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I did this for my son and my daughter for many years. Unfortunately, I did it by making them gmail accounts. Google without warning closed both accounts when m

I did this for my son and my daughter for many years. Unfortunately, I did it by making them gmail accounts. Google without warning closed both accounts when my daughter was 12 for being under-age. I lost everything. I tried to appeal to get them to unlock the accounts long enough for me to get the contents out, but talking to a human being at Google is famously impossible.

Maxion 2y ago
Were these accounts family accounts, or just random accounts with no direct affiliation to your parent account?
- GlenTheMachine 2y ago
  I set them up in 2003. At the time I don’t think there was any concept of a family account.
  - OJFord 2y ago
    Nor probably a requirement that you be 12 or older to have an account! An email account! It makes sense for YouTube maybe, and I suppose the problem is it's all intertwined? But then there's Android too - is it really expected that if you're a (say) 10 year old whose parents think is old enough to have a phone (let's not debate that here) is it really expected that you skip the set up with Google account flow on Android first boot? Because it's very clearly not the preferred path; one they don't really want you to take. Seems like 'underage' accounts should just have restricted access, i.e. none to whatever it is (like YouTube) that's the problem, I can't believe it's email.
    - paulryanrogers 2y ago
      Kind of ironic since I recall an early Gmail ad showed a father opening an account for his infant, then giving to the child as it got older. Correction: technically a Chrome ad, yet very heavy use of Gmail. Maybe the trick is to not open it in their exact name? (In the ad they use "dear{name}@gmail.com) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPklt9nYas https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPklt9nYas
    - jonfw 2y ago
      There are extra rules that apply around data retention, privacy, consent, etc. for users below 13- see COPPA
j7ake 2y ago
So what’s the way to do this properly so that Google does not delete those accounts?
- nop_slide 2y ago
  Don’t use Google, get a domain name and use another service where you’re in control. I use fastmail and have been sending emails to my young sons “email”, which is just a subdomain of my personal email, so I guess technically it’s not his but I have a way to share all the mail with him.
  - GlenTheMachine 2y ago
    This right here. If you don’t pay for your service it doesn’t belong to you. This incident is exactly what precipitated my switch to Fastmail.
- tlarkworthy 2y ago
  Google Family link
dnissley 2y ago
You should be able to find the contents in your sent mail, no? search "in:sent". This is assuming you sent the email from your own gmail account (not sure how other providers stash away sent mail or if they even do).
nimz 2y ago
Whoa, I'm doing the exact same thing right now for my son, and using Gmail as well. Blessings to you for this warning. I'm going to do something about changing the location of this mailbox asap.

Maxion 2y ago

Were these accounts family accounts, or just random accounts with no direct affiliation to your parent account?

GlenTheMachine 2y ago
I set them up in 2003. At the time I don’t think there was any concept of a family account.
- OJFord 2y ago
  Nor probably a requirement that you be 12 or older to have an account! An email account! It makes sense for YouTube maybe, and I suppose the problem is it's all intertwined? But then there's Android too - is it really expected that if you're a (say) 10 year old whose parents think is old enough to have a phone (let's not debate that here) is it really expected that you skip the set up with Google account flow on Android first boot? Because it's very clearly not the preferred path; one they don't really want you to take. Seems like 'underage' accounts should just have restricted access, i.e. none to whatever it is (like YouTube) that's the problem, I can't believe it's email.
  - paulryanrogers 2y ago
    Kind of ironic since I recall an early Gmail ad showed a father opening an account for his infant, then giving to the child as it got older. Correction: technically a Chrome ad, yet very heavy use of Gmail. Maybe the trick is to not open it in their exact name? (In the ad they use "dear{name}@gmail.com) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPklt9nYas https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPklt9nYas
  - jonfw 2y ago
    There are extra rules that apply around data retention, privacy, consent, etc. for users below 13- see COPPA

j7ake 2y ago

So what’s the way to do this properly so that Google does not delete those accounts?

nop_slide 2y ago
Don’t use Google, get a domain name and use another service where you’re in control. I use fastmail and have been sending emails to my young sons “email”, which is just a subdomain of my personal email, so I guess technically it’s not his but I have a way to share all the mail with him.
- GlenTheMachine 2y ago
  This right here. If you don’t pay for your service it doesn’t belong to you. This incident is exactly what precipitated my switch to Fastmail.
tlarkworthy 2y ago
Google Family link

dnissley 2y ago

You should be able to find the contents in your sent mail, no? search "in:sent". This is assuming you sent the email from your own gmail account (not sure how other providers stash away sent mail or if they even do).

nimz 2y ago

Whoa, I'm doing the exact same thing right now for my son, and using Gmail as well. Blessings to you for this warning. I'm going to do something about changing the location of this mailbox asap.