Family Vlog Ideas
Prior to these claims, the pair vlogged even the most intimate details of their children’s lives—including having “the talk” with their kids, their son’s puberty appointment, and their daughter's first period. The whole issue gets a bit more insidious once you bring family vloggers into the mix. Parents turn the camera on as their young children play, take vacations, review toys, and more. In 2017, New York Magazine reported that the top family vlogs brought in half a billion views a week, and millions of dollars in revenue.
The Tube Family is exactly what it sounds like it is… the ultimate YouTube family vloggers! This family of 4 entertains and inspires their audience through their fun and creative YouTube videos. Years ago, The Tube Family started making videos on their main channel EvanTubeHD but decided to make a channel for their family vlogs. Cole, Savannah, Everleigh, and Posie LaBrant make up the well-known and well-liked LaBrant family! The LaBrant family is based in Los Angeles, and together create family vlogs on their family channel weekly. They currently have 12 million followers and counting and racked up millions of views on every video they post.
They are making millions from YouTube videos at their children’s expense, all in the name of documenting their childhood. California law requires child stars under 18 to obtain a child performer service permit in order to work in traditional media. However, it was concluded that child influencers do not need work permits if funny kids their performance is unpaid and shorter than an hour. This means that parents can essentially get away with exploiting their children.
In 2016, Stauffer and her husband announced to their fans that they would be adopting a child from China with a brain tumor. But, in 2017 when they brought their child home, they found out that he had a stroke in utero, autism, and a sensory-processing disorder. Stauffer continued to document her journey with the child for two-and-half years, having him in sponsored posts and entire videos dedicated to teaching him things like the alphabet and habits to break. In many of her teaching videos, she would use harsh and abusive techniques, like taking his hands so he would learn not to suck his thumbs. But, in May of 2020, Myka and her husband announced that they were going to “re-homing” the child. They decided that they were not as prepared for a child with autism as they once thought, but only after they plastered his face and name on the internet.
Of course, YouTube fans don’t have to meet their idols to interact with them. The company, which is owned by Google, actively encourages its families to engage in the comments section. This can mean that kids could be exposed to a lot of opinions that even adults find hard to negotiate. “Even in the beginning, people would leave really rude comments,” Kristine of Family Fun Pack has said.
But sharing children’s lives online causes issues even deeper than that. With the rise of platforms like YouTube, many families even vlog their children’s day-to-day lives. These vlogging channels, while they may seem harmless, cause a lot more harm than we may realize.