# A Kindle for kids...



## jimbronyaur (Feb 9, 2011)

... here's a thought and I'm hoping to get some feedback here.

What is the acceptable age for a child to have a Kindle?

Also, how would you as a parent handling their purchasing? Would they be allowed to buy what they want or would they make a list and you pick out what you feel is acceptable, etc...


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

It would depend on the child. I would let a child use one in the house once they could demonstrate that they could use it without damaging it or risking damage. If they haven't broken it yet, but aren't taking good care of it, they aren't ready yet. For taking it out of the house, they would have to demonstrate that they won't lose it. Kids often tend to not pay attention to their things, and set them down "just for a minute", and they get stolen fast. As far as buying book on the Kindle, no way, they don't get access to my credit card!


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

It definitely depends on the child. I let my 3 year old use my Kindle and computer, and judging from how she treated them decided she was ready an Android tablet with Kindle for Android. I don't want to restrict what she reads, but I don't want her having access to my credit card either (not because I think she would do crazy things with it, but just because that's _my_ money ), so she has her own account and she can choose to use her allowance to buy gift cards. Occasionally I see a book I want her to have and gift it to her. She doesn't take it out of the house yet.

However I know most 3 year olds can not even treat a book correctly, much less an ereader. So I would take the particular child's abilities into account and follow the same rules I have in place for physical books.


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## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

My 3 yr old & my 7 yr old both use my iPad and book apps to read and interact & use it for learning. I set clear rules for them when they are using it. Sit down & don't move.


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## PinkKindle (Sep 10, 2009)

My 11-year-old has had his own K2 for about 6 months now (he inherited it when the K3 came out and I upgraded).  He mainly only uses it in the house unless I allow him to bring it somewhere -- like if I know we're going to be waiting at an appointment and he'll want to read.  He doesn't bring it to school or friends' houses or anything like that.  He knows that he's not allowed to turn on the wireless or buy anything on his own -- he is required to bring it to me to do that for him.  He knows it's attached to my credit card and that he's not allowed to make his own purchases without going through me.  I do allow him to choose new books he wants to buy (as well as give him recommendations), but I have to do the actual purchasing.  He absolutely loves his Kindle and has not given me any problems with those rules -- if he wants a new book he just brings it to me and asks me to get him one!


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## jimbronyaur (Feb 9, 2011)

Very interesting replies here.  I ask because I have two sons - one is 2 1/2 and the other 9 months.  They are bookworms already and I am just wondering if in time they would be able to have and respect a Kindle (ereader).


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## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

The age at which it's acceptable is dependent the parent and the level of confidence they have in their kids to follow the rules, I think. My two younger children both have Kindles. They were gifts. They both have covers and take them to school every day as our district requires kids to have a book on them at all times.

For my kids, I send them samples. They read the samples and one-click if they want to buy the book. For my older child, she can get whatever she wants to read without asking as long as it's below a certain price ($9.99). She's 16. The younger child, who is currently 13, has to ask first before buying anything I haven't sent him a sample of. 

For the most part, it's worked quite well for us for a couple of years now. I would not hesitate to give a child a Kindle who knew how to respect a physical book, so probably by mid grade school for me.


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## Joel Arnold (May 3, 2010)

If you do let your kids buy their own books, I'd turn off the one-click option and make sure to keep the password to yourself, as well as remember to log off each time.

My 8-yr old son purchased over $300 worth of toys in January without our knowledge, since our password was applied automatically on our home computer. Luckily I received a 'Thanks for your purchase' email, and was able to cancel in time! (Our son has autism, btw, and didn't really understand what he was doing.)


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## Martel47 (Jun 14, 2010)

My 8 yo daughter got one for Christmas.  She'll be 9 in May.

She struggled with reading in first grade an into second, but had made it to well above grade level by the end of last year.  She now loves to read and we wanted to encourage that.  She takes pretty good care of things and understands that this is fragile and won't be replaced if she breaks it.  I don't think she even knows she could buy books with it.  We turned wireless off and didn't show her how to turn it on.  I think she'd be too bored at the moment to wait for anything to load just to view it over our WiFi.

