In an earlier blog post, I provided some tips for making YouTube a better, safer experience for children. Despite the fine efforts of the folks at YouTube, not only is there inappropriate content on the site but misleading comments, links and tags can take your child from videos you'd approve of to content you'd never allow. We know that YouTube is the top destination for our children online, proven in anecdotes from visits to schools and in our recent study of children monitored by our new OnlineFamily.Norton family safety service.

 

There's also a new website, ZuiTube.com, that offers parent approved YouTube content. All the videos come from YouTube, but are prescreened by parents and teachers, to provide a safe and fun YouTube-powered environment. It's also a great way for your children to be introduced to the joys of YouTube without you hovering or worrying constantly they will find violent, racist, or sex-filled videos.

 

If you are already using OnlineFamily.Norton but have found YouTube to be a problem in your home, here's how you can adjust your settings to block YouTube and allow ZuiTube. Try it for a while and if you find it doesn't work, you can always switch back. Just go to your OnlineFamily.Norton account and click on Settings. (Make sure you repeat this for each child's profile.) Click on Web and enter "YouTube.com" as a blocked site. Then click "Update Settings" at the bottom of the page to save the change. You may need to click "Update House Rules" from your child's computer as well. Make sure you let your children know of the change and show them how to use ZuiTube. You can set it as a favorite in their browser.