YouTube is a large corporation owned by Google. However, more and more kids watch this alternative to television every day. As a babysitter, I’ve found many of the younger parents allowing their kids to spend time watching the videos. While many parents follow rules to limit their watch, I believe that many parents don’t know what these videos teach the children of today.

More than anything, many children’s videos are glorified advertisements. While many of the video’s creators are adults who play with new toys for a living, some are additionally paid by the toy companies. Unlike in regular advertisements, which are easier to separate, these fuzed forms of entertainment confuse children. Kids do not know that this is a form of advertisement.

Many of these videos do not intend to entertain your kids; many of the videos only teach your kid to want the newest "Shopkins" or whatever toy or merchandise they are promoting.

While these toy reviews and play times are often geared towards girls, the videos geared towards boys are often in a fake vlog style and promote an unreasonable lifestyle. In a TV series, the fake nature of the show is apparent, but on YouTube, this blur of reality causes many kids of today to be unsettled with their own lives as they watch millionaire teenagers play in their mansion.

The last problem I have with many of the YouTube videos geared to kids of today is that they limit children’s creativity. When children spend their time watching videos of toys being opened, or adults playing with toys, they don’t come up with their own ways to play. Girls are being taught they need the newest toy to have a good time. Boys are being taught they need to have a much more interesting life to have fun.

More knowledge is needed about what the kids of today are watching. I'm not saying that kids can’t watch youtube videos or television, but it's important for parents to know the extent of what their kids are watching if even the safe types of videos can have consequences.