We've managed to avoid separate Google/gmail accounts so far, although my oldest has a Microsoft account because she wanted to own her own chosen set of add-ons, skins, and other things from the Minecraft marketplace (which, don't get me started on how hard it is to filter money and purchases to that account so she can buy Minecoins).
YouTube-wise, we've gotten lucky and my kids accept that plain YouTube is only for the TV and Mom and Dad's phones, so it's just my account logged in on an Android TV box. Kids know they're only allowed to watch a handful of creators and they stick to it, and I double check my watch history via my phone here and there.
Favorite YouTubers in our household that have a pass that kids can watch just about any of their videos:
-StacyPlays (family friendly across her whole channel, almost exclusively Minecraft)
-ZachScottGames (but just Nintendo games; he's not as filtered for more T and M-rated games)
-Aphmau (the group there screams more than we like, but it's mostly harmless small skits/plays played out in Minecraft)
-StampyCat (also Minecraft, generally pretty fun and family-friendly)
-Play Nintendo (all the videos feel supremely fake, but it's Nintendo-produced, so it's always kid-friendly)
He does Minecraft videos amongst other things. Kid was really into him for a while, and now listens to a vidoe game podcast he does called Bonus Points where he and a friend rate new and old video games. It's not sweary and a lot of fun. I really enjoy listening to it as well, very child friendly.
Stampy and the company he now works for put out a version of the 'Stampy's Lovely World' out on the marketplace for Bedrock which was very popular in our household for a bit.
Another fun wrinkle on this is that Google sells a FitBit model for kids, but if your child (under 13) has a child's account then they can't create the FitBit account they need to actually use the FitBit properly. It's well known, very stupid, and shows no sign of being addressed.
Oh, that is fantastic. I was talking with a friend recently who lets a kid under the "required" age to use a Meta Quest who has been banned twice for talking about their age. I keep meaning to write about this, but it's exceptionally silly in VR, because there is no actual medical evidence to ban children from certain ages of using other VR. (I am not advocating for letting a three-year-old run around for hours, but it's ultimately a parental decision, based on my reporting, not a medical one.)
Setting up my daughter's FitBit was one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had with technology. What made it worse was that Google accounts for kids aren't offered where I live, so I literally had to VPN to Texas to set up a dummy account. It took hours to figure out and sucked.
We've managed to avoid separate Google/gmail accounts so far, although my oldest has a Microsoft account because she wanted to own her own chosen set of add-ons, skins, and other things from the Minecraft marketplace (which, don't get me started on how hard it is to filter money and purchases to that account so she can buy Minecoins).
YouTube-wise, we've gotten lucky and my kids accept that plain YouTube is only for the TV and Mom and Dad's phones, so it's just my account logged in on an Android TV box. Kids know they're only allowed to watch a handful of creators and they stick to it, and I double check my watch history via my phone here and there.
Favorite YouTubers in our household that have a pass that kids can watch just about any of their videos:
-StacyPlays (family friendly across her whole channel, almost exclusively Minecraft)
-ZachScottGames (but just Nintendo games; he's not as filtered for more T and M-rated games)
-Aphmau (the group there screams more than we like, but it's mostly harmless small skits/plays played out in Minecraft)
-StampyCat (also Minecraft, generally pretty fun and family-friendly)
-Play Nintendo (all the videos feel supremely fake, but it's Nintendo-produced, so it's always kid-friendly)
Aphmau is was the first time my oldest remembered and talked about a YouTuber.
A wholesome British youtuber our kid got into is a guy called Stampycat.
https://youtube.com/@stampycat?si=C_DasDDvF6xmJlhJ
He does Minecraft videos amongst other things. Kid was really into him for a while, and now listens to a vidoe game podcast he does called Bonus Points where he and a friend rate new and old video games. It's not sweary and a lot of fun. I really enjoy listening to it as well, very child friendly.
https://open.spotify.com/show/1sVlgLS2boSqY0coeS7AUt?si=jIanfIQbSNeTL2PShYHLhw
Stampy and the company he now works for put out a version of the 'Stampy's Lovely World' out on the marketplace for Bedrock which was very popular in our household for a bit.
Another fun wrinkle on this is that Google sells a FitBit model for kids, but if your child (under 13) has a child's account then they can't create the FitBit account they need to actually use the FitBit properly. It's well known, very stupid, and shows no sign of being addressed.
Oh, that is fantastic. I was talking with a friend recently who lets a kid under the "required" age to use a Meta Quest who has been banned twice for talking about their age. I keep meaning to write about this, but it's exceptionally silly in VR, because there is no actual medical evidence to ban children from certain ages of using other VR. (I am not advocating for letting a three-year-old run around for hours, but it's ultimately a parental decision, based on my reporting, not a medical one.)
Setting up my daughter's FitBit was one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had with technology. What made it worse was that Google accounts for kids aren't offered where I live, so I literally had to VPN to Texas to set up a dummy account. It took hours to figure out and sucked.