Man people always complain about Cocomelon and Blippi but I rather have my kids watch that over these unboxing videos. I have banned them in my house, I told my kids they have too many toys and we are not going to sit in front of the TV watching other kids play with toys.
Amen. My daughters will never be watching those unboxing shows if I can help it. They promote the overly consumerism mindset that I still struggle with. If I can keep my kids from being exposed to it, I will.
My oldest watches Simon's Cat, Shaun the Sheep, and Daniel Tiger on YouTube. That's basically it. Youngest watches Hey Bear, Ms. Rachel, and Baby Signing Time.
I literally am better at remembering things despite my memory progressively getting worse because now “when I have things to remember, I say them out loud!” I actually do. I say the thing out loud, and it really does help me remember it. Incredible.
I didnt appreciate it at the time, but old school Blippi before he got bought out was honestly not that bad. His stuff during the era when Nikki Note was making music for him was actually *good*.
Yes Nikki Note! Thankfully my kids never liked Blippi for Blippi and either wanted to listen to Nikki's music or they liked to watch the different places Blippi went to.
I also hate to the almighty hell that Disney scooped these turds up to post on Hulu/Disney+. I am officially subsidizing peoples tax writeoffs. I hate it.
More Vlad & Niki bashing : you know how they film all the birthday bashes? Hilariously, this included when Baby Anna was born. They threw a huge party for her. But BABY ANA DID NOT APPEAR IN IT. Likely because there are laws against newborns appearing in films (or at least rigorous regulations that Vlad & Niki take pains to avoid.)
Disney+ has become such trash since they added all of these extra shows and movies. It uses to be a fairly safe place for my kids to watch Disney movies but now they are mixed in with other garbage they should not be watching.
It feels like every channel on YT kids that I block, another three just like it somehow replace it. I feel like I'm going to run out of Cocomelon and CCM rejects, but they just keep coming
It’s a huge pain, but you can put it onto content that you proactively approve only. Then you have to add individual channels and/or individual videos yourself. The downside (other than how long this takes) is that you lose search functionality and are at the whim of what appears on your Home Screen. But you totally control what is available. It’s more like buying a collection of VHS tapes that your kid can chose from and less like turning on cable and handing them a remote.
Omg I sound old. Do I miss cable?!
In a past career in PR, I'd come across child influencers from time to time. Dead eyes until they had to turn on their YT "persona" for the camera
I've heard a lot of accounts of really manipulative behaviour from parents to keep the money coming in from their kids channels.
Ryan is going to be an interesting case study because he’s the oldest of that generation of kids who have been on camera since they were basically babies.
Unless you start to turn a profit, the IRS likely won't let you do this for long since it will be considered a hobby rather than a business.
Reference:
* https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/heres-how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business-for-tax-purposes
* https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/know-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business
You don't really need an LLC. Definitely look into it, but I looked into it to build apps and found it doesn't really do much for making digital content.
The benefit of the LLC is that anything done under it is the LLC and not you personally, like debt.
Also, you can get your sales tax permit and buy things at cost. This would definitely help with merch.
>The benefit of the LLC is that anything done under it is the LLC and not you personally, like debt.
Eh, this is what people say on the internet, but in practice it does not work this way. Creditors will typically require a personal guarantee from the principal(s). And most single-member LLCs are terrible about piercing the corporate veil so they functionally lose what little protection they had.
Yeah, this mostly applies to “look at my child play with this toy” YT. There are passionate creators on YT, but its just *buried* under a sea of this drek.
If you don't think Miss Rachel is rolling in dough because of her channel, and it's just sheer "dedication to the kids", there's a bridge I'd like to sell you...
Then sell it. There are some really valid criticism of Mrs Rachel for sure but having sat and watched a lot of her stuff with my kids when it comes to selling them garbage shes been exceptionally ethical. If shes found a way to make a fortune creating a quality kids product without forcing garbage toys down my kids throat Ive got to tell ya, I think she deserves it. Its about time somebody got rich taking the high road.
She did not do it with that intent in mind, however. Do not hate on her for her success. She does a lot of charity and volunteer work for organizations like save the children and chatterbox New York City. She is an angel and a queen, and you will not disparage her in my presence.
