YouTube has over three billion active monthly users, and this includes children. While children can learn many educational things using the platform, it has some appalling videos that might not be appropriate for kids. Matured or violent videos often bypass the algorithm, making their way to your screen. Hence, if your teen has a YouTube account or uses yours, I recommend turning on parental control on YouTube.
Things you should know before turning on Parental Control on YouTube
There are three ways to enable Parental Control on YouTube for your teen. They might not be 100% effective, but they work most of the time. However, you should often supervise your child’s account to make sure they have not reverted all the changes made.
- Meanwhile, you turn on Restricted Mode in YouTube from Profile picture >> Settings>> General>>Restricted Mode.
- Create a supervised account for your kid from Settings>>Family Center>> Invite a Teen
- Add a YouTube Kids profile from Settings>>Family Center
How to turn on Restricted Mode on YouTube
As the name suggests, it restricts some actions, and this time, it helps prevent adult content from reaching your children. However, it’s device-specific, meaning you need to enable it on every device or browser.
Here’s how the restricted mode works
- If you share the same account with your kids on a different device, you can turn on Restricted mode on their phones without impacting yours.
- Meanwhile, if they have their account, you should turn on Restricted mode on all their devices, including web browsers.
How to turn on Restricted mode on mobile devices
- Launch the YouTube app.
- At the top right corner, tap your profile picture.
- Click Settings>>General.
- Toggle Restricted Mode to the on position.
How to turn on Restricted mode on the computer
- Visit YouTube.com.
- Login into your account if you are not already, otherwise, click on your profile picture at the top right corner.
- Click on Restricted Mode: off.
- Toggle Activate Restricted mode to the on position.
Turn on Restricted mode on Smart TV
- Open the YouTube app on your Smart TV.
- Go to Settings from the sidebar menu.
- Head to Restricted Mode and tap on the on button.
Also read: How to monitor your child’s activity on Instagram for free
Set Up a supervised account for your Kid on YouTube
Supervised accounts on YouTube are for children under 13 in the United States. Although there are different ages for other countries, which you can find here. With a supervised account, you can restrict and monitor the videos or music your kid can access. You might need to create a Google account for your child before you start.
- Launch the YouTube App and tap on your profile picture at the top right.
- Click on Settings and then select Family Center.
- Tap on Invite a Teen.
- The next page says all you need to know. Scroll down and click Create Invite.
- You can use your Teens phone to scan the QR code or share a link instead.
- However, you only have seven days to complete the process.
- On your child’s phone, click on the link, which displays everything you can and cannot do.
- Scroll down and tap on accept.
- That’s all. You will be directed to the Family Center after that.
- To see the activities of your child-supervised account, use this link: https://families.youtube.com/supervision-dashboard
How to Supervise Your Teen Account on YouTube
If you have created a Google account for your child with you as a parent, their profile will automatically appear on Family Center. You can monitor all activities on YouTube and also set up parental control.
- Head to YouTube App and tap on your profile picture
- Tap on Settings >> Family Center.
- Select your Child’s account and tap on YouTube (Parent supervised)
- Next is to select a Content Setting. There are three categories: Explore, Explore more, and Most of YouTube.
- Explore: Generally, aligns with content ratings for viewers over the age of 9
- Explore More: Aligns with content ratings for viewers over the age of 13
- Most of YouTube: Includes almost everything on YouTube except for videos marked 18+
- After selecting the appropriate category for your teen, click next, and on the page, tap on Finish Setup.
- You can make further adjustments to your kid’s account on the page after setting up a supervised account for your child.
Create YouTube kids account for proper supervision
Another option to monitor your children’s activity on YouTube is by creating a YouTube Kids account for them. It makes supervision on the platform easier, as you can select what your kids watch. And since it’s a separate app from YouTube, it will be hard to see content that does not align with what you want for your child.
- You can download the YouTube Kids app or go to youtube.kids.com in your web browser.
- On the page, select I’m a parent, and you will be taken to the welcome page.
- Select Next or the button at the bottom to use your child’s supervised account.
- Enter the year you were born and click submit.
- After that, you will see a video of the next steps, select show text if you want written instructions.
- Select Next to sign in to your parent account.
- Select your account and click Sign in.
- Click Next and enter your password, which means you are agreeing to the parental consent.
- Next, create a profile for your kid. Enter your child’s name, age, and birth month in the required fields.
- Click on the pencil icon to change the profile picture. Click next when you are done.
- You can choose content settings. You can choose from three settings and after that, you will see a pop-up with a description of the content your child will see.
- Preschool: ages 4 and under
- Younger: ages 5 to 8
- Older: ages 9 to 12
- Confirm your choice by clicking Select. The next step is to Enable or disable Search. Tap on Turn Search if you want your teen to search for videos. Select Turn Search off to restrict your kid from searching for a specific video. After that, your child can start using YouTube Kids.
- Enable or disable “Search.” Click Turn Search On if you want to allow your teen to search for new videos that interest them. Click Turn Search Off to limit your child from searching for specific videos. Your child can now use YouTube Kids.
Conclusion
YouTubeKids is arguably the best way to ensure your kid’s safety on the platform. It is different from YouTube, meaning content suitable for children is uploaded. However, you can only monitor someone under 13 using that method, but you can always explore the other options on this app.
