YouTube: what parents need to know.

Kids can't get enough of Youtube. Read NCA-CEOP's comprehensive guide to everything parents need to know about it YouTube is a modern-day phenomenon – a video sharing service owned by Google and enjoyed by millions throughout the world every day.

‘52% of young people questioned said they would recommend a friend watch YouTube to cheer themselves up’.

Children and young people love YouTube – so much so that last year, Google launched a special child-friendly version, YouTube Kids, aimed at children under 13.

In a survey by Parent Zone, 52% of young people questioned said they would recommend a friend watch YouTube to cheer themselves up if they were feeling down.

Yet among all those cute cat videos, there is challenging and sometimes disturbing content that may be unsuitable for children and young people.

Click on the link below to read NCA-CEOP's comprehensive guide to everything parents need to know about YouTube.

Further reading

Setting filters on YouTube

YouTube Kids: a parent’s guide

The advice published on Parent Info is provided by independent experts in their field and not necessarily the views of Parent Zone or NCA-CEOP.

Files: 

Thinkuknow Parent's Guide to YouTube.pdf

Article 17: (Access to information; mass media) Children have the right to information that is important to their health and well-being.

Advice from Safer Internet UK

Parents and Carers play a key role in supporting children to learn about how to stay safe online, and they are one of the first people children turn to if things go wrong.  We know that it can be difficult to stay on top of the wide range of sites and devices that young people use, so we hope that the following advice helps.

Four Steps:

1. Have ongoing conversations with your children about staying safe online.

2. Use safety tools on social networks and other online services, eg. Facebook privacy settings.

3. Decide if you want to use parental controls on your home internet.

4. Understand devices and the parental tools they offer in 'Parents' Guide to Technology'.

What are the key online risks? (Safer Internet UK)

Contact: Children can be contacted by bullies or people who groom or seek to abuse them.

Content: age-inappropriate or unreliable content can be available to children.

Conduct: children may be at risk because of their own behaviour, for example, by sharing too much information.

Commercialism: young people can be unaware of hidden costs and advertising in apps, games and websites.

Please see below for a range of useful resources for teachers, parents and children.

Click on the icons below to find out ways in which you can keep your child safe online:-