Parents pay thousands for kids to learn YouTuber skills at summer camps

Parents sending their kids to summer camp is a time-honored tradition. At summer camp, kids learn fun skills like archery, water sports, and crafts, all while forging lifelong friendships with other kids.

However, the modern summer camp is shifting with several camps now geared towards one purpose: teaching kids how to be a YouTuber.

In a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, reporters dive pretty deep into this relatively new trend of camps designed to give young kids the skills needed to be the next big YouTube star. Some of these camps can run up to $1,000 per week.

For example, a YouTube training ground known as Level Up works with kids aged 9-15 and promises to teach them the “skills to create engaging videos.” These skills range from learning how to interview people, how to draft storyboard ideas, and techniques to source and sync audio files.

Interestingly, Level Up also focuses on keeping kids — and their parents’ reputations — safe online. “Parents are looking for ways to channel their children’s obsessions into educational opportunities,” Level Up Founder and CEO Jeff Hughes said in an interview with The Daily Dot. “I want to make sure that they are safe online, and if we’re totally honest they want to make sure that their child isn’t going to embarrass them too much online.”

Because YouTube’s policies state that kids must be over the age of 13 to have their own channel, the kids at Level Up use accounts run by their parents to upload their videos. This allows parents to have absolute control over their child’s YouTube habits.

For the record, YouTube itself doesn’t have any association with Level Up or any other so-called YouTube summer camp.

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