He's been obsessed with YouTube and Twitch for about 6 months now, says his friends are making money gaming and that school is useless. My wife and I don't know whether to support him or set limits. What do you guys do in this situation? Is it just a phase or should I take it seriously?
At 16 it's normal for him to see other people making money online and think it's easy, but the thing is, making such a big decision based on 6 months of obsession... that's risky. I know people who got into this and most of them realize after a year or two that it doesn't make the same money they imagined, or that the content they create doesn't interest them anymore. The algorithm changes, the competition is brutal, and without finishing basic education he'll regret it later.
What works better is not making it "all or nothing." If he's really drawn to streaming, let him do it after school, on weekends, during times that don't interfere with school. Then you see if he can keep up with the consistency or if it's just a fantasy. Most of the guys I know who tried to live off this at that age ended up going to classes anyway because they needed money urgently and didn't have any backup. Plus, even though it seems boring, finishing high school opens doors you don't know you'll need 🤷♀️ if he really does well with streaming in a year or two, he can always focus more on that later; but if he drops everything now and it doesn't work out, catching up on those years of study is complicated.
My suggestion: talk to him without judging, set a clear agreement (schedules, minimum grades, household chores), and let him explore while keeping what matters. If at 17, 18 he's still just as dedicated and seeing real results, then you can reconsider. But at 16, dropping everything is premature.
The reality is that very few streamers actually make a living from it, and even fewer at 16 when you're just starting out - most need years of consistency and luck to monetize. What you see on social media are the success stories, not the thousands who tried and gave up. Instead of a flat "yes" or "no," it might be more effective to tell him to try it seriously while keeping up with school: set a specific schedule for streaming (like an hour or two a day after class), track how much time he's actually investing and what results he gets in three or six months. That way he'll figure out for himself whether he really has a passion for it or if it's just a phase, and in the meantime he won't lose years of education that he'll regret later.
The thing that would work best is not to see it as school dropout versus streaming, but as a priorities problem that needs structure while he explores this. Your son is 16 and at that age where everything seems urgent and impossible to wait for, but the truth is he can do both things - keep up with his basic studies while actually investing time in streaming to see if he can handle the routine and if it really works out for him.
The people I know who ditched everything to play or record ended up super frustrated at 18-19 because it didn't take off like they expected and then they found themselves with no options. The important thing is that he understands streaming is a long-term project, not something that's going to pay you in six months unless you're an absolute natural from day one. Give him a concrete deadline - "you prove you're serious, you upload content consistently, and meanwhile you finish your compulsory education" - and then you reassess together. That way you're not encouraging him or shutting him down, you're just keeping his feet on the ground.
One thing nobody mentioned: ask him to do a 3-month experiment where he keeps going to school but dedicates all his free time to streaming, no excuses or negotiating. If he's really into it, he'll handle that no problem, and if he doesn't make it two weeks before saying it's impossible, well, you'll know it wasn't that serious. That way you're not making an irreversible decision based on six months of excitement, and he sees for himself whether he can handle it or not. In the meantime, let him explore but without dropping anything yet.
I've noticed this happen several times with my nephews and cousins, and what I see is that at 16, the brain is still very focused on the "now." Seeing a friend or classmate making money from gaming feels like magic - like the solution to everything. What's missing from that equation is that almost none of those streamers you see as "successful" started making money in month one. They needed time, thousands of hours in front of the camera, a community built little by little, and yeah, quite a bit of luck too.
The point I'd like to add to what others have already said is that you need to know exactly what's motivating him. Is he passionate about gaming itself, or is it the money? Does he want to create content, or does he just see streaming as a shortcut? Because if what drives him is genuinely creating something, there are ways to do it without dropping out of school. If it's just about quick money, leaving school would be a huge mistake because if streaming doesn't work out (which is most likely), he'll be left with no backup plan.
What I'd do is set up something more flexible than a hard "yes" or "no." Let him try seriously during these months, but keep school running in parallel. If in three or four months he has 100 followers, a community that engages with him, and a clear path to monetization, then you can talk about adjusting priorities. If things stay the same, maybe it's time to accept that it was just a passing obsession. The important thing is that he doesn't make an irreversible decision based on wishful thinking.
Streaming as a source of income requires not just talent but also algorithms working in your favor, and that's unpredictable even for established channels. That said, I think the 3-month trial you mention is a good idea, but it needs a twist: instead of him continuing school with "no negotiations," set concrete, measurable goals together. Have your son commit to keeping decent grades (say, not failing any subjects) and posting content at least 3 times a week without missing. If he pulls that off during those 3 months, then you evaluate together whether he's close to something viable or if it's still just a hobby.
The key is that he doesn't feel it's school or streaming, but that both can coexist while he proves his interest is real and not just a whim. There's a practical detail that might help you: keep a visual track of how many viewers he has, how many followers he gains per week, and what number he'd need to live off it (calculate how many views or followers would equal a salary). Putting it in numbers he sees himself helps him understand the gap between fantasy and reality without you becoming the "bad guys" who forbid his dreams.
And if after those 3 months he's still got the same energy and starts generating something, then you can look at options like training in editing, digital marketing, or even distance-learning high school. The worst thing you could do right now is let him drop everything without structure, because when he realizes it's not working (and he will), it'll be much harder for him to believe in anything again.
Don't fall into the trap of seeing this as a binary choice: either school or streaming. What's happening is that your son is at the age where he's discovering there are ways to make money outside the traditional system, and that seems liberating to him. It's understandable, but the dangerous part is that he's linking "dropping out of school" with "starting to succeed," when really they're two completely separate things.
The real problem is that at 16, almost nobody has perspective on actual timelines. Streamers who are making money spent years before they monetized, and in the meantime they were studying, working other jobs, or had family networks supporting them. Your son sees the end result, not the 3-4 years of work with no income. If he drops out now and doesn't take off in six months, what then? He'll have lost years of education with no way back, and that closes way more doors than it opens.
My suggestion: give him a real trial period, but with actual conditions. He keeps going to school while putting serious hours into streaming outside of class. If in six months he has a channel with real growth, an engaged community, and concrete data on monetization coming soon, then sit down together and reconsider. But if it's still just a hobby going nowhere, he'll have learned something valuable: that consistency matters more than wishful thinking. And he'll have kept his options open.
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