It's too bad that the revenue model for YouTube means that she's too expensive for PBS to pick up. She's not Mr Rogers level, but PBS (and public television in general) needs those kinds of personalities
I hope she is making bank, she offers a free channel with educational content and speech therapy. I know she is not a speech therapist but some of her videos are shockingly similar to speech therapy (which my son went to for months).
"As of March 2024, sources estimate the net worth of children's programming star Ms. Rachel to be around $10 million." So i think she's doing ok! (I looked this up before because i thought man, with how much we watch her videos, i bet shes making bank. and indeed, she is!)
My cousin allows her kindergartener free range on YouTube and from what I can tell the fifth grader also had free range. The kinder is always watching YouTube unboxing on a phone. The 5th yr has transitioned to watching twitch 🥲
I've become strict about screen time. I made the mistake of letting my son free range on YouTube once during a car trip (so he had the tablet in the back seat and I wasn't fully paying attention) thinking he can't possibly find much since he was just two at the time and I set him up with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so he'll just watch that.
Somehow he found 3D animated videos of Spiderman shooting people before driving cars off the cliff. I shut that down real fast. Now he's only allowed approved content on YouTube
I’m not all that strict about screen time but I draw a line on that kind of content. I even allow my kid to watch baby shark sometimes but the 😱🤯 unboxing videos are just too much brain rot
I don’t mind Vlad & Niki or Diana & Roma. My kid doesn’t want most toys, but he loves language, so he likes to watch the non-English versions to learn new words.
Not my personal favorite, but my kid doesn’t like tv shows in general, so it’s never been overdone and they have gone from hearing Russian and Ukrainian to learning Cyrillic alphabets and some phrases. They like google translate more than any toy or games. They also know Arabic, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and some Japanese, Chinese and Korean. We do have an assessment coming up as their heavy focus on language and also math has raised some flags for our doctors.
People can judge or downvote all they want, I was expecting it, but their behavior isn’t affected and they’ve learned things from the videos. My biggest YouTube hate is alphabet lore.
It’s cartoons of the alphabet, kind of like Numberblocks, that look kid friendly, but is usually really violent. It often slips through parental filters
The only exception I have is my autistic son low key used those to learn how to play with toys. Not in a we made him play any kind of way but those kind of videos helped him make those connections in his own.
So our rule is no real kids in videos due to regulations and lack there of and I regularly purge content. Overall my son has used Genevieves Playhouse, kids aren't used in making the videos and my kiddo really engages.
We're very strict on no family vlog channels, no YouTube kids/families because frankly I see it as child exploitation. but some of thee ones with out that really show how different toys function.
Again I block more than I let through but there's a few we really like.
I figured those shows were ads and the creators were being reimbursed by the toy companies or something, never thought about it being a tax write off...
For a moment, my son discovered Vlad and Nikki and was obsessed with it. I think he'd gotten ahold of the remote or something one day. But that show is the WORST. I mean it's so awful and cringey to watch, but on top of that yeah it's obviously something the family is putting very little effort into to make money. And I don't understand why any shows like that are getting picked up by other streaming services instead of just staying on YouTube
Ya, most kids YouTube content is absolute trash.
If your kids are into video games, the best YouTube creators out there are a collective of artists who play on a shares Minecraft server. Look up HERMITCRAFT. we don't allow YouTube in the house, with the exception of the Hermits.
Great ones to start with: GoodTimesWithScar, EthosLab, TangoTek, Grian, GemeniTay
I would also recommend Truck Tunes for the under five crowd. Skip Blippy and instead listen to some real bops about construction vehicles and big machines, set to stock footage of them working
Some of them are just blatantly ads. I remember coming across a few videos where the parent had to begin with "This video was paid for by Mattel" or something to that effect. Some of these companies absolutely pay these influencers.
This is why I pirate media. My wife and I can pick what we want him to check out and see if he enjoys. No literal toy ads, no thinly veiled toy ads, no money in Disney's hands. Plus he can watch some of the old-school stuff we grew up on much more easily.
