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How to control what your kids watch on YouTube Kids

Posted at 7:53 AM, Sep 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-13 08:53:43-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Several parents contacted 41 Action News about concerns with an app called YouTube Kids.

It’s an app designed to provide PG and kid-friendly videos, but parental controls must be in place to make the firewall more effective.

Tech expert Burton Kelso said you should go into the settings in the YouTube app and put in passwords that your kids do not know.

“You also want to put password features on there so kids can't go in and change the age restriction so that they don't have access to all of the videos that are available on YouTube,” explained Kelso.

You’re also advised to turn off the search engine feature. Often that is where children can find more adult content.

Kelso said sometimes pedophiles or criminals can post videos as kid-friendly that simply are not.

“Parents need to know that if an inappropriate video shows up on your kid’s YouTube that they can definitely mark it as inappropriate. YouTube will take a look at the video and determine if it needs to be in the kid’s YouTube rotation or not,” explained Kelso.

Kelso said his best advice for parents is to not let young kids watch YouTube Kids or any other streaming services unsupervised.

You can also sit down with your children to find out what videos they are watching.

YouTube Kids is geared toward viewing videos, not posting online videos.

Kelso said it is a good idea to check your kid’s smart device on a regular basis to be sure the app is being used. This could range from once a night to once a week.