Google does not allow any new accounts for kids under 13. If you have managed to get an account for them perviously (say email) , and they try to activate any of the other services (say youtube or g+) google will ask for a birthdate, entering it will immediately lock the google account itself ( thus locking them out of all services). They site
One of the reason for google to this is Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Its important to note that Yahoo does provide a way for kids to have accounts via the Yahoo Family Plan.
Once Google locks the account, the only way to unlock the account is by proving your kids age by one of the following ways
Under our policies, Google doesn't allow users who are under the age of 13 to have Google Accounts, unless they are using Google Apps for Education accounts through their school. This is similar to a lot of online services, as it's very complicated for many providers to offer better solutions for children that meet the relevant regulations. It's not as simple as just asking a parent for consent to let their child have an account -- there are associated implications for data and privacy involved.
One of the reason for google to this is Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Its important to note that Yahoo does provide a way for kids to have accounts via the Yahoo Family Plan.
Once Google locks the account, the only way to unlock the account is by proving your kids age by one of the following ways
- Credit card verification
- Uploading a scanned govt issued ID
- Snail mailing a copy govt issued ID
If your kid does not meet the age requirements obviously none of these are going to help. I did find myself in this situation when I tried to sign up my 7 yr old son to his youtube account so he can post videos that I encouraged him to create.
I decided to give credit card verification a try. I put in my age and name and credit card details and like magic my kids account was unlocked. So looks like the credit card that is needed for verification need not be in the kids name! BTW google will charge $0.30 for this trouble. It was well worth it compared with the trama my son was going through for loosing his email & blog accounts.
All those that read this because they have the same trouble with Gmail please post on Google's boards, I have to think they will do something if enough of us want the option like Yahoo to have kids accounts. It's really lame, I never lied about my son's age when I signed him up and he uses it to communicate with teachers, grandparents, etc. He even has schoolwork stored in Google Docs that he can't access now. What a pain Google.
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