clicks is getting you into nontrinitarian and whacky stuff!)
philips 1y ago
What is wrong with YouTube Kids? I think it works fairly well and use it in my own home: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
- ninkendo 1y ago
  To add to this, YouTube Kids is an entirely different beast altogether depending on if it’s on a touch screen your kid can control, vs on a TV where you have the remote. I feel a lot of people talk terribly about YouTube Kids because they’re imagining you just hand them a tablet with the app, let them pick what they want to watch, and walk away. And then the kid finds some super suspect videos and gets brainwashed or something. But here I am letting my 2 and 4 year olds watch Miss Rachel and Super Simple Songs and Big Block Singsong and the occasional Elmo’s World on the TV, while I’m in the room, and people on this forum would call me a monster for doing this… it’s really wild.
  - BOOSTERHIDROGEN 1y ago
    This is not a new development; HN has been discussing this issue since it became apparent that the content did not meet the expected standards. The situation changed when Google made an effort to implement a whitelist channel feature.
stankot 1y ago
I stumbled on this some time ago and saved it for when my kid grows up enough. It is a collection of a few thousands kid friendly videos. I think their curation is pretty good, but check it out for yourself. https://thekidshouldseethis.com/ https://thekidshouldseethis.com/
thijson 1y ago
My son watches this YouTuber, it's Eystreem. My guess is that he uses the Bible as a prop to add drama to his videos. Another video he was marketing Prime energy drinks. Maybe I should download a whole bunch of 80's TV shows line A-team or Macyver, and only have that available to watch
curiousgal 1y ago
Shocking at this may seem, it is your job as a parent to protect your kid and not expect a platform to do it for you. It's not that hard to limit kids' screen time and control the content. A simple yt-dlp cron job with Jellyfin would work fine.
cyanydeez 1y ago
thats not a real filterable example

smusamashah 1y ago

For my 3yo, I have setup YouTube kids but with only approved content. He gets to see only selected channels or videos. YouTube with search enabled for kids isn't as walled as one might expect.

pyuser583 1y ago

What did these videos say? I'd like to let the leaders of our church know, so they can add it to the sermons.

mvieira38 1y ago

May I ask how are you dealing with the hole Youtube left in his life? I grew up on the internet, but seeing the effects it had on me and the world I don't want the same for my kids. The problem is I don't even know what to do in my own free time if not browsing Youtube or playing games, imagine a kid.

skydhash 1y ago
My advice would be hobbies. Learning and practicing stuff can take a lot of your free time if you’re passionate about it, meaning you give it your full attention.
- mvieira38 1y ago
  Maybe I'm weird, but hobbies just feel like work anyways, except maybe reading. Learning Japanese just doesn't have the same feedback loop as grinding Dota or something... Alas, how would I tackle this issue with a kid? Maybe just throw a bunch of activities at him and see what sticks as a hobby?
  - 7thaccount 1y ago
    Yeah that works. I've done piano, jujitsu, hockey, and half a dozen other things with my kid. If they ask to do something I let them, but make them do a commitment. If they hate it, they can stop when the season is over and try something else. The tricky part is to balance ensuring they learn not to quit just because something is hard, with not making them do something for too long that they've just figured out is not for them. Piano and gymnastics were a big no, while they fell in love with the right jujitsu gym. Not everything has to be competitive or official either. Like you can just go to the community pool during the summer without joining a swim team. I think some parents forget this, but this was normal for previous generations. So my kid has a few extra curricular activities and then I also do plenty of activities with them at the house like play chess or card games or whatever. They're also watching some of my old favorite sci-fi shows with me. Nearly all of YouTube kids is steaming garbage designed to turn your kid into a mindless consumer. Netflix kids is pretty good though. There are a lot of shows that have character progression and multi season plot arcs that cover complex subjects. Avatar the Last Airbender is an example of a show I was comfortable with my 7 year old watching without worrying about brain rot. Mind you, I think all screen time needs a limit.
    - wngr 1y ago
      That’s a great, nuanced view! Thanks for sharing!
      - 7thaccount 1y ago
        No problem! We're all on this journey together as parents. It isn't easy. The way I look at it though is that spending a lot of time with your kids early on to build a strong relationship and work on any behavioral or other issues will ensure you will set them up better for success in life. I see a lot of kids being raised by tablets and can't help but predict that the parents are going to regret it later down the road. Sorry if I got a little off topic there.
theshrike79 1y ago
PBS and whatever equivalent there is in your country. There is a metric ton of professionally made non-commercial content for kids.

