Kagi for Kids

[Roritharr]

What Kagi or anyone could work on, is an actually working version of YouTube Kids.

I literally Pi-Hole Blocked all of YouTube after my son started reading the Bible after a Minecraft Influencer started preaching throughout most of his videos to the point my son became a bit too much interested in the topic.

Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a thing, but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short allowed time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what else is coming his way through it.

I'd love to give him access to valuable videos between rules I describe by natural language and can test myself, but nothing like this exists.

[MostlyStable]

I had a lot of frustrations with the Youtube Kids app until I realized that if, when setting it up, rather than choosing the appropriate age range, you picked the "custom" (or whatever it was, it was annoyingly hidden all the way to the right, so you can't even see it at first), you are able to white list channels and videos, rather than just blacklist. Why this feature is hidden behind a different age selector rather than being part of any of the age settings I do not understand, but it's a lot better, and it could prevent the issue you describe, although admittedly it does require more work on the parents part to find and approve appropriate content. This is easier for younger kids at least.

[skydhash]

Why not curate a video repository? I think novelty is actually overrated and even harmful for kid. Deeper exploration on familiar subject may be beneficial as that would let his/her imagination to take on the job of inventing new things.

[jmathai]

I found that most of the content on YouTube kids existed as a means to advertise products. I don't necessarily care to understand the economics of it because it just doesn't provide enough value to bother.

What I do understand is that I don't want my kids being tricked into watching ads because something about watching adults open toys is entertaining.

[mvieira38]

May I ask how are you dealing with the hole Youtube left in his life? I grew up on the internet, but seeing the effects it had on me and the world I don't want the same for my kids. The problem is I don't even know what to do in my own free time if not browsing Youtube or playing games, imagine a kid.

[jkkramer]

As a fellow parent and hater of YouTube Kids, I've thought about building a replacement.

What holds me back is knowing that -- if this was an iPad app, for example -- I'd be at the mercy of both Google AND Apple. It's a minefield of sensitive topics:

- Kids & privacy

- Content moderation

- Intellectual property

- Third-party UGC

Way too risky.

[calvinmorrison]

Church-goer son-of-a-pastor die-hard-reformed christian here in agreement...

sorry there are too many whackos out there. I'd feel more comfortable with my kids learning from Catholic Priests than some random youtuber. In fact, my kids are probably going to go to catholic school.

The reason why we have denominations in part is to maintain the education of the clergy and keep dogma, or theology, in check.

(even if we disagree at times, at least most of the organized christian church can agree on the basic creeds - something that youtube seems hell bent on for clicks is getting you into nontrinitarian and whacky stuff!)

[smusamashah]

For my 3yo, I have setup YouTube kids but with only approved content. He gets to see only selected channels or videos. YouTube with search enabled for kids isn't as walled as one might expect.

[stankot]

I stumbled on this some time ago and saved it for when my kid grows up enough. It is a collection of a few thousands kid friendly videos. I think their curation is pretty good, but check it out for yourself.

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/

[pyuser583]

What did these videos say? I'd like to let the leaders of our church know, so they can add it to the sermons.

[thijson]

My son watches this YouTuber, it's Eystreem. My guess is that he uses the Bible as a prop to add drama to his videos. Another video he was marketing Prime energy drinks. Maybe I should download a whole bunch of 80's TV shows line A-team or Macyver, and only have that available to watch

[phobotics]

I think DudePerfect have an app that is essentially this. Heavily curated kid friendly content. It might only be paid though.

[curiousgal]

Shocking at this may seem, it is your job as a parent to protect your kid and not expect a platform to do it for you. It's not that hard to limit kids' screen time and control the content. A simple yt-dlp cron job with Jellyfin would work fine.

[philips]

What is wrong with YouTube Kids? I think it works fairly well and use it in my own home: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids

[cyanydeez]

thats not a real filterable example

[viraptor]

> to ensure children are not exposed to harmful content.

Strong claim. I like the idea, but wish they were more realistic about what they can provide. If you ever get a Reddit result you're likely one click away from harmful content.

That said, I like the lenses applied in this case. It may be the best we can get today in terms of search filtering.

[prawn]

Or they head to Wikipedia, search for "fish" and end up on the Albert Fish page.

I think aiming for better rather than perfect is the best option, as you said. As long as it's framed in this way, and not as an ideal option to let your impressionable child loose on the internet.

[al_borland]

Kagi lets you block results for various sites you don’t like, if sites like Reddit are of concern.

[jmathai]

Kagi seems like a cool company - I'm not a customer yet. I'd like there to be technology companies I can trust - perhaps like Kagi.

I have been really happy with NextDNS though. My kids, not so much. But hey ... that's parenting.

[drcongo]

Kagi and NextDNS are the two subscriptions I have that I couldn't live without, you should give Kagi a go.

[dustincoates]

I've moved from NextDNS to ControlD. NextDNS seems like it's been abandoned--good luck getting any level of support--and I've been really happy with the feature set of ControlD.

[ryoshu]

I read this as "Kaggle for Kids" which also seems like a lovely idea.

[airstrike]

Seconded

[dcchambers]

Disclaimer: I am a happy paid Kagi subscriber and absolutely am an advocate of their product. I really hope the company makes it work financially because we NEED something like it.

I have two young kids of my own (4, almost 2) and have so far been able to avoid the issues of letting them free roam on the net, but it's obviously something that's coming. This was not something I ever paid attention to in my youth but now as a parent the open internet completely terrifies me. And I say that as a core millennial that basically grew up with the internet.

