# preparing a Fire for kids



## kdawna (Feb 16, 2009)

I received my 2 fires for my girls; their ages are nearly 10 and 12. The first one I had trouble with because I was not putting in the correct passwork for the internet. Once I got that figured out, I saw that all of my hundreds of books were on there.... not good. I tried to figure out what to do... So... I deregistered them from my account so the books would be gone.
Then what I did was make them each an e-mail account and an Amazon account... using my credit card (and also added  an Amazon $25 gift card to use). I tried looking into preloaded credit card you get from Wal Mart... but they charge $3/month and I think that is crazy so.... I am using my card on their accounts.  I want to keep them from buying stuff without me right there. 
My girls have ADHD and the one is also  PDD-NOS (on the autism spectrum).... very much love computers, games, music and read some. I went through the app store at Amazon and preloaded games and items (mostly free stuff) that I thought they would like.  I am also going to buy a couple books each and maybe some music too. I think the fire is awesome. I have an I pad but really love how nice it feels and how responsive it it. 
Anyone else have any kid proof ideas to keep them from not being able to purchase items?
Brenda


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

I'd suggest NOT doing two additional accounts, just one. What if they want to share a book that isn't lendable - do you want to buy it twice? Same for the games and such....

You don't have to have a credit card on the account, there are a lot of people here that fund only with amazon gift cards, so keep that in mind.

Your concerns are why i won't be buying one for the "family" right now. Heck, I'm not even happy that DD has access to my archives on her keyboard kindle, but she hasn't explored it (age 12, cognitive disorder-NOS at about an 8-9 yo level). My teen would be all over it....

Hopefully some others have some ideas, I will keep reading the threads and sort out what to do.

Oh and my other concern is how the heck can one restrict the video content. Does prime offer levels like Netflix? Which makes it a pain for ME to watch something else occasionally.

I have an iPad also, and I don't think their parental controls are enough either!

Enjoy the Fire's though, and be sure to let us know how it is working out with the kids.


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## JetJammer (Jan 18, 2009)

According to the kindle support page for the Fire, it's not necessary to attach a credit card to the account for the Fire.  Supposedly you can still use Amazon gift cards by attaching an address to the account without a credit card.  I haven't tried it, but that's the way I read it.  It might be worth looking into.


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## Lisa M. (Jun 15, 2010)

JetJammer said:


> According to the kindle support page for the Fire, it's not necessary to attach a credit card to the account for the Fire. Supposedly you can still use gift cards by attaching an address to the account without a credit card. I haven't tried it, but that's the way I read it. It might be worth looking into.


Oh I am glad to know this, I got a Fire for each of my girls for Christmas and was going to do a Visa gift card, this is better. Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Lisa M. (Jun 15, 2010)

I just re-read what I posted, and I assumed (yeah I know I know) you were talking about Amazon GCs, which I prefer to use over others.


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## KindleMom (Dec 11, 2008)

Parental controls would be nice. I want to get one of these for my 12 yr old son who has an itouch and loves it - but it has parental controls - which _I _love. I won't get him a Fire until this is resolved.

Amazon is probably anti-censorship since they got their start from books, but some things I feel I really need to protect my kids from for as long as possible. I'm not naive enough to think he doesn't get into stuff I don't approve of, but I certainly don't want him to have free reign at 12.


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Also - if you do want to get a low-balance "credit card" for the account, I've been buying AmEx visa pre paid cards purchased from the post office; there is a small fee (I think about the same as a money order), but they never expire & don't charge any monthly fee.


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## kdawna (Feb 16, 2009)

Thank you all for some very helpful ideas. My girls actually won't be getting them until the Amazon prime, free month runs out. I didn't plan to buy  Prime since I am on our older son's prime account and I already pay for a Netflix account. The girls don't know what the password is so that is good! 
I tried to buy an app from the Amazon AppStore , with the credit card removed from the Amazon account, and the gift card added on to the account, but it wouldn't let me buy the app without the credit card.
Brenda


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

Feeling the same frustration here.  I guess I'm going to have to create a new account to put the boys' kindles on - there are books in my account that I don't want them accessing, as well as access to unrestricted 1-click ordering.


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