She uses it at home, and is allowed to take it on long trips and to church.  At church, the sermon tends to go over her head, so she's only allowed to use it then.  She usually plays hangman, tic-tac-toe, or does mazes on maze-a-thon instead of reading.  The environment isn't really good for reading, but the kindle keeps her from flopping her head into my lap then looking up at me to say, "I'm bored."  At other times, she reads on it really well.  We'll be stocking up on some books for her after she finishes a set of DTBs she also got for Christmas.

She only got those, because American Girl Doll books aren't available for Kindle, or weren't at the time.

My newly 7 yo son wants one, but he is rougher on his things and is still getting up to speed on the whole reading thing.  There's much more available on the kindle for the 8-10 year old reading set than the 6-7 year old set.


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

I've heard some parents say that the Kindle actually improved their child's reading, because they could focus on just the text of the words, without the distraction of the facing page.  (And they could also increase the font size until it was at a comfortable level.) There's even a high school in Florida where they bought a Kindle for every student, partly to make school more interesting but also to test whether their grades improved.

I think it ultimately depends on the individual child. But I'd like to see Amazon make a special Kindle that's designed especially for children.  I'm not actually sure what additional features you'd need; maybe it just needs to come pre-loaded with a nice assortment of age-appropriate books. (And of course, you can always customize a Kindle with stick-on decals to make it more colorful.)


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## ValeriGail (Jan 21, 2010)

My 14 year old has a k2 and takes it every day to school.  He is restricted on purchases and knows that he can't sneak them by me as the emails come to my phone, HAHA!  He can browse on the bus or look up a book recommendation at school.  He actually looked up some stuff with the librarian recently.  I approve all book purchases, though I have given him "free" rein on the free stuff, lol.  If I find he's grabbed something I think is inappropriate, I can delete it from the kindle archives and his kindle.  The only issue is, he reads to darn fast!  Told him I could not afford to buy him $10 books every week, so slow it down! Haha.  He's loving some new indie authors and is reading a couple classics in between.  Its all working out really well.  

I have three smaller children too.  Two twin boys that are 6 and a daughter that is 5.  I let them use my kindle (brother's kindle now, as my k3 isn't in a case yet) from time to time.  I do read to them often at bed time and have several kids books on the account for that reason.  I actually see us adding kindles for them pretty soon.  I'm thinking at age 8, but may bump that up if I think the boys are ready sooner.  At the junior high level, they are required to carry a book with them at all times, so at least by then! Baby girl has a tag reader and is very happy with that right now.


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## Guest (Feb 10, 2011)

All of the threads seem to indicate that the kids like it. Are there any kids out there that rejected it?

I'm thinking of buying one for my 8 year old nephew. He's a lazy kid but knows his way around mobile and computers. He had his own laptop since he was 4 years old but struggled learning how to read. I'll buy him one if he will use it but I'm not sure. 

And whats with all these schools requiring kids to carry books with them at all times? Tiger schools? lol


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

My boys (10 and 11) have had k2's for a while now.  I do wish amazon offered some sort of password protection for purchasing, but thankfully so far I've not had any issues.


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## planet_janet (Feb 23, 2010)

McGee said:


> All of the threads seem to indicate that the kids like it. Are there any kids out there that rejected it?


I recently asked my older daughter (age 7 1/2) if she wanted to try reading a book on my Kindle, and she had absolutely zero interest in doing so. She is an excellent and voracious reader, but using the Kindle just doesn't appeal to her right now. That may change over time, and if it does and DH and I feel she's ready, we'll get her a Kindle.


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2011)

I think a kid version would be a bad idea. They want to mimic adults. A kid version would be another toy but a Kindle would be a cool grown up gadget.


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## SailorMerry (Dec 18, 2010)

I wish Kindles were around when I was a kid. I always packed too many books whenever I went anywhere, much to my parents' annoyance, and a Kindle would have been PERFECT for me. I'm kind of iffy on the whole parental approval thing, though. There were definitely some books that I read when I was 13/14 that my parents might not have necessarily approved of, but in retrospect, I think they were perfectly fine for me and they really did influence the person that I grew up to be in a positive way. Then again, they might not have minded at all- my dad let me read Steven King's _The Stand_ when I was 14. I could have _really_ used a Kindle then- that book had over 1000 pages and was in hardback!

Ultimately, I think that intelligent kids are pretty good at deciding what's appropriate for themselves. I certainly know that if my sister or I picked up a book with explicit sex or violence in it when we were younger, we would have felt too uncomfortable to read it. Most of my friends were the same way, and even the ones that might have been more daring all turned out fine. We're all in great colleges now and beat teen pregnancy, in the very least. 

