A duck is the first Vietnamese music video to reach 1 billion views - this is interesting information. Fanpages are flooded with comments such as:

"My baby contributes hundreds of views", "One view is half a bowl of porridge", "Each meal has 20, 30 views, 3 meals a day, adding up", "The longer you give birth, the more views you get"...

Parents happily boast that their children are "view farming experts", the "little powerhouse" behind A Duck and similar videos such as Grasshopper, My Two Hands, Bong Bong Bang Bang, Baby Shark, Wheels on the Bus...

But children's dependence on children's music videos on YouTube, and now TikTok, for food has always been controversial in society.

Children's music videos are "hot" all over the world

Based on the nature of both children's music and the top choice of videos for parents when feeding their children, the MV "A Duck" can be considered the " Baby Shark of Vietnam".

The original Baby Shark MV - from the Pinkfong channel - now has more than 14.6 billion views, not counting the many derivative MVs, other dance versions, other languages... all of which have attracted hundreds of millions of views.

Released in 2016, by 2019, the song Baby Shark had reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, causing the media to spend a lot of articles discussing it.

The Daily Beast notes that these types of music videos are aimed at diaper-wearing children. But an equally important audience is the parents who click on the videos for their children to watch while they eat.

So these songs and videos may seem simple, but they need to appeal to both children and adults.

The common point is that the songs have simple melodies, are easy to sing, easy to remember, talk about family and animals, have repetitive lyrics, and a bright, optimistic rhythm that makes people want to dance...

The lyrics of One Duck are not about family, but the music video for the Heo Con channel is a vivid family image of a mother duck and her ducklings.

Don't be excessive and dependent

The impact of these music videos has not only been positive.

Parenting websites for young children consistently cite the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation that children under 18 months should have absolutely no screen time.

Children 18 to 24 months of age should only watch screens with adult guidance and conversation.

Children over 2 years old should watch screens for less than one hour per day, accompanied by an adult, and the content should be interactive, educational, friendly and non-violent.

There is no specific time recommendation for children aged 5 to 8, but parents should ensure that screen time does not interfere with other important activities such as sleep, physical activity and learning.

But in reality, many families have already surpassed these milestones. They introduce screens to their children from a very young age, and for far too long each day.

The fault lies not so much with children's music videos, but with the way adults use them to serve children food.

On the FirstCry Parenting site, psychologist Dr. Rashmi Prakash   List some reasons why children should not eat while watching videos.

These are: eating too much causes obesity, being too busy watching videos makes you not realize when you are full; the brain sends wrong signals to the body so it cannot process the taste and color of food; creating unhealthy eating habits for children when they grow up; reducing metabolism, affecting digestion; indigestion; no family interaction during meals...

A study by the University of London (UK) shows that every 15 minutes of looking at a screen can make people sleep 4 minutes less.

Sleep is essential for brain development, especially during the early years of a child's life.

Children's music videos, and more broadly the sea of ​​children's content online in general, still contain necessary and appropriate content for children to access according to their age.

But children need the companionship and interaction of adults when watching to understand what they are watching, making the video viewing experience richer, more vivid and easier to absorb.