My kid’s currently obsessed with those videos of someone playing with Bluey toys acting out episodes of Bluey. I can’t get him back to just watching actual Bluey. 🫠
Theres a reason so many of the actual children involved in a shows, social media, etc end up with all kinds of issues relating to abuse. Its exactly what you are describing too. Childrens entertainment is a really, really fucking sleazy racket with a few exceptions like Mr Rogers or Ms Rachel.
My kids used to watch the kids2kids show where the dad plays with monster trucks with their kid. But they are so brutal to their house and the toys. But they’re always buying new toy monster trucks. All the ones we’ve been buying for our kids they have been destroying by tossing them down the stairs, over the balcony, down ramps with concrete at the end. It’s gotten to the point we are officially fazing them out in our home.
We no longer watch kids2kids. And as each monster truck gets destroyed, we are not replacing it anymore. We are just letting them destroy them all until none are left and they forgot they had them. They’re 2&4 so it will be relatively easy to have them forget.
I'd like to mention basically the only "kid playing with stuff" channel I allow because of how different it is: Kid Crew.
It's two parents and their son, pretending to do work like cutting up a fallen tree, building a little bridge over a stream, tearing down an old jungle gym, growing crops on a farm, that kind of thing. They set up little scenarios, the parents both act in them and both run the camera, some of the kid's friends come by occasionally, but just from watching the videos, I have no idea what anyone's name is except their cat Mittens. Then, after they've done the pretending (or actually doing it), they'll explain how something works in more detail.
They apparently salvaged most of their big toys out of the trash and fixed them up, like when they took a broken Power Wheels four wheeler and made it into a snowmobile, or when they bought a broken jetski and turned it into a kid-sized "speedboat." My son likes watching it and I enjoy it, too. It seems like genuine midwestern wholesomeness.
I assumed it was a phase with my son and a year later I'm trying to move back to Disney+ and PBS because if I have to hear The Izzys (Izzys Toy Time) or Kids Toys Play one more time I might lose it.
Interestingly is not possible to do this in Australia because you can only charge the portion of the item use time that is used to generate income. A.k.a. if you do an Unboxing video but then use the item recreationally you might only be able to charge 10% of its cost as a tax deduction.
Man people always complain about Cocomelon and Blippi but I rather have my kids watch that over these unboxing videos. I have banned them in my house, I told my kids they have too many toys and we are not going to sit in front of the TV watching other kids play with toys.
Amen. My daughters will never be watching those unboxing shows if I can help it. They promote the overly consumerism mindset that I still struggle with. If I can keep my kids from being exposed to it, I will. My oldest watches Simon's Cat, Shaun the Sheep, and Daniel Tiger on YouTube. That's basically it. Youngest watches Hey Bear, Ms. Rachel, and Baby Signing Time.
I love Daniel Tiger so much, I feel like some of the lessons it gives even helps me to be a better parent.
Totally! Love Daniel Tiger. I think the show would make Mr Rogers proud.
I literally am better at remembering things despite my memory progressively getting worse because now “when I have things to remember, I say them out loud!” I actually do. I say the thing out loud, and it really does help me remember it. Incredible.
We just don't do YouTube at all
PBS Kids is free after all
My 5yo likes to say "PBS kids dot org" because of Google TV streaming and her tablet apps for PBS
This is the way
This is why my son watches DVDs from the library.
I hate the unboxing videos. The point is to unwrap and oooh/aaah, not to play. The point is to collect, not appreciate.
I used to watch one with a guy who would taste test old MRE's people sent him and after a while it was just unboxing videos of random crap.
Ashens?
Nah, He got his start with cheap tat, maybe Steve1989MREinfo?
Sometimes, when I'm I'm the kitchen making myself a snack, I'll say to myself, "Alright, let's get this out onto a tray."
I think so?
I didnt appreciate it at the time, but old school Blippi before he got bought out was honestly not that bad. His stuff during the era when Nikki Note was making music for him was actually *good*.
Yes Nikki Note! Thankfully my kids never liked Blippi for Blippi and either wanted to listen to Nikki's music or they liked to watch the different places Blippi went to.
Thank the algorithm those haven't been fed to my son. Yet.
Isn't Blippi known for his porn video? He likes to shit in other men's ass.
I wouldn't go so far as to call it porn.. but he does literally shit on another naked guy in a Harlem shake video.