In my experience, the kids that would seek out stuff that's too inappropriate for their age are the kids that don't have much interest in reading in the first place. And I mean no insult to anyone's parenting by saying all that- this is simply what I noticed during my own (fairly recent) foray into adolescence. Also, you may think that your kid doesn't know how to use a certain feature (like wifi, etc.), but you may be wrong. I remember back when my family had dial-up and my internet time was limited, I was always able to figure out the password every time my dad changed it. Smart kids (aka the kids that like to read) are especially good at that sort of thing because they've grown up with technology. My parents always need my or my sister's help in setting up the wifi on new internet devices, while that process is second nature to my peers. So as a word of advice, you may want to explicitly state what your child can or cannot do on their Kindle, rather than assuming that they don't know a feature exists or how to use it.


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

McGee said:


> I think a kid version would be a bad idea. They want to mimic adults. A kid version would be another toy but a Kindle would be a cool grown up gadget.


I think it would be great... I would want it to be more durable, and also to come with parental controls. I'm sure Decalgirl or some other skin merchant (that sounds so wrong!) would quickly come out with a line of skins for the device specifically geared towards kids.


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## Ctychick (Jan 5, 2011)

As a teacher and a parent of young children, I think 8 or 9 is the _earliest _appropriate age for a number of reasons, mainly concerning the early development of specific reading skills and habits, etc. Also, the feel, the pictures, the physical size, the ability to flip back and forth, are all qualities of physical books that help younger children get excited about reading. As adults we already understand the value of the words themselves and many are willing to sacrifice the physical aspects of a real book. It would be a detriment (and a real shame), to start denying children that early book-reading experience.

My 6 yo son, in kindergarten, loves to sit on my lap and read aloud a few lines from whatever I have on the screen. I told him that when he's older and if he LOVES to read, then he can definitely get a Kindle too. That statement alone gets him excited about reading. And, between you and me, if he _doesn't_ love to read, he may get one anyway, since the Kindle can really make a difference to "non readers.")


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

kindle books are real books.  Many of my friends with younger children (K-2) have given their kids kindles and the kids are reading and comprehending just fine.  A different reading experience isn't necessarily a bad one.  BTW, many of these friends are school teachers.


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## vikram1 (Nov 11, 2010)

Hello everyone,

I've posted this article in a couple of threads now. Seems appropriate here as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/books/05ebooks.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=kindle%20kids&st=cse

Our 8-yr-old still likes print. But if given a choice of ereaders, she likes the kindle compared to the iPad. Our 5-yr-olds love the color and interactivity of the iPad over both the kindle and print....


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

I think a kid version would be a bad idea just because of all the kid ereaders that are already out there sucking. Before getting my 3 year old that tablet with Android, I checked out all the kid ereaders in depth.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

There's no reason that an e-reader for kids has to suck. There's absolutely nothing inherently "sucky" about a kid's e-reader. It also doesn't have to look like a kiddie toy: it need not be the Fisher-Price e-reader. More durable, cheaper, parental controls, yes. Bright yellow and red with Elmo all over it, no.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

I got my 9 year old daughter a previous edition Sony Pocket Reader.  This way she doesn't have the ability to make purchases on the device.  

Right at the moment she doesn't seem to understand that a CC doesn't mean unlimited funds; doesn't matter how many times I explain it, I still get the "but mom, you have a CC, just put it on that."  Once she understands money a little better I will upgrade her to a Kindle.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kindlegrl81 said:


> Right at the moment she doesn't seem to understand that a CC doesn't mean unlimited funds


Lots of adults are unclear on this as well.


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

QuantumIguana said:


> There's no reason that an e-reader for kids has to suck. There's absolutely nothing inherently "sucky" about a kid's e-reader. It also doesn't have to look like a kiddie toy: it need not be the Fisher-Price e-reader. More durable, cheaper, parental controls, yes. Bright yellow and red with Elmo all over it, no.


Lots of sacrifices would have to be made to make it cheaper. Just look at some of the kid's ereaders already out there. For example there is one that is pretty cheap but then each of the books come on a cartridge that is $15 - $40. They also have a few that can be downloaded for free, so it is not like this is a hardware limitation, it is just what they must do to make money from it.

