According to reports, 62% of toddlers aged 3-5 watch YouTube Kids. That’s a shocking number when you learn what’s readily available on YouTube Kids.

Parents often opt in to this version of the original app, YouTube, because it is marketed as being more “kid-friendly.”

Aside from the fact that kid’s shows nowadays are extremely addicting with fast scene cuts and over-saturated colors such as Paw Patrol, Cocomelon, and more, a more sinister reality hides behind the friendly banner of “YouTube Kids.”

Would you be shocked to know that YouTube Kids features R-rated content?

Graphic violence. Suicide. Torture. Abuse. Pornography.

Yes. All of these things are depicted in the “kid-friendly” version of YouTube.

Parents have reported the following disturbing content that they have found their toddlers watching on YouTube Kids:

• Dark variations of popular characters such as Mickey Mouse shooting themselves or others in the head with guns,
• PAW Patrol suicide videos (purposelessly driving into light poles, walking off roofs),
• Peppa Pig being subjected to dental torture or drinking bleach,
• Videos encouraging dangerous pranks and stunts,
• Videos of superhero and Disney characters having sex with each other,
• Strip-club imagery,
• Nightmare characters like Huggy Wuggy encouraging toddlers to kill their parents, etc.

This is just a sample of the horrific content that is marketed towards your three-year old! Content that will confuse, scare, desensitize and turn them towards darkness.

Parents, no matter how “kid-friendly” a product is marketed, don’t fall for it without first making sure it’s safe. It is ultimately your job to protect your children’s hearts and minds.

The marketers can’t be trusted. They have a much different agenda.

Our children are the most valuable and vulnerable resource we have. Because of this, they are the target of predators and those who would seek to use and abuse them.

We as parents have a God-given responsibility to saturate and nurture our children in God’s Word.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 commands parents to talk of God’s character and commands throughout the day to “talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Saturating our children in the character and Words of God automatically means being vigilant and protective over what type of content our toddlers and older kids are consuming. Filling their minds with Truth helps to safeguard them from the ways of the world and the enemy that is out to destroy them.

In 1 Peter 5:8-9, Peter describes Satan as a lion that is seeking someone to devour.

In the past several years, it has become  abundantly clear that the “someone”  the evil one is seeking to destroy is your child. He’s conniving, sneaky and determined. What better way than to go after little ones whose values are still in the forming stages.

He’s found the perfect avenue – through the entertainment their own parents put before them to keep them occupied.

If you are a parent who allows your child to watch videos on YouTube Kids, I implore you to delete the app.

Your children’s souls and hearts are more important than being entertained by their favorite show or their favorite characters.

In addition to this, I would encourage you to learn more about cybersecurity as it relates to your children and their devices. Their precious hearts and souls depend on it.

To learn more, please watch Allie Beth Stuckey’s interview with fellow parent and cybersecurity expert, Ben Gillenwater.