Family-Friendly Hotel Features

From eMarketer: YouTube dominates Gen Alpha's programming Viewership of children’s cable programming declined significantly in the past decade. Nickelodeon, The Walt Disney Company Channel, and Cartoon Network lost more than half of their total viewership between 2016 and 2023, according to Nielsen. While children still spend an average of a little over an hour (1:13) per day with linear #TV in 2025, we expect that to continue declining into 2026, when YouTube will surpass linear TV, per our forecast. This is tied to cord-cutting as well as YouTube’s availability and content diversity compared with traditional TV. Children under 12 spend an average of 1:48 a day with YouTube, according to Giraffe Insights and Precise TV. This is followed by video-on-demand (VOD) (1:46) and broadcast TV (1:35). YouTube is free and easily accessible on mobile devices, and an ecosystem of children's content creators has emerged to dominate viewing time. The biggest trends among child viewers include: - Traditional cartoon compilations: Strung-together clips of traditionally produced children’s shows, such as “Peppa Pig” and “Bluey,” are popular among children. While many are unauthorized, this trend has prompted #media networks to incorporate YouTube into their programming strategy. - Educational content: YouTube channels such as Cocomelon and Ms. Rachel post songs, nursery rhymes, and educational videos for young children. An Argentinian educational channel, El Reino Infantil, is the most subscribed-to Spanish-language channel on YouTube. - Child influencers: Ryan’s World, a channel starring 12-year-old Ryan Kaji, is one of the highest-earning YouTube accounts, at $35 million in 2024. #streaming #advertising https://lnkd.in/ekPY7wHP

Here comes the first ever train car for children in Ukraine. Made in Kyiv in 2024 in collaboration with UNICEF Ukraine, it's the first out of 8 scheduled for the next several months. It's primarily earmarked for the kids aged 0-8 with its diaper changing stations, safe playpens, toddler sensory boards, interactive educational materials, audio tales narrating system, kids menu, baby food warmers and specifically trained staff. The whole point is not just a comfortable journey for parents and edutainment for kids - we see it as an example of positive (to a certain extent - unexpected) changes that are possible during the war and can potentially motivate - coupled with numerous other efforts of the state - Ukrainian families to come back to Ukraine. And they do. Oleksandr Pertsovskyi Munir Mammadzade

🚸 Would your company pass the ‘5-year-old commuter test’? The latest Streets for Kids – Cities for All ranking is out! 🧒🚲 And surprise: cities that work for kids… also work for employees, CEOs and HR teams juggling daycare logistics and Teams calls. Let’s take a ride through 🇧🇪 Belgium’s performance in the European ranking of 36 cities made by Clean Cities: 🏙️ Antwerp 🥉 #3 in Europe! 23.5% of schools have safe “school streets”. ➡️ Maybe don’t mess with Antwerp in a cycling duel – but there’s still room for safer bike paths. 🏙️ Brussels-Capital Region 🚦 Over 80% of roads limited to 30km/h – that’s a City30 victory! 📉 But only 11% of schools are surrounded by safe drop-off zones. A bit like having a great espresso machine but no coffee. 🏙️ Ghent ✅ Quiet zones, low-traffic neighbourhoods, and car-free vibes. ❗Only 12% of schools have school streets – Ghent is the gifted kid that just needs to do its homework. 💼 What can your company do? (without buying a cargo bike for every toddler) Here’s your child-friendly checklist for fleet, HR & mobility managers: ✅ Start with the Mobility Budget: Implementing it helps young parents combine drop-offs, cycling, trains, and sanity. ✅ Think like a parent: Choose offices with safe access on foot/bike for those with strollers, scooters or schoolbags. ✅ Team up with your neighbours: Businesses near schools can support school street initiatives – even co-sponsor signage or pilot zones. ✅ Encourage soft mobility champions: Reward employees using bikes or walking buses (yes, that’s a thing 🚶🚌). Brag about it in the canteen. ✅ Ask yourself: would I let a 5-year-old cross this street? If not… maybe your interns shouldn’t either. 🎯 Takeaway “A street safe for kids is a street safe for everyone.” And a safe, pleasant commute = better mood, better retention, and fewer ‘Sorry I’m late, there was chaos at drop-off’ emails. 🗺️ Curious how your city ranks? Just ask for the link to the full report. #MobilityForAll #StreetsForKids #NextMobility #HRStrategy #MobilityBudget #FleetManagement #Belgium #Brussels #Antwerp #Ghent #UrbanMobility #ChildFriendlyCities #WorkplaceWellbeing

