Parenting, family and kids content

Family content includes parenting advice, family vlogs, pregnancy and baby content, homeschooling, kids' crafts and activities, toy reviews, children's educational channels and content made by young creators themselves. Some of the most-watched channels on any platform feature children. The niche can be supportive and educational, but it raises serious questions that other niches do not: children cannot meaningfully consent to having their lives filmed and monetized, their earnings may not belong to them, their privacy and safety are at stake, and content aimed at children triggers strict laws on data collection and advertising. This lesson covers those issues and how to create family content responsibly.

The ethics of featuring children

When adults share their own lives, they choose what to reveal. Children featured in family content usually do not. Videos of tantrums, illnesses, bath time, punishments, puberty or private struggles remain online for years and can follow children into school, work and relationships. Some young adults who grew up on family channels have spoken publicly about feeling exploited, losing their privacy and never seeing the money their appearances earned. Researchers and child advocates have raised concerns about pressure to perform, blurred lines between family life and work, and exposure to predators.

Responsible family creators start from the child's interests rather than the channel's. Practical principles include:

• Ask whether you would be comfortable if this video were seen by your child's future classmates, partners or employers.
• Avoid content showing children in distress, being punished, undressed, ill or in embarrassing situations.
• Give children a growing say as they mature, including the right to refuse and to have content removed.
• Never reveal schools, home locations, routines or full names that make children easy to find.
• Limit filming time and keep some family life entirely off camera.
• Set aside a fair share of earnings for children who appear in monetized content.

Many parenting creators now choose not to show their children's faces at all, or to show them only from behind or in ways that do not identify them, while still sharing the realities of parenting. That approach can protect children while keeping the community and advice that make the niche valuable.

Child creator laws: who owns the money

Child performers in film and television have long had legal protections in some places, such as requirements to set aside earnings in trust and limits on working hours. Family vlogging and child influencers fell outside most of those laws until recently. Several US states have now passed laws aimed specifically at children in monetized online content, while Canada has not yet adopted a specific law.

Canada does not have a law specifically governing children in family vlogs or influencer content at the time of writing. Some provinces have child performer laws, such as Ontario's Protecting Child Performers Act, 2015, which covers children working in the live and recorded entertainment industries and requires a share of income to be held in trust, but it is not clear how far such laws reach family-run online channels. Provincial employment standards, privacy law and child protection law may still apply in particular situations. Advocates have called for clearer protections, so creators should watch for new legislation and, in the meantime, follow the principles in this lesson voluntarily.

Content made for children: COPPA and privacy law

Content directed at children, as distinct from content that features children, brings strict rules on collecting children's personal information. These rules shape how platforms treat children's content and limit how creators can earn from it.

In Canada, privacy law applies to children's personal information through PIPEDA and provincial laws, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has said that information about children is particularly sensitive and that meaningful consent from children is often not possible, so parents' consent is usually needed for young children. Quebec's Law 25 requires parental consent to collect personal information from children under 14. Creators who collect information from young viewers, for example through contests, sign-ups or apps, should obtain parental consent and collect as little as possible.

YouTube's made for kids setting applies worldwide. Creators must mark videos and channels made for children, based on factors such as the subject matter, the intended audience, the presence of child actors, characters, toys and games, and the language and style. Made-for-kids content cannot show personalized ads, and features such as comments, notifications and some monetization tools are disabled. Marking content incorrectly, either to avoid the restrictions or by mistake, can lead to penalties from the platform and, in the United States, legal liability. Other platforms have their own rules for children's content and younger users.

Advertising to children

Quebec's Consumer Protection Act, in sections 248 and 249, prohibits commercial advertising directed at persons under 13 years of age. Whether advertising is directed at children depends on the nature and intended purpose of the goods, the way the ad is presented and the time and place it is shown. This means sponsored content aimed at Quebec children, such as toy unboxings or kids' product promotions, can breach the Act, and the Office de la protection du consommateur enforces it. Outside Quebec, the Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children, administered by Ad Standards, sets standards for children's advertising on broadcast media, and the Competition Act and Ad Standards' general code apply to all advertising. Health Canada has also proposed restrictions on marketing foods high in sugar, sodium or saturated fat to children.

Children have a harder time recognizing advertising than adults. A toy unboxing paid for by a manufacturer, with excited child presenters, can be indistinguishable from play to a young viewer. Good practice is to keep sponsored content clearly separate from ordinary content, disclose in words children understand, avoid urging children to ask parents to buy products, and avoid sponsorships for foods and products that are unhealthy or unsuitable for children.

Safety from predators and harassment

Children's content can attract predators. Comments sections on videos featuring children have been used to share time stamps and inappropriate remarks, which led YouTube to disable comments on many videos featuring minors. Predators may also contact children through direct messages or ask for more content. Parents should moderate comments closely or turn them off, avoid filming children in swimwear, bath or bedtime settings, never share real-time locations, watch for unusual viewer requests, and report concerning behaviour to platforms and authorities.

In Canada, suspected online child sexual exploitation can be reported to Cybertip.ca, operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which also offers resources for parents and young people.

Young creators

Many teenagers are creators themselves. Most platforms require users to be at least 13, and some features, such as live streaming, monetization and direct messages, are restricted for younger teens. Parents of young creators should understand platform rules, manage contracts and payments, protect earnings, and help their children deal with criticism and privacy. Brand contracts with minors may need parental signatures and may be voidable by the minor in some jurisdictions. Young creators also have the right to education, rest and a life beyond the channel.

Parents can model good practice by explaining online risks, agreeing on boundaries for what is shared, reviewing privacy settings together, and keeping communication open so young creators feel safe reporting problems. Supporting a child's creativity while protecting their wellbeing and future is the central task of any family involved in content creation.

Parenting content without showing children

Parenting creators can share a great deal without exposing their children. Effective approaches include talking to camera about experiences and lessons, showing hands, backs or silhouettes, using illustrations or animation, interviewing experts, sharing products and routines without children on screen, and describing situations with details changed. Many audiences value advice and honesty about parenting more than footage of children, and some creators have grown faster after deciding to stop showing their children's faces.

Creators who already have years of content featuring children can review old videos, remove or make private content that children may find embarrassing, and talk with older children about what they want kept online. Some families agree that children will decide, at a certain age, whether old content remains public.

Sponsorships in family content

Family creators receive offers from toy companies, baby products, children's clothing, food brands, educational apps and family travel. Before accepting, consider whether the product is safe and suitable, whether the content will be directed at children, which raises the advertising rules covered above, and whether children's involvement in the sponsored content is fair to them. A practical rule is to keep children out of paid content entirely, or to treat their participation as work with fair pay set aside for them, reasonable hours and their agreement.

Whatever the arrangement, record the amounts set aside and keep the account separate from family spending. Clear records protect the child, make it easier to show fairness later, and prepare the family for any future law that requires them.