My daughter wants her own YouTube channel – I’m really not sure

"I'm keen to see what Netflix's 'Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing' says."

Like many parents of teens and tweens, I’m facing a big dilemma: my daughter wants a YouTube channel.

She’s been asking for months. She tells me she wants to make ‘cute edits’ and gaming videos.

While part of me loves her determination, creativity and enthusiasm for content creation, the other part of me is terrified about everything that comes with it.

I get it. Kids today don’t just watch YouTube; they want to be on YouTube. At careers week in primary school, so many kids chose to be YouTubers – it’s seen as an aspirational career to be like Mr Beast.

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"As a mum, I see the risks"

When we were kids, we dreamed of being pop stars, Hollywood actors or maybe even astronauts. Unlike those dreams, YouTube is actually very accessible (obviously not at the millions of subscribers level, but anyone can get started on the platform).

You don’t need a talent agent, a record deal or a top IQ, just a camera, an internet connection and a bit of confidence. But as a mum, I can’t help but see the potential pitfalls.

She’s still young

One of my biggest concerns is her age. She’s still figuring out who she is, and I worry about her putting herself out there for the world to see. What if she looks back on her videos in five years and cringes? We all have awkward phases, but at least mine weren’t preserved for all time on the internet.

Photos are one thing, but videos that she’s made and curated are very different.

Kids don’t always have the best judgement, and that’s not their fault. It’s just part of their brain development – they’re growing up and learning. A throwaway comment, a stupid joke or even an innocent clip could come back to haunt her later. And once something is online, it’s never truly gone.

The truth is, people online can be brutal. As adults, we’ve built up (some) resilience and we kind of expect it (or at least we choose to take that risk) if we put ourselves out there, but our kids have been mostly shielded from random online trolls. None of my kids have social media accounts yet, and we waited until our twin boys were heading into year nine to get them mobile phones – our daughter hasn’t even got a phone yet.

Image: Supplied

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"Trolls don't care she's a kid"

One mean comment could shatter her confidence and have a lasting impact on how she sees herself. I hate the thought of her reading something nasty from a stranger and it changing how she feels about herself. Trolls don’t care that she’s a kid.

They don’t care that she’s just having fun. And while I’d monitor everything, I can’t protect her from every harsh word that might pop up.

I’m a grown-up writer and content creator, and even I struggle with negative comments. And I don’t want her self-worth tied to likes and views, especially when algorithms are unpredictable and can make a video go viral or disappear into the void. Creating content is exhausting – sometimes your best work goes unnoticed, and it’s frustrating even for me as an adult.

Cyberbullying is just one of my worries - there are real dangers online, from unsolicited messages to privacy issues and more serious risks. Internet safety is a major worry, and I want to protect her from all of it.

Guess who has to manage it?

If she starts a channel, I know exactly who will be doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes. Me.

While she’s already a pro at editing videos (and gives me snarky comments about how my Reels are too long and need more cuts!), I’ll be the one online checking comments, making sure she’s following the safety rules, ensuring she isn’t publishing anything that could get her into trouble and checking comments and messages.

And let’s be honest, I barely have time to keep up with my own emails, school admin and after-school activities, let alone run a budding YouTuber’s empire and teaching her about copyright infringement.

Right now, she’d need a lot of parental involvement, which means I’d be signing myself up for a new (unpaid) job.

Karen with her kids in simpler times. Source: supplied

"A YouTube account could be positive"

That said, a YouTube channel could bring a lot of positives. She’d be developing her creativity, learning valuable editing and storytelling techniques and gaining confidence in her abilities. It could be a great hobby, side hustle or even a career path one day.

Let’s face it, some kids are making more money on YouTube than we do in our actual jobs, and content creation skills are useful for any marketing role.

Being a YouTuber would also teach her the power of being consistent and resilient. It’s about sticking with something, even if you don’t see results immediately. Success comes when you focus and continue, even when things get hard.

I also try to teach her the importance of taking action instead of watching from the sidelines – and this is her wanting to go all in and get in the arena so I feel like I should support that.

I don’t want to be the mum who immediately shuts down her dreams. I want to encourage her creativity, and I love that she wants to make content instead of just consuming it – I hate watching my kids wasting their weekends by mindlessly doom-scrolling.

Netflix's 'Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing'

The Netflix doco drops April 9 and I'll be watching it with interest - and hopefully with my daughter. It's apparently about a 'kidfluencer' whose mother managed her social media presence - with risky results.

I’m  also thinking of getting my daughter to create a bank of videos that she doesn’t publish right away. This will give her a push to create content and allow her to improve her skills. When the time feels right, we can pull the trigger on the channel but keep things supervised.

I want her to feel supported, but I also want her to be safe. I’m not saying "no" forever – I’m thinking we’ll start slowly and carefully.

For now, I’m still firmly on the fence until I’ve seen the sort of content she wants to create. Right now, she’s working on a PowerPoint presentation to show me why this is important to her. I’ve got to give her credit and listen!

Originally published as My daughter wants her own YouTube channel – I’m really not sure