The most overlooked equity issue in youth sports isn��t fees. It’s transportation. Every season, thousands of kids never make it to the field Not because they can’t afford the program, but because they can’t get there. 👉 Families with one car and multiple jobs. 👉 Kids who live miles from fields with no public transit. 👉 Parents who want to help but can’t leave work early. Here’s the hard truth: If kids can’t physically get to practice or games, affordability doesn’t matter. Directors who want true access have to solve the transportation gap. Here are 5 ways to start this season: ✅ Build a carpool system. Create a simple signup sheet or group chat where parents can volunteer to drive. Rotate responsibilities so no family feels overwhelmed. ✅ Partner with schools. Ask local schools if buses can be used for after-school practice transport. Even one bus a week can close the gap for dozens of kids. ✅ Recruit transportation sponsors. Local dealerships, rideshare companies, or bus services often look for ways to give back. Frame it as “funding rides for kids who want to play.” ✅ Design central practice hubs. Instead of scattering across multiple fields, prioritize spaces families can actually reach. Accessibility beats prestige. ✅ Offer “scholarship rides.” Just like fee scholarships, budget a portion for rides, whether through stipends for parents, discounted passes, or reimbursed mileage. Here’s the empowering truth: When directors solve transportation, they don’t just add convenience. They unlock access for the kids who need it most. Because opportunity doesn’t start at the field. It starts with being able to get there. — 🧠 Want real-world strategies for building sustainable, culture-driven programs? Subscribe to Grow the Game, your leadership playbook for youth sports: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gFwgbm3t

🚨 Big milestone for children’s safety online 🚨 Today Ofcom has published new rules that online platforms will need to follow to better protect children. Services will be required by law to assess the risks their platforms pose to children and take steps to keep them safer. That means: ➡️ More choice and support for children. Sites must allow children to indicate what content they don’t like; to accept or decline group chat invitations; to block and mute accounts; and, to disable comments on their own posts. ➡️ Safer feeds. Sites that operates a recommender system and poses a medium or high risk of harmful content must configure their algorithms to filter out harmful content from children’s feeds. ➡️ Effective age checks. The riskiest sites must use highly effective age assurance to identify which users are children. This means they can protect them from harmful material, while preserving adults’ rights to access legal content. ➡️ Fast action. All sites must have processes in place to review, assess and quickly tackle harmful content when they become aware of it. ➡️ Easier reporting and complaints. Children should find it straightforward to report content or complain, and providers should respond with appropriate action. ➡️ Strong governance. All sites must have a named person accountable for children’s safety, and a senior body should annually review the management of risk to children. This is a big step forward in creating a digital world where children can explore, learn and connect more safely – and where the responsibility sits where it should: with the platforms themselves. 📘 Read more about the new rules here: https://lnkd.in/e59zwRrW #OnlineSafety #ChildSafety #DigitalRegulation #Ofcom #TechPolicy

197M subscribers. 210B+ views!! CoComelon today, looks like the ultimate kids’ content success story. But as The New York Times and others have reported, that success comes from deliberate design choices built for maximum "engagement and retention". 1. Hyper-saturated colors & rounded shapes: everything feels safe and irresistibly bright 2. Scene cuts every 1–3 seconds: constant novelty so attention never drifts 3. Simple, repetitive music: hooks that toddlers carry long after the episode 4. 30–90 minute compilations: removes natural stopping points 5. No “exit cues": even bedtime songs rarely end with characters sleeping, so kids don’t disengage We’ve always known too much screen time is harmful. But what actually happens in the brain? 🧠 MRI brain scans from a research report (Hutton et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2020) study showed how prolonged screen exposure changes the brain’s wiring: red highlights disorganized white matter, and blue highlights weaker connections. White Matter [the brain’s wiring]: Kids with prolonged screen use had less organized connections, which slowed down learning speed and focus. Gray Matter [the brain’s processing hub]: With weaker connections, language, literacy, and self-regulation also suffered. That’s why, as parents and educators, the real challenge isn’t to ban technology, it’s to balance it....because this generation will never grow up without screens. But they can grow up with the right habits. A few shifts that help: a. Use screens in short bursts, not prolonged stretches b. Watch together and talk about what’s happening so there is time to process c. Prioritize play, reading, puzzles, and outdoor time d. Model the digital habits we want them to follow, because children learn what they see and not what they're told. Early years, the brain is wiring for life. The more time children spend with people, play, movement, and books, the stronger these foundational circuits become.