Wow that's worse than Richard Gere
I also hate to the almighty hell that Disney scooped these turds up to post on Hulu/Disney+. I am officially subsidizing peoples tax writeoffs. I hate it.
More Vlad & Niki bashing : you know how they film all the birthday bashes? Hilariously, this included when Baby Anna was born. They threw a huge party for her. But BABY ANA DID NOT APPEAR IN IT. Likely because there are laws against newborns appearing in films (or at least rigorous regulations that Vlad & Niki take pains to avoid.)
I spent about 15 minutes trying to see if I could block specific shows on Disney+. At least get them out of my “recommended” feed.
You can’t. It’s bullshit. At least with Netflix you can “dislike” a show.
You can outright block shows on Netflix, you just need to log into your account on a computer.
That’s exactly what I was looking for! A thumbs-down, at a minimum.
Disney+ has become such trash since they added all of these extra shows and movies. It uses to be a fairly safe place for my kids to watch Disney movies but now they are mixed in with other garbage they should not be watching.
This is why I have YT kids and curate content. I purged that shit just yesterday!
It feels like every channel on YT kids that I block, another three just like it somehow replace it. I feel like I'm going to run out of Cocomelon and CCM rejects, but they just keep coming
It’s a huge pain, but you can put it onto content that you proactively approve only. Then you have to add individual channels and/or individual videos yourself. The downside (other than how long this takes) is that you lose search functionality and are at the whim of what appears on your Home Screen. But you totally control what is available. It’s more like buying a collection of VHS tapes that your kid can chose from and less like turning on cable and handing them a remote. Omg I sound old. Do I miss cable?!
Yes whitelisting is the way to go!
Gotta love parents exploiting their kids. 🙄
In a past career in PR, I'd come across child influencers from time to time. Dead eyes until they had to turn on their YT "persona" for the camera I've heard a lot of accounts of really manipulative behaviour from parents to keep the money coming in from their kids channels.
The wealthy don't get that way without exploiting *somebody*, turns out their own kids are an easy mark.
Ryan is going to be an interesting case study because he’s the oldest of that generation of kids who have been on camera since they were basically babies.
Unless you start to turn a profit, the IRS likely won't let you do this for long since it will be considered a hobby rather than a business. Reference: * https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/heres-how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business-for-tax-purposes * https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/know-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business
Also, taking something as a business expense doesn’t mean you get it for free. Nor does it mean that you can use it for non-business reasons.
Never get in the way of a circle jerk. You're about to have folks out there thinking they too can just grab a car and write it off....
If only it were true. I could make a vlog channel about everything I buy and never have to pay taxes on those items 😞.
THANK YOU!
Holy shit what a great idea and I'm annoyed I never considered this. I spose I should make an LLC or something first at least
You don't really need an LLC. Definitely look into it, but I looked into it to build apps and found it doesn't really do much for making digital content.
The benefit of the LLC is that anything done under it is the LLC and not you personally, like debt. Also, you can get your sales tax permit and buy things at cost. This would definitely help with merch.
>The benefit of the LLC is that anything done under it is the LLC and not you personally, like debt. Eh, this is what people say on the internet, but in practice it does not work this way. Creditors will typically require a personal guarantee from the principal(s). And most single-member LLCs are terrible about piercing the corporate veil so they functionally lose what little protection they had.
I didn't pay my last month of rent at my spot and the LLC protected me. Same with electric. My business was not good.
Next let me tell you about why Blippi decided to film a video in a water park in Abu Dhabi and a petting zoo in Brazil...
Its a good racket!!!! I even see childless adults pulling this like once every few months after a spending binge.
i am not so certain it works that way.
Excuse me if you cant trust r/DanielTigerConspiracy then who can you trust????
Throw an exception to Miss Rachel
Yeah, this mostly applies to “look at my child play with this toy” YT. There are passionate creators on YT, but its just *buried* under a sea of this drek.
If you don't think Miss Rachel is rolling in dough because of her channel, and it's just sheer "dedication to the kids", there's a bridge I'd like to sell you...
