A Florida mother has discovered shocking YouTube videos which give children instructions on how to kill themselves.

Free Hess said she found a cartoon on YouTube Kids - described by the Google-owned site as a 'family friendly' version - in which a man showed youngsters how to slit their wrists effectively.

In the clip a man signals with his hand on his wrist, giving specific advice on how to slit them to 'get results'.

She campaigned to have the clip removed but found this month that it had resurfaced on the site, apparently hidden in the middle of a cartoon.

A Florida mother has discovered videos on YouTube which give children instructions on how to slit their wrists effectively and kill themselves (pictured, a scene from one of the videos)

The video was still on YouTube despite numerous comments flagging up the harmful content, she said.

Writing on her blog Pedimom, she said: 'Exposure to videos, photos, and other self-harm and suicidal promoting content is a huge problem that our children are facing today.

'Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death in individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 and the numbers of children exhibiting some form of self-harm is growing rapidly.

'We have to start doing something NOW and we should start by educating ourselves, educating our children, and speaking up when we see something that is dangerous for our children.'

She said further research had revealed other suicide videos including one which showed a girl ending her own life after a break-up.

Another provided a graphic description of a young girl's attempt to hang herself.

YouTube Kids is described (seen here in the Android Play Store) as a 'family friendly' version of the Google-owned site

A fellow mother, a physician, had initially alerted her to the clip on YouTube Kids, saying it had been 'intentionally planted on YouTube Kids to harm our children'.

The horrific 'instructions' had been hidden at four minutes and 45 seconds into a seven-minute video, she said.

The second video has also now gone, displaying the message: 'This video has been removed for violating YouTube's Terms of Service.'

The YouTube Kids page says: 'We use a mix of filters, user feedback and human reviewers to keep the videos in YouTube Kids family friendly.

'We created YouTube Kids to make it safer and simpler for children to explore the world through online video.

'There's also a whole suite of parental controls, so you can tailor the experience to your family's needs.'

For confidential support in the United States call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.

For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.

For confidential support in Australia call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14.