skydhash 1y ago

Why not curate a video repository? I think novelty is actually overrated and even harmful for kid. Deeper exploration on familiar subject may be beneficial as that would let his/her imagination to take on the job of inventing new things.

mvieira38 1y ago
This seems like a cool idea. Maybe using something like a Peertube instance to join like-minded parents would end up working out for scaling
kridsdale1 1y ago
I did this. I set up a plex server in my home that connects to a NAS which has the full runs of every PBS style kids show that I could find and found good reviews of. Along with classic movies. Just trying to recreate the media conditions of my youth, with modern content as well as long as it’s “pure”. I’m also putting me-vetted YouTube content like Kurzgesagt on it.
- Minor49er 1y ago
  You might want to vet your video collection more closely. Kurzgesagt got into hot water a few years ago after it came out that they were being sponsored by large corporations to push messaging that used those sponsors' publications as primary sources. They're not as unpartial and objective as they lead people to believe
  - vinni2 1y ago
    Care to share the source?
    - tiagod 1y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzgesagt#Sources_of_funding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzgesagt#Sources_of_funding
    - 1y ago

MostlyStable 1y ago

I had a lot of frustrations with the Youtube Kids app until I realized that if, when setting it up, rather than choosing the appropriate age range, you picked the "custom" (or whatever it was, it was annoyingly hidden all the way to the right, so you can't even see it at first), you are able to white list channels and videos, rather than just blacklist. Why this feature is hidden behind a different age selector rather than being part of any of the age settings I do not understand, but it's a lot better, and it could prevent the issue you describe, although admittedly it does require more work on the parents part to find and approve appropriate content. This is easier for younger kids at least.

aNapierkowski 1y ago
wait is this real? this is a thing ive been wanting, some channels that are fine are not in ytkids and some of the stuff in ytkids is just junk if we could curate a whitelist that would be perfect
- MostlyStable 1y ago
  I think you can only whitelist channels that are approved kids channels, not from the full youtube library, but it does allow you to avoid the ocean of crap and pick just the good stuff.
  - chrisa 1y ago
    You can actually share any channel! It is a very hidden feature though. You have to link your kids account to yours, and then in the Youtube mobile app (not on the web), you can click the three dots button and then share > "with kids" So that way you can build up a whitelist of channels that they can see in the YT kids account.
- bluGill 1y ago
  Perfect only if you have a small list that is allowed...
- philips 1y ago

jkkramer 1y ago

As a fellow parent and hater of YouTube Kids, I've thought about building a replacement. What holds me back is knowing that -- if this was an iPad app, for example -- I'd be at the mercy of both Google AND Apple. It's a minefield of sensitive topics: - Kids & privacy - Content moderation - Intellectual property - Third-party UGC Way too risky.

petepete 1y ago
This is why iPlayer is worth its weight in gold in the UK.

jmathai 1y ago

I found that most of the content on YouTube kids existed as a means to advertise products. I don't necessarily care to understand the economics of it because it just doesn't provide enough value to bother. What I do understand is that I don't want my kids being tricked into watching ads because something about watching adults open toys is entertaining.

newsclues 1y ago
Kids have many people they can ask for gifts from.