The current status quo of "kids friendly" content (eg YouTube Kids) is mostly awful. I would still never let my young kids browse something like that without supervision.

I am appreciative that Kagi knows this is an issue and is investing into the area.

[pants2]

Feels like in my youth the biggest risk was stumbling on some freaky gore/porn that scarred you, but somehow that doesn't seem as bad as the risk of getting hooked on dopamine-optimized brainrot, alt-right propaganda, or micro transaction focused games.

[philips]

I love Kagi and I think the basic ideas here are a step in the right direction. I would really like to see the curation be social so I can share and collaborate with friends and my kids school. As it is I help my kid use an EOL Chromebook to find Origami designs but it is always side-by-side and I have tight NextDNS controls to keep weird weird ads away from my kids.

On this topic I have been drafting and collecting thoughts on internet and digital media curation the last few nights. Here is what I have so far:

Thesis: The role of children's teachers and caretakers in curating an environment for children to learn and grow is more important than ever with the overwhelming variety of books, videos, shows, etc all of varying quality and alignment with caretaker and child interests. However, curation in the digital age is also more difficult than ever. The web is a collection of walled gardens which give parents limited and inconsistent controls over what the child will see once inside the walled garden. And, adding controls on-top of a walled garden is impossible or only possible by very computer savvy users (e.g. YouTube frontends).

What are ways care takers can practically and easily curate today?

Examples

- YouTube Kids: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids

- Jellyfin or Calibre for ebooks

- Open WebUI with a custom system prompt for kids

Counter Examples

- Netflix, Disney, Amazon, etc: difficult to non-existent curation controls - all or nothing

- Kindle Kids: there are controls but for Library books the process is 12+ clicks between the Libby and Kindle app: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/can-you-share-kindl...

"Our young students are just beginning to develop their powers of discernment. By curating a good library collection, we can help them learn to weigh the merits of a few authoritative works on a subject rather than plowing through hundreds of internet sources of uneven quality. And while a computer search is undeniably efficient, we firmly believe that browsing a shelf of books is more rewarding and more educational. It deepens students' understanding of organizational principles, brings them unexpected discoveries, and rewards patient exploration rather than offering instant gratification"

[ilrwbwrkhv]

Ok this is excellent. If I can trust Kagi for kids, I would pay through the nose for this.

The internet is wildly useful but it's just filled with so much trash and thanks to google going horribly terribly south, search doesn't work anymore.

Which means kids are no longer able to actually have the joy of surfing the web and finding very interesting things to read.

So the main question that I have is, is there a guarantee that bad sites will not show up here?

[ziddoap]

>So the main question that I have is, is there a guarantee that bad sites will not show up here?

Given that everyone has different definitions of "bad" and that someone malicious can put bad stuff on "good" sites, no.

[yzydserd]

> Family Plan … We strive to provide a search engine that prioritizes the well-being of your loved ones, particularly the most vulnerable ones like children, by offering an ad-free and safe browsing experience. We offer two different group plans based on your specific needs.

I read it a few times and saw only one plan. What’s the second one? If it’s the Team plan, that seems like poor copy.

(Kagi Ultimate subscriber here)

[saintfire]

Duo, perhaps?

I'm not exactly certain but under the family tab there are two options: Duo and Family

[an_aparallel]

Lol...i see why kids are shunning "online"... The internet was exciting as a kid (for me) back in the nineties specifically because it was the wild west: unique takes, mp3s, software torrents, private p2p chats with strangers around the world, porn, and most importantly...something my parents had no clue about.

In 2025, id definately prefer kicking dirt as a kid.

[decimalenough]

As a parent of kids in 2025, there are approximately zero kids out there who share your view.

However, they're all subscribed to SkibidiDirtKickerz on Tiktok, YouTube and Snapchat. Don't forget to smash that like button!

[skyyler]

Is it easy to disable the Quick Answer "feature"?

[jdknezek]

The first image in this section shows it is a switch at the bottom of the Parental Controls settings: https://staticmedia.kagi.com/family/parental.png

[falcor84]

I couldn't find that either. But did find myself laughing at the "always check this with an adult" disclaimer on the quick answers. It's nice to imagine an alternate world where being an adult is sufficient for proper critical thinking.

[Kuinox]

It show up when you put a "?" at the end of your query.

[kylehotchkiss]

Wow, it’s be really great to block both CNN and Fox from parents searches. Maybe Facebook and TikTok too.

[koakuma-chan]

As a person of the age of majority, I would always choose the poop avatar over something as basic as ball or duck.

[jasonpeacock]

> Story behind the Poop Avatar

I love it

[password4321]

Amazon Kids+ is a competitive option for a closed, moderated ecosystem for younger age groups.

[mvieira38]

Lmao the longest section of this is about the Poop Avatar

[Minor49er]

Speaks volumes about how they see their clientele

[facile3232]

Content for kids strikes me as something you'd curate around an experience and value system you sell to parents. I can't imagine anything else would work very well.

Granted, this doesn't mean we shouldn't try to build filters. I'm just rather pessimistic about a hands-off experience with such software.

[jmathai]

I think curation is the key. I sort of trust Disney to curate content for my kids. I definitely do not trust Youtube to do it.

I don't want my kids to be able to "discover" content. Why is that always the feature? Rhetorical question....I know the answer, engagement and stickiness. I just don't like the answer.

[aitchnyu]

When I was a kid on 56k myself, the consensus was that their internet usage was monitored by adult eyes. Did curated libraries or content filtering step up to the mark?