Why I Love Letting My Kids Watch YouTube

YouTube is one of my favorite media sources for my kids, but you know, I rarely hear parents or grandparents go on about how much they love YouTube. And I understand why, it's full of junk! But with that comes some really great content that can actually help your kids develop wisdom, good taste, and culture.

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I use my YouTube account to handpick and review videos that help my kids learn about important life skills, values, and the arts. I supervise them while it’s on our TV and when the playlist I’ve curated reaches the end, that’s it. The end.
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I have auto play turned off so that videos that I don’t know won’t start playing. 

With all of that said, I’ve come across some excellent content over the past few years that helps me raise sophisticated kids and I wanted to share it with you. 

Affirmations

My daughter has always really enjoyed this upbeat song about feeling good about yourself. It even puts me in a good mood! I also really like this Mindful Kids affirmations video because it is so soothing. And I’m happy knowing that even though my kids will wonder off to play with toys, messages of positivity and inner peace are still subliminally entering their minds. It’s positively diabolical. 

Jellytelly Devotionals

Jellytelly creates great quality content on attributes that we all admire. You can find short lessons on character traits like generosity, respect, and compassion. Love that!

Ballet

I first played this ballet for my daughter when she was one year old. Of course one thing led to another and before you know it she was dressed in her finest tutu imitating the dancers in the sweetest way. Now she’s in ballet classes and I’m so happy to see her doing something that she loves.

The London Children Ballet channel has several beautiful full length ballet productions that we also love. My favorite? A Little Princess.

Yoga

This is a fun and calming physical activity for a rainy day, or any day really! My daughter loves this Yoga for Kids video because of the fun, animal-like movements and illustrations and it’s great for grownups too. What I most enjoy is fostering a healthy hobby with my girl. 

WonderGrove Kids

WonderGrove kids creates short and sweet animations that talk about important social skills, safety, and self-care. Some of them can easily fall by the wayside! I particularly like Keep Your Hands to Yourself and The Eat Your Breakfast Club. 

Music

For some music theory fundamentals The Music Show series will surely get your kids going. 

When it’s time to learn a song or two, the Youcanplayit.com channel has a wide array of piano tutorials. If you have a piano or keyboard around it can be pretty handy to know how to play Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and, of course, Heart and Soul!

Or maybe a fine symphony will strike your fancy. I love to put on this Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance every once in a while. I’d like my kids to have an appreciation for elegance and sophistication and this is a great way to start introducing them! No, they don’t just sit there watching, captivated (wouldn’t that be cool). Instead, they wonder off and play with toys as the sounds of classical music fills their heads.

Last but not least I adore this Monkey Symphony video and I am sure you will too. It’s a silent short film and portrays a lighthearted message about following your creativity.

Meditation 

I quite like this guided meditation for kids. Actually, I love doing it for myself when I get a little too anxious and I know my daughter will join in a little because it’s geared towards kids. The visualization is so calming and pleasant and its only six minutes so, it’s easy to finish.  A word to the wise, keep practicing your patience while your child wiggles and crawls all over you as you try to focus on this meditation. 

French
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I know what you’re thinking, but I swear I am not one of those parents that’s trying to get their kid college ready by kindergarten! I just happen to have a deep appreciation for French and I want to share it with my kids. It’s just something cool to expose them to. If they learn to say Bonjour from Titounis, how neat! If they don’t, oh well!

Ok also, as a preschooler I saw those commercials for the Muzzy language program every morning. I wanted it so badly! (I was an interesting child). Now I’m all grown up and like most parents I want to make sure my kids get everything I never did. Although, I am still undecided on that in-ground swimming pool full of gummy bears…

All in All...

Many of these recommendations are not going to have your children glued to the television. But they are all really great options to make your home a more cultured and sophisticated one.

With that said, after I began curating this list I felt so grateful to the groups that create and display this amazing content. It’s beautiful, helpful, and a boat load of work goes into it so that we parents can share it with our kids… for free! Thank you!

​Enjoy!