Watch out Chloe Bridgewater, my son is coming for you! Well, not really. He has no desire to work at Google. But like you, he is seven and wants a job in the digital space…he’s just not as sophisticated as you are.  

Let me introduce you to my son. The best way to describe him is Dennis the Menace meets MacGyver. He gets into a lot of trouble but always has a plan to get out of almost every situation. Lately, the Force has been the reason why things have been moving out of place or why he has been making bad decisions. By the way, it is the Force that won’t allow him to clean his room and why his baby sister mysteriously gets out of her crib.

Now that you have an idea of my son, let’s talk about YouTube. My son tells me every day that he wants to be a YouTuber. He also has it all worked out on how to do it—he is a man with a plan! According to my son, all he needs is a computer, a camera and of course, a cool name. In case you are wondering, there are actually around 10 steps but hey, my son has boiled it down to just 3. The part that he gets stuck on is the name. You see, he knows the value in a good name because he wants a lot of views. That’s branding 101. As he puts it, more views mean he will get more money so he could buy more stuff like waffles and of course, anything made by Nerf. It’s been like this for about 6 months now…a good name is a big decision. Ask any parent trying to come up with a good name for their child—it’s hard! YouTube is my son’s baby—a baby that I won’t let him have.

As a parent, am I shocked that my young child wants to be on YouTube? Yup only because I think he is so young. I was also shocked when he told me about Slender Man…but that’s a whole other topic. I am impressed that branding is already a concept that my son recognizes. He understands that once he picks a name, there is no going back. He also understands that its needs to be a good one. Granted, he spills names the same way he spills milk—all over the place and it’s just messy. He gets an “A” for effort, though. He just hasn’t come across a name that he likes which is why he is not on YouTube. Well, he also doesn’t have a camera or a computer of his own—and that is not changing anytime soon. So even if he comes up with the most amazing name ever, he still doesn’t have the complete set of tools to make his little dream a reality. Sorry! He can work that out in therapy when he is an adult. 

Flickr / Photo by freestocks.org.