Pakistan. One more death of an innocent student "Death is inevitable, but our behavior after death is not justified. At Multan Nawaz Sharif Agricultural University, a 21-year-old student, Manahil, was crushed by the university bus, within the university itself. Her body remained on the road because the administrators, including the Vice Chancellor and relevant administration staff, did not know how to handle the situation. Our educational institutions lack safety arrangements and proper traffic control. The irony is that emergency response plans are either limited to paperwork or only concern fires. If someone gets injured or dies, the entire administration, instead of offering support, resorts to suppressing the matter and issuing threats. Manahil had spent two and a half years at the university; she was the light of her parents' eyes. Her father pleaded for three hours, but Manahil’s body remained on the road. Before another Manahil falls victim to such an accident, I urge all educational institutions to work on safety, traffic control, and emergency response plans. If you need guidance, I am here to assist." Example of Deadly Accidents and Way Forward to Protect Innocent People: This accident highlighted the importance of stringent safety measures and the need for comprehensive emergency response plans. Way Forward to Protect Innocent People: 1. Implementing Strict Safety Protocols: Educational institutions must develop and enforce comprehensive safety protocols. This includes regular safety drills, proper training for staff and students, and ensuring all vehicles are regularly maintained and inspected. 2. Enhanced Traffic Control Measures: There should be strict traffic control within and around educational institutions. This can be achieved by employing traffic wardens, installing speed bumps, and creating designated pedestrian zones. 3. Effective Emergency Response Plans: Institutions should have well-documented and practiced emergency response plans that cater to various scenarios beyond just fires. Regular drills and clear communication channels are essential to ensure everyone knows their role in an emergency. 4. Immediate Medical Response: Institutions must have readily accessible medical facilities and trained medical staff on campus. This ensures immediate medical attention in case of any accident, which can be life-saving. 5. Accountability and Transparency: In the event of an accident, institutions should prioritize transparency and accountability. Rather than suppressing incidents, there should be a clear procedure for investigation and support for victims and their families. 6. Community Involvement:Engaging the community, including parents, local authorities, and safety experts, can provide valuable insights and resources for enhancing safety measures within educational institutions. By taking these steps, we can significantly reduce the risk of accidents and ensure a safer environment for students and staff alike.

If you have young kids, you're probably familiar with CoComelon and Bluey. On the surface, both of them look harmless, but they offer two very different visual experiences for children. In the UK, children’s media habits have changed a lot over the last two decades. Ofcom’s 2025 data shows children aged 8 to 14 spend close to 3 hours online each day, rising to around 4 hours or more for teenagers. Not only are children watching for longer, they are taking in far more visual stimulation per day than previous generations ever did. For kids whose neural pathways are still forming, the type of visual stimulation they are exposed to can strongly shape their attention, regulation and behaviour. Research from the University of Virginia found that just 9 minutes of fast paced animated content reduced 4 year olds ability to follow instructions, wait their turn and solve problems. Children who watched slower content performed noticeably better. Many of today's visuals are designed to hold our attention for as long as possible. Many children’s programmes for example, rely on rapid scene changes, constant movement, very bright colours and layered sound, along with scenes that are designed to loop, encouraging endless replay. There are very few quiet visual or auditory moments added in for a child to pause, reflect or process what they have just seen, creating a high intensity visual environment that can keep children watching, but also leaves them more restless once the screen is turned off. CoComelon is an example of this kind of visual consumption. It is one of the most watched children’s programmes with over 200 million YouTube subscribers. Scenes often change every 1 to 3 seconds and colours are pushed to maximum saturation. This level of stimulation triggers dopamine release, reinforcing the desire to keep watching. Children’s television from the 1980s and 1990s worked very differently. Animation was slower, cuts were less frequent and colour palettes were softer and more natural. A scene could sit still long enough for a child to look, notice details and wonder. Bluey follows a similar style today, using gentler colours, slower pacing, natural conversation, storylines and moments of quiet. The visuals are calm enough for children to follow what is happening without being rushed and show everyday emotional moments between parents and children, which children often repeat later in their own imaginative play. This is not about keeping kids away from screens completely, but about understanding how children’s content is designed and making more informed choices about what is healthier for them to watch. I would try to avoid shows like Cocomelon and instead choose programmes that are slower paced, visually calmer and give children space to process what they are seeing. I go into this in more detail in my book The Visual Detox, taking a deeper look at visual analysis like this and why and how the images we consume have such a strong impact on us.