The Kindle can already be made more durable by getting the right case, cheaper by buying the wifi-only version, and makeshift parental controls can be made by not giving the kid the wifi password.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The technology will inevitably become cheaper, electronics always does. In the mid 80's, I bought a portable CD player for $250. These days, you can get a portable CD player for $10 that is better than mine in the 80's. Mine took D-cell batteries, that would drain in a day or so, and was about as "portable" as a brick. HDTVs used to cost $10,000. Future e-readers may have more bells and whistles at a higher price, but there will be cheaper ones without the bells and whistles. A large part of the cost of the Kindle is the e-ink display, that will come down in price over time.


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2011)

Amazon might also not be making a kiddie version because they do not want to cheapen their Kindle brand


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## CandyTX (Apr 13, 2009)

My 8 (7 at the time) year old inherited my K2 in August when I got the new one. She takes such amazingly good care of it. She loves to read on it, I'd say she reads 90% on the Kindle. My 10-year-old told me that he didn't want one, he liked "real" books so I said fine... hey, at least he likes to read.

.... 3-4 months ago we were stuck somewhere and he was getting antsy so I brought up Lemony Snicket (which he hadn't read before) and he was hooked. He's since borrowed his sister's Kindle when she'll let him and has been asking for his own. He got his own yesterday, actually 

Ya know, we try not to restrict what they read. If he wants to try something, sure. He's got Jurassic Park on there. I doubt he will finish it, but I'm willing to let him try. BUT they also aren't allowed to buy books. I did show them the store (like me, they prefer to look at the website on the computer) but they know not to click the BUY button without checking with me. That could change as they get into middle and high school with some limits, but for now, that's the rule. They know not to break it. My 10 year old isn't near as responsible overall as his sister but we talked and he seems to understand not to let it lay around. As someone pointed out in another thread, they are just as expensive as a Wii or a DS, so I'm not going to turn into a witch if something happens.

At any rate, my kids have one each, a friend's kid has one... they are all on my account so they share books.


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

I never thought about it, but I guess a Kindle does cost about the price of a DS. Now one of my kids I would be afraid to let take a Kindle out of the house since he once lost his coat in winter time, but he has a DS he takes everywhere yet has never lost... hmm...


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## jimbronyaur (Feb 9, 2011)

I think there should be a balance of paper to ebooks with kids.  I think having certain books in paper is a good thing... I couldn't imagine growing up not holding a book, smelling it.  I was asking about the kindle for kids because of series, for example.  I remember as a kid when Goosebumps hit, it was hard for me to get all the books because they were so darn expensive.  And yes, at that time, $5 was a lot of money for my household.

And I'm also wondering if there's a market for indie writers and kids books.  Say someone is able to come up with a great series for kids, does it on their own, and sells the books for $1 or something... what are parents mindsets about letting their kids read new authors or indie authors?


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Amazon doesn't really want to sell Kindles. What they want to do is to sell ebooks. A better Kindle means that they sell more ebooks. I remember years ago, there was speculation that computers would in the future cost less than $1000. A sub-$1000 computer was considered a dream. Now, it's the norm to spend well under $1000, if you spent more, you're buying a pretty high-end machine. It's not because they decided to be nice, electronics just gets faster, smaller and cheaper. I bought a portable CD-player back in 1985 for $300. It had an external battery pack that took D-cell batteries, which would drain in a couple days, and it tended to skip if you used it while walking. These days, you can get a portable CD player for $10 to $20, it is much lighter, won't skip, and used AA batteries, and lasts much longer on those smaller batteries.

So, I think there is every reason that the cost of book readers will continue to come down. Some kids are very responsible with things, others tend to set them down and be surprised when someone walks off with it. When people think of products aimed at children, they tend to think of garishly colored things with cartoon characters on it. Kids don't want those, adults look at them, and think that kids will want them. 

At the current price, outfitting a whole family with Kindles would be prohibitive for most people. When the price has dropped to the point where an e-reader costs about what a portable CD player costs, then this will change.


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## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

the difference between a kindle and a DS for our house is the kids pay for the DS. I did help the younger one pay for her DS when she got braces. 

A four person house all readers I do wish I had more then two kindles.
sylvia


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

If we ever get the point when paper books go away, we will need to have an e-reader in the hands of every reader.


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