Sunny Gault 0:00
Your child hopes to one day become a YouTube star, get millions of likes, have 10s of millions of followers. You guys know the drill. But what do you do as a parent? Should you help foster that dream and help them create their own channel? And if so, what should you consider in the whole process? I'm Sunny with New Mommy Media. And I am joined today by Ty Allan Jackson. He's a children's book author, as well as a motivational speaker. Hey, Ty!

Ty Allan Jackson 0:25
Hey Sunny!

Sunny Gault 0:27
Hey, all right, we're talking about YouTube, Ty, because this is something... I know. And this is something that I am experiencing my own personal life. So I have two boys who do have their own YouTube channels. And I just have a lot of personal questions about this, honestly. Because we've all seen these articles of kids on YouTube making lots of money doing, you know, kid product reviews, or gaming, or all this kind of stuff. Right? Um, and I know, sometimes I question like, Is it really good for my kids to look up to that there's a lot of questionable content that I'm like, ooh, that's dangerous. Or they're, you know, the videos are kind of teaching them stuff that maybe I don't really want them to know. Right? Or, you know, at least not view it in that light. So in general, Ty, what are your thoughts about kids making money on YouTube?

Ty Allan Jackson 1:19
Well, first of all, you can't stop it. So like, you know, so I've always been a part of if, if the dynamic of something is something that you can't stop, let's figure out what we can embrace it. And, you know, kind of make it our own, you know, it might not be much different than talking about sex education. I mean, that's not something you want your kids to learn out to the world. So let's get ahead of it, and talk to our kids in the way that we know how to best fit them. So even when they get out into the world, they're going to use the words of wisdom they got from their primary educator, the parent, and and hopefully be protected and safe and make really great decisions. We as parents can hover over them all the time, they're going to watch things and listen to things. It's not how we instill the values and principles into our kids. And then they'll figure out what to do with them when they're confronted with things that we not might not find favorable. So with that being said, I'm a big fan of kids expressing their individuality in whatever fashion they see fit. And, and going out and having fun and, and if YouTubing is kind of the new phenomenon in which kids are finding that level of self expression and making a couple of bucks for it. Hey, I applaud that. I just think what really matters is for the kids not to just mimic what anybody else everybody else is doing. Find their speciality, find the thing that makes them happy if they are a young shot, like YouTube that you know if there are gymnasts, YouTube, that if they're a blogger, or an artist, YouTube that don't just YouTube, but somebody skateboarding, if you don't like skateboarding, just because it looks cool. Find the thing that you're really amazing at and that you love doing, or what to do better. And like go YouTube that because I guarantee you if your son became a multi million dollar YouTuber for baking muffins, you'd be the proudest moment in the world, like, like, be the most fantastic thing ever. So I think it is a matter of encouraging our kids, if that's the direction that they want to go with. The thing is, make sure the thing that they want to do is the thing that's the most passionate and loving to them. And I think that's the secret sauce into YouTube.

Sunny Gault 3:28
Yeah, and there was a lot of stuff. So when my my boys started their YouTube channels, they didn't start at the same time. By the way, I have a son who's 11 and a son, that's nine. And they started them. Um, I don't know, I guess my oldest is probably a couple years ago, he, you know, started his channel. And what I tried to do with it is bring in other elements of, you know, teaching them good work ethic. So I said, Okay, if you just, you know, if you really want to make money doing this, like if you just want to do for fun, okay, that's something different. But if you really want to make money, you need to learn how YouTube works. You need to learn about their algorithms. How often do you have to post if you want people to view your content? What do you need your thumbnails to look like? Um, how often do you need to release new content, and there may be days that you want to go outside and play or go on your bike, but you know that you have to do a video. It's the same kind of thing with work. There's plenty of times that I don't want to do work. I'd rather do something you know, just more relaxing, but you have to be diligent with that. And you know, stick with it so that anyways, that's one thing that I've used, doesn't always work. I'm not trying to paint the perfect picture here, but at least trying to get them to learn Listen, this is how you make money. You are diligent about something, you've come back to it you do put effort into it. Yes, you can enjoy yourself. It doesn't have to be work you don't like you can love what you do. Hopefully you do love what you do, and I want you I want them to but that there is a responsibility that comes with it as well.

Ty Allan Jackson 5:00
That is kind of a byproduct of what I was talking about before. If your kid is really passionate about whatever this topic is, they will hurdle those obstacles, they will, they will take it upon themselves to learn how to do the thumbnails, because this thing matters to them, as opposed to seeing, you know, the popular kid doing the popular thing. And then when they realize I'm really not as interested in the popular thing, as much as I thought I was, especially for, it's going to require for me to actually do work on top of the thing that I'm actually really not as interested in, then they're going to just lose interest. And you know, no more YouTube channel. But I think if it's something that they're really passionate about, they'll be willing to put in the work, because that's their opportunity to shine and showcase, what awesome thing is in their spirit, and, and they'll find a way to make it happen.

Sunny Gault 5:47
Ty, what would you say are some of the red flags that parents should be looking for, to, like, if they think their kids may be a little bit overwhelmed with this, because, you know, kids do this all the time, you know, they start doing something and then you know, we encourage them, we're like, Okay, keep doing it, you're doing a good job, but it's kind of weighing on them. Like you could tell, they're ready to transition to something else. Like, what are some of those warning signs? Perhaps this is just based on your own personal experience that you found, that maybe parents should keep an eye out for?

Ty Allan Jackson 6:17
Yeah, um, I think obviously, being obsessed or under obsessed, you know, about a specific topic, I think, can obviously be a red flag, if that's all that they talk about, then, you know, that might be some level of intervention to kind of expand on their horizons, or if they're not interested in and maybe it's something that they need to let go. I, I feel like when, when people get lazy, it's not necessarily that they don't want to do it anymore. It's just that they're just not interested anymore. And that's okay. You know, like, if we had $1, for every time our kid took up a hobby, and then let it go, we'd have a whole lot of dollars, we really need to work. That's exactly right. You know, but I always feel like there's always two dictators to the success of something. That's the interest and the market. And the interest of the person is going to determine how far they go along with it. And then the market is going to determine how well it is that it's done and received. If both of those things are in alignment, then they can be successful. But if one of those things are not working, then you know, then more than likely, that's the time to pull back and just go into another direction. Again, our kids you know, they're ping pong balls. They're just going back and forth, and finding something that sticks. Maybe that just doesn't stick.

Sunny Gault 7:29
Yeah, exactly. Ping pong balls. I like the analogy. I've got four of those in my house. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Something shiny.....

Ty Allan Jackson 7:34
That's right. Something shiny.

Sunny Gault 7:39
All right. Thank you, Ty. You guys make sure you check out Ty's new book. It's called "Make Your Own Money". It's on his website, which is http://tyallanjackson.com. It's all about making money but also becoming an entrepreneur and you know, teaching those great skills to your kids. And I have to tell you, when mine arrived in the mail, my kid grabbed it, wanted to look through it right away. So there's some really pretty colorful pictures in there that I think your kids are really going to like. And while you're checking out all of Ty's stuff, head on over to our website, https://newmommymedia.com We've got podcast episodes there more great videos like this. It's where real moms talk about real life.