I've always been pretty liberal about video time. We get out and we do stuff, but when at home, they can be on videos and there's governance but it's limited.

Here are some rules that were put in place at the start of it:

] I can see what they're doing at any time

] they come to me for bad content and swearing

] we discuss swearing and bad content. the conversations drag on if it appears concealed

That's it. Go have fun. I check in from time to time. Son and daughter. Here's what I've learned.

Cursing will work it's way into their stream. We talk about how cursing isn't mature and these people use it to try to seem cool. We talk about why they want to seem cool. We talk about monetization and views and clicks. We talk about "the viewer as a product."

Mature topics come up. Discussed intelligently and why they're inappropriate. Who you can talk about these things with and who will be offended/embarrassed. Why it's not generally brought up.

They now have their own niches of interest and share them freely with me. I am learning more history and odd facts than I expected. After the novelty of watching the repetitive content wears off, the education content that interests them begins to dominate their streams. Reptile hatching. Presidential history and wars. Art and music. I got asked what cum is. Better to get a real answer from a parent then schoolyard gossip. Issue covered, here's why it's not discussed, now go have fun.

I feel it's been a good experiment. When I was younger, the fight was over what books I should read. What music I could hear. Now it's about what content kids should see. I see it as an argument about whether you should parent now, or let them just discover it all when they're out of the house. I felt it was better to cover it while they can get my perspective, and it seems to be working. caveat emptor.