piokoch 1y ago

[flagged]

daemoens 1y ago
Read the rest of his comment > Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a thing, but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short allowed time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what else is coming his way through it.
- dingnuts 1y ago
  it's completely unsurprising that a child raised with no spiritual grounding would be interested in a book that teaches how to live and attempts to answer the questions that rationalists and atheists have nothing satisfying to say about. How does one live a good life? Every religion tries to answer that question. Has the GP sufficiently replaced religion with something else to help their child answer that question? One life is too short and too permanent to figure it out from trial and error so we have an instinct for myth to help guide us. That's why religion evolved. You can help your child navigate that problem and separate doctrine from the helpful parts, or try to shelter them from scary ideas. Good luck with the latter strategy, especially if you want them to have a relationship with you as adults.
  - Capricorn2481 1y ago
    You would have to be completely indoctrinated to think an 8 year old is going to read the bible and see it as a way to live life, and not a confusing blood and sex fest. The only reason you think of it in such sheltered terms is your guardians said "Ignore the parts about donkey dicks, this is a guide to spirituality, we are told." > Good luck with the latter strategy, especially if you want them to have a relationship with you as adults. Again, you seem to live a sheltered life that you think people who don't read the bible are somehow broken people from broken families who are afraid of "scary ideas." I imagine if your child was reading the Quran you would not react this way. Our families are fine. Focus on your own.
  - 1y ago

bsima 1y ago

[flagged]

d3752934 1y ago
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that isn't going to be happening for this particular individual.
Carrok 1y ago
If you think an 8 year old should read the bible, it makes me think you haven't actually read the whole thing. Some pretty atrocious stuff in there.
- Aeolun 1y ago
  I mean, if you are reading it together you can skip over those parts? Or explain them in context? Better yet, get a bible more suited for children. The real thing is so dry I feel it'd be nearly impossible for children to take any interest.

phobotics 1y ago

I think DudePerfect have an app that is essentially this. Heavily curated kid friendly content. It might only be paid though.

jordanmorgan10 1y ago
Yup - our kids use it and it’s the only “YouTube” kinda thing that’s worked for our family.
- mattmanser 1y ago
  I had a look, and it seemed to be just their content? I thought the GP meant an app with a range of content.
  - jordanmorgan10 1y ago
    They have their stuff and, I’m not sure how to word it, but like affiliated channels or other channels within their “network” - such Ryan Trayhan (my spelling is off there)

calvinmorrison 1y ago

Church-goer son-of-a-pastor die-hard-reformed christian here in agreement... sorry there are too many whackos out there. I'd feel more comfortable with my kids learning from Catholic Priests than some random youtuber. In fact, my kids are probably going to go to catholic school. The reason why we have denominations in part is to maintain the education of the clergy and keep dogma, or theology, in check. (even if we disagree at times, at least most of the organized christian church can agree on the basic creeds - something that youtube seems hell bent on for clicks is getting you into nontrinitarian and whacky stuff!)

philips 1y ago

What is wrong with YouTube Kids? I think it works fairly well and use it in my own home: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids

ninkendo 1y ago
To add to this, YouTube Kids is an entirely different beast altogether depending on if it’s on a touch screen your kid can control, vs on a TV where you have the remote. I feel a lot of people talk terribly about YouTube Kids because they’re imagining you just hand them a tablet with the app, let them pick what they want to watch, and walk away. And then the kid finds some super suspect videos and gets brainwashed or something. But here I am letting my 2 and 4 year olds watch Miss Rachel and Super Simple Songs and Big Block Singsong and the occasional Elmo’s World on the TV, while I’m in the room, and people on this forum would call me a monster for doing this… it’s really wild.
- BOOSTERHIDROGEN 1y ago
  This is not a new development; HN has been discussing this issue since it became apparent that the content did not meet the expected standards. The situation changed when Google made an effort to implement a whitelist channel feature.

stankot 1y ago

I stumbled on this some time ago and saved it for when my kid grows up enough. It is a collection of a few thousands kid friendly videos. I think their curation is pretty good, but check it out for yourself. https://thekidshouldseethis.com/ https://thekidshouldseethis.com/

thijson 1y ago

My son watches this YouTuber, it's Eystreem. My guess is that he uses the Bible as a prop to add drama to his videos. Another video he was marketing Prime energy drinks. Maybe I should download a whole bunch of 80's TV shows line A-team or Macyver, and only have that available to watch

curiousgal 1y ago

Shocking at this may seem, it is your job as a parent to protect your kid and not expect a platform to do it for you. It's not that hard to limit kids' screen time and control the content. A simple yt-dlp cron job with Jellyfin would work fine.

cyanydeez 1y ago

thats not a real filterable example