Have you heard about noob = A novice, new player paw = parents are watching pos = parents over shoulder Children are being groomed on gaming platforms - and most parents don’t even know it. How grooming works in games • Predators no longer lurk only on obscure websites. They play the same games children do. • They chat, cooperate, and offer gifts or virtual currency to build trust. • Then they shift to private chats, ask for secrets, and gradually introduce sexual talk or image requests. • Some even “direct” children through livestreams. What the research shows • Online gaming is social: 64% of UK 8–17-year-olds who play online chat in-game, and 31% talk to strangers - a major contact risk. (Ofcom, 2024) • Grooming crimes are rising: UK police logged 7,000+ “Sexual Communication with a Child” offences in 2023/24 - an 89% increase since 2017/18. (NSPCC, 2024) • Younger children are being coerced: IWF found record levels of “self-generated” abuse material, with a disturbing rise involving under-10s. Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), 2024) • Online enticement is surging globally, including cases linked to generative AI. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2024) • Regulators warn: gaming is now one of the highest-risk environments for grooming. • Girls are often targeted, but boys are not safe as well. • Tweens and teens are especially vulnerable as they spend more time on online multiplayer gaming and chatting with strangers. What must change Gaming companies ✅ Make child safety the default - private profiles, DM-off, age assurance, and friction for link-sharing ✅ Detect grooming across full conversations, not just single messages, and report swiftly to NCMEC and hotlines ✅ Ban “gifting” to minors and restrict contact between adults and children ✅ Publish transparent safety reports and share data across the industry Parents ✅ Keep play visible - gaming should happen in shared spaces, not behind closed doors ✅ Disable open chat for under-13s, and ensure your child’s friends are people they actually know ✅ Teach the 3Cs of online risk: content, contact, conduct ✅ Talk about red flags - gifts, secrecy, or talk about bodies and photos. Practise: leave, block, report, tell ✅ Regularly check game ratings, privacy settings, and chat histories Children and young people ✅ Don’t accept friend requests from strangers ✅ Don’t share photos or personal information ✅ If someone makes you uncomfortable, leave, block, report, and tell a trusted adult ✅ Remember: offers of “free” game items are a common grooming trick Read More Child Sexual Exploitation in Online Gaming: Risks and Realities, UNICEF - https://lnkd.in/gCiKUetU Gaming, eSafety Commissioner- https://lnkd.in/gEuk8pRW Let’s make gaming fun and safe, not a hunting ground for predators. ChildSafeNet #ChildSafeNet #OnlineSafety #Gaming #Parenting

🚨 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞? 🌐 Article 28 obliges providers of online platforms to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security of minors, on their service- but how will this obligation be borne out in practice? 🔔 European Commission has released draft guidelines (open for consultation until 10 June 2025) in furtherance of Article 28(4) of the #DigitalServicesAct to provide measures to ensure the protection of children’s privacy, safety & security online and say: 📢“Children's safety online is our top priority. The draft guidelines we are publishing today under the Digital Services Act will help shape a better and safer online environment for younger users. The wide range of measures will aid the different online platforms in protecting minors' safety, security, privacy and well-being “ 📝 The draft guidelines cover a wide range of measures such as verifying user's age, improving how content is recommended to users to reduce the risk of children being exposed to harmful content, setting children's accounts to private by default, best practices for child-safe content moderation, child-friendly reporting channels and user support, as well as guidance on platforms' internal governance: 🚸Why is Article 28 so crucial (and this consultation document so necessary) Children face real risks online: ⚠️ Illegal/harmful content ⚠️ Grooming & cyberbullying ⚠️ Manipulative algorithms ⚠️ Exploitative nudging ⚠️ Unsafe AI (deepfakes, chatbots) All platforms accessible to minors must take a number of key measures: 1️⃣ Risk Assessment 〰️Platforms must review risks to children using the OECD 5Cs framework 〰️Conduct child rights impact assessments 2️⃣ Age Assurance ❌ Self-declaration not enough ✅ Use age estimation or age verification Provide 2+ methods to avoid exclusion 〰️Use of the upcoming EU 18+ App encouraged 3️⃣ By Design & Default 〰️Set highest privacy/safety defaults 〰️Turn off tracking, autoplay, push notifications 〰️Remove harmful filters, stop persuasive design 4️⃣ Child-Centred Interfaces 〰️Empower children with clear tools to control their experience 〰️Age-appropriate time limits & nudges 〰️Accessible, inclusive interfaces 5️⃣ Safer Recommender Systems 〰️No profiling minors 〰️Avoid risky content loops 〰️Prioritise explicit user signals, not just watch time 〰️Let kids reset their feeds 6️⃣ Ethical Advertising 〰️No ads based on profiling 〰️Clear commercial labelling 〰️Protect against dark patterns & loot box-like features Consultation open until 10 June 2025 see more below ⬇️ and see more here 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eSPawYGB #DSA #ChildOnlineSafety #AgeAppropriateDesign #ChildRights