The Social Years
"Can I have a channel and post videos?"
What to say
Start here
"I love that you want to make something. That part I'm completely behind, and I want to say yes to the making before we talk about the posting."
Name the part that changes
"Making a video and putting it where anyone can find it are two different things. Once it's public, strangers can comment, the numbers become something you check, and you start making the next one for them instead of for you."
Offer the version you can say yes to
"Make them. Make as many as you want, and we'll watch them on my phone at dinner. If you still want the channel public in a year we'll look at it then, and by then you'll be good at the part that actually matters."
What not to say
"Nobody is going to watch it anyway." You mean it kindly, and to a kid who has been counting other people's views and subscribers it lands as you calling the whole idea pointless, so they will not show you the next video they make.
Why this matters
Kids asking for a channel are usually asking to be creative, and the audience is an assumption they picked up rather than the point. Saying yes to the making and slowing down the publishing gives them the whole thing they wanted, minus the part that is hard to undo.
Follow-up questions
- "What would your first one be about?"
- "Who were you imagining would watch it?"
- "Would it still be fun to make if nobody saw it but us?"