One of my top parenting goals this year is to move my kids from being just digital contents consumers to digital creators. I checked my child’s screen time record on the device the previous week, and I was wowed. I checked mine too, and lo and behold, the record says I’m also spending more time than I should.

It is estimated that the average male child by the age of 21 would have read for less than 5000 hours but played over 10,000 hours of video games and watched over 20,000 hours of TV. OMG!  That’s evidence that both kids and adults today spend time staring at the screen consuming tons of digital content every day. The implication of this is that we are being conditioned only to be consumers of contents with little or no knowledge of creating them ourselves.

With the increasing access to technology today and the demand for digital contents, we can conclude that future entrepreneurs are the people who have technical literacy and the capacity to create.

Children of the digital age would spend a lot of their time online. It’s important that a lot of that time is channelled positively and one way to do that is to get them to be content creators; who knows? They may earn money to buy for their next sneakers, game or toy just by doing this. 

Today’s children have access to content creation tools from using a simple phone to create a video to using PowerPoint, screencastify, canva, etc.  A child today can write and publish their own ebook without stress. And not only create their content but also share it easily with millions of people online.

We have everyday children who are currently entrepreneurs and content creators who have their own blogs, youtube channels, and Instagram handles where they share the contents they create.

• According to Forbes, Ryan Kaji earned nearly $30 million from his channel, which boasts over 40 million subscribers. Kaji’s channel includes video reviews of new toys and home science experiments.
• Anastasia Radzinskaya was born with cerebral palsy. She has over 107 million subscribers across her seven channels who have watched her videos 42 billion times.
• At age 14, Robert Nay raked in over $2 million in 2 weeks by releasing his game Bubble Ball which has been downloaded over 16 million times.

Who says your child cannot do the same? It is possible. Here are seven things your child can do as a content creator and make money online.

Blogging

Does your kid love to write or has a wide imagination? Help them convert such talent to wealth. Start by introducing your kid to blogging and allow your kid to express himself through writing. However, you might want to correct and proofread for errors. You never might tell how many people would be waiting to connect with your kids’ stories.

Writing and Publishing an Ebook

Your kids can review books, write stories (either fictional or factual) and even make money through them. They could even add pictures and customize factors with book creation apps which makes publishing easy for kids. 

Apps like Book Creator enable kids to make their books reachable using iBooks or Google Play Books. Other apps let kids share books through social media. 

Creating A Website

Ever had any reason to brag about your kid over a particular subject? Especially if he’s an IT guru. Well, now is the time. Have your kid create a website with several pages of content to engage the audience. The website can also be sold to companies who would love to use it for advertising.

Testing Games For Developers

If your child is like mine who loves to spend hours playing games online, this is the time to channel some of that. Get him to review various games and send them to the developers/companies or create his own Instagram or youtube channel.

Designing Posts for Social Media

Lola (My neighbour’s daughter) designs social media posts for her preteens class in church. She does this by using Canva to edit existing templates and create beautiful designs for Sunday meetings. 

If your kid also has a flair for designs, you can introduce him to various design apps such as Adobe Sparkpost and Canva to create social media posts. Friends, families and close relatives could be their first try out before engaging others.

 Selling Things Online

Do you think your kid is too small to sell anything? Elisabeth Anisimow made headlines for her lucrative art business. Her paintings range from $2,500 to $5,000, depending on the materials’ complexity and cost.

You can introduce your kids to the art of selling by teaching them how to meet needs and turn waste into wealth; a simple example is presenting their outgrown clothes neat and presentable and then selling them online via Facebook or Instagram. Also, crafts and other arts made by them can be sold online too.

 Selling Photos

Kids love to take pictures, and that interest can be nurtured and put to good use. If you’ve got a kid like mine, then prepare to have your smartphone filled with pictures. In the end, their good photos can be put out there for sale. Sites like Envira Gallery, Adobe Stock and Shutterstock pay for good images.

Finally, some of these tips will require adult supervision, depending on the age of your child. Your child also must be prepared to work hard and ensure they are not just consuming data and spending valuable time on less rewarding activities but putting their creativity to work by keeping themselves engaged in using technology to become digital creators.

Are you instilling the necessary financial literacy skills in your child? See our article on six lessons I wish my parents taught me about money