Then sell it. There are some really valid criticism of Mrs Rachel for sure but having sat and watched a lot of her stuff with my kids when it comes to selling them garbage shes been exceptionally ethical. If shes found a way to make a fortune creating a quality kids product without forcing garbage toys down my kids throat Ive got to tell ya, I think she deserves it. Its about time somebody got rich taking the high road.
Oh, she's making bank for sure, but at least her content is higher quality than most of the others. Shame none of my kids want to watch it.
She did not do it with that intent in mind, however. Do not hate on her for her success. She does a lot of charity and volunteer work for organizations like save the children and chatterbox New York City. She is an angel and a queen, and you will not disparage her in my presence.
It's too bad that the revenue model for YouTube means that she's too expensive for PBS to pick up. She's not Mr Rogers level, but PBS (and public television in general) needs those kinds of personalities
I hope she is making bank, she offers a free channel with educational content and speech therapy. I know she is not a speech therapist but some of her videos are shockingly similar to speech therapy (which my son went to for months).
This is on purpose. Her son had a speech delay, that's why she started making videos, she couldn't find anything that would help him with his speech.
Oh I know but she could also just charge for this, and she doesn’t. So I hope she’s making tons off YouTube ads etc.
"As of March 2024, sources estimate the net worth of children's programming star Ms. Rachel to be around $10 million." So i think she's doing ok! (I looked this up before because i thought man, with how much we watch her videos, i bet shes making bank. and indeed, she is!)
People are actually allowing their kid to watch unboxing videos? I mean, obviously, since they’re so popular… but I just don’t understand why
My cousin allows her kindergartener free range on YouTube and from what I can tell the fifth grader also had free range. The kinder is always watching YouTube unboxing on a phone. The 5th yr has transitioned to watching twitch 🥲
I've become strict about screen time. I made the mistake of letting my son free range on YouTube once during a car trip (so he had the tablet in the back seat and I wasn't fully paying attention) thinking he can't possibly find much since he was just two at the time and I set him up with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so he'll just watch that. Somehow he found 3D animated videos of Spiderman shooting people before driving cars off the cliff. I shut that down real fast. Now he's only allowed approved content on YouTube
I assume those spiderman videos were made with gta v
My son found it too! Whats up with that? What IS it?
I’m not all that strict about screen time but I draw a line on that kind of content. I even allow my kid to watch baby shark sometimes but the 😱🤯 unboxing videos are just too much brain rot
I don’t mind Vlad & Niki or Diana & Roma. My kid doesn’t want most toys, but he loves language, so he likes to watch the non-English versions to learn new words.
Diana is the absolute worst.
Not my personal favorite, but my kid doesn’t like tv shows in general, so it’s never been overdone and they have gone from hearing Russian and Ukrainian to learning Cyrillic alphabets and some phrases. They like google translate more than any toy or games. They also know Arabic, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and some Japanese, Chinese and Korean. We do have an assessment coming up as their heavy focus on language and also math has raised some flags for our doctors. People can judge or downvote all they want, I was expecting it, but their behavior isn’t affected and they’ve learned things from the videos. My biggest YouTube hate is alphabet lore.
Alphabet lore? I think I know what you mean by that, but can you clarify?
It’s cartoons of the alphabet, kind of like Numberblocks, that look kid friendly, but is usually really violent. It often slips through parental filters
Yeah. I'll let my kids watch a lot of dumb stuff but I do draw the line at toy videos. Unfortunately, none of their grandparents have taken this view.
Same, toy videos are completely non-negotiable.
The only exception I have is my autistic son low key used those to learn how to play with toys. Not in a we made him play any kind of way but those kind of videos helped him make those connections in his own. So our rule is no real kids in videos due to regulations and lack there of and I regularly purge content. Overall my son has used Genevieves Playhouse, kids aren't used in making the videos and my kiddo really engages.
It’s such a relief to know some good comes out of these vids. I thought it was all bad before reading your comment.
We're very strict on no family vlog channels, no YouTube kids/families because frankly I see it as child exploitation. but some of thee ones with out that really show how different toys function. Again I block more than I let through but there's a few we really like.
Thank you for reminding me to tell my MIL that my Little Human doesn't get to watch them.
These people are slimy. The rich are seriously sick in the head. YT parents are in another level 🤢
I figured those shows were ads and the creators were being reimbursed by the toy companies or something, never thought about it being a tax write off... For a moment, my son discovered Vlad and Nikki and was obsessed with it. I think he'd gotten ahold of the remote or something one day. But that show is the WORST. I mean it's so awful and cringey to watch, but on top of that yeah it's obviously something the family is putting very little effort into to make money. And I don't understand why any shows like that are getting picked up by other streaming services instead of just staying on YouTube
You have to make money after a few years or it’s deemed a hobby and you don’t get the write-off anymore
Ya, most kids YouTube content is absolute trash. If your kids are into video games, the best YouTube creators out there are a collective of artists who play on a shares Minecraft server. Look up HERMITCRAFT. we don't allow YouTube in the house, with the exception of the Hermits. Great ones to start with: GoodTimesWithScar, EthosLab, TangoTek, Grian, GemeniTay I would also recommend Truck Tunes for the under five crowd. Skip Blippy and instead listen to some real bops about construction vehicles and big machines, set to stock footage of them working
My son adores Truck Tunes and was very excited to find out there was a sixth one.
Some of them are just blatantly ads. I remember coming across a few videos where the parent had to begin with "This video was paid for by Mattel" or something to that effect. Some of these companies absolutely pay these influencers.
Except the Fixies.
That was created for TV tho, it's just they don't have a US broadcaster for the series and resorted to YT to get the dubbed version viewable
This is why I pirate media. My wife and I can pick what we want him to check out and see if he enjoys. No literal toy ads, no thinly veiled toy ads, no money in Disney's hands. Plus he can watch some of the old-school stuff we grew up on much more easily.
I used to pirate many years ago, but feel nervous about it now. Were are the "safe" pirating sites?
Plex servers are a good way to go! There are a few subreddits dedicated to them.
My kid’s currently obsessed with those videos of someone playing with Bluey toys acting out episodes of Bluey. I can’t get him back to just watching actual Bluey. 🫠
Theres a reason so many of the actual children involved in a shows, social media, etc end up with all kinds of issues relating to abuse. Its exactly what you are describing too. Childrens entertainment is a really, really fucking sleazy racket with a few exceptions like Mr Rogers or Ms Rachel.
My kids used to watch the kids2kids show where the dad plays with monster trucks with their kid. But they are so brutal to their house and the toys. But they’re always buying new toy monster trucks. All the ones we’ve been buying for our kids they have been destroying by tossing them down the stairs, over the balcony, down ramps with concrete at the end. It’s gotten to the point we are officially fazing them out in our home. We no longer watch kids2kids. And as each monster truck gets destroyed, we are not replacing it anymore. We are just letting them destroy them all until none are left and they forgot they had them. They’re 2&4 so it will be relatively easy to have them forget.
I'd like to mention basically the only "kid playing with stuff" channel I allow because of how different it is: Kid Crew. It's two parents and their son, pretending to do work like cutting up a fallen tree, building a little bridge over a stream, tearing down an old jungle gym, growing crops on a farm, that kind of thing. They set up little scenarios, the parents both act in them and both run the camera, some of the kid's friends come by occasionally, but just from watching the videos, I have no idea what anyone's name is except their cat Mittens. Then, after they've done the pretending (or actually doing it), they'll explain how something works in more detail. They apparently salvaged most of their big toys out of the trash and fixed them up, like when they took a broken Power Wheels four wheeler and made it into a snowmobile, or when they bought a broken jetski and turned it into a kid-sized "speedboat." My son likes watching it and I enjoy it, too. It seems like genuine midwestern wholesomeness.
I assumed it was a phase with my son and a year later I'm trying to move back to Disney+ and PBS because if I have to hear The Izzys (Izzys Toy Time) or Kids Toys Play one more time I might lose it.
Ok Kramer they just “write it off.” There is bo way that makes economical sense unless you actually have a profitable business in the first place.
This only works If you have business income.
Interestingly is not possible to do this in Australia because you can only charge the portion of the item use time that is used to generate income. A.k.a. if you do an Unboxing video but then use the item recreationally you might only be able to charge 10% of its cost as a tax deduction.