to get 11yo DSD a kids kindle

[wookneecorn]

We've confiscated DSD's devices as we have caught her being irresponsible online; giving out passwords, adding strangers onto snapchat (which we didn't even know she had)

We're decluttering the house and DSD has several full sized bookcases worth of books. So we want to consider getting DSD a kids kindle.

Can anyone let me know what can be accessed on a kids kindle, how good the parenting controls are, and if they're any good, worth the money, etc. Can it be linked to an kids amazon dot?

Do you mean a tablet or reading device?

You can't ban her from the Internet forever. Can you set up her current devices with better security and spend some time talking to her about responsible Internet use? My 10 yo has a tablet set up with the Google family link where all app downloads have to be approved and I talk to her about what she's doing on line.

@SuperCaliFragalistic

You can't ban her from the Internet forever. Can you set up her current devices with better security and spend some time talking to her about responsible Internet use? My 10 yo has a tablet set up with the Google family link where all app downloads have to be approved and I talk to her about what she's doing on line.

Yep you need Google Family Link here.

Books are not clutter!!

I mean a kids tablet so she can play games approved by me, read e-books, and possibly watch YouTube kids which I think have parental controls. OH discovered she was watching inappropriate videos on YouTube too.

If you set up a device properly she won't. E able to do any of those things. DS couldn't access you tube until he was 13 on his phone. Snap chat was and still is banned, and he can't download anything that isn't within his age range and it needs approval from me or dp. Google Family Link on Android is perfect for all of your problems. Then you just need to work on teaching her to be safe on the internet.

Is this the same 11 yo with sen that gave away her password on the same game twice loosing 65 quid worth of vip currency? If so then I don't think giving her another way to access the Internet is a good idea until she matures a bit more and can understand online safety. Why not join the local library instead?

I applaud you taking a proactive stance re internet use. But please don’t view the books as clutter.

Ours have had kindle fire for kids since age 7

Parental controls are pretty good. I've been quite happy with them.

What devices did she have?

It doesn’t matter what device you get, you need to put parental controls on it. Kindles can access the internet. You can play online games and make in game purchases on them. They aren’t just e-readers. By parental controls I mean physical ones you install on the device...not giving the child “rules” and then letting them loose on a device.

I agree books aren’t clutter either. And I have a DC with SEN who has trouble reading on screens. They have to have physical books and notes. Even now at Uni they have a personal printer because they can’t do all the course reading on a screen. So your SEN child may be the same way..,find out before culling her books....

One thing to bear in mind, @wookneecorn - if you replace all her books with e-books on a Kindle, you don’t own the books. You pay for the licence to read the e-books, but that licence can be withdrawn - leaving you with nothing.

I was giving serious consideration to replacing a sizeable percentage of my library with e-books, until I found this out. If I buy an actual book, I own it and the publisher/rights owner can’t take it away.

I re-read books a lot, so, to me, it’s worth keeping the ones I like (and I have to be honest, I do like an awful lot of books) - does your dsd re-read books? If so, I would suggest encouraging her to go through her books, and sort out the ones she wants to keep - I do that a couple of times a year - to make space for more new books, rather than decluttering (I don’t think books count as clutter).

Kindle fire was flipping painful to set up kids controls. Better off with an android device and Google family link. You can still download the Kindle app.

Also - don't give away your dsd's books without her permission. They could be like cherished friends!

Books aren’t clutter.

Just keep the books. They're not clutter. You can't read properly on a Kindle anyway.
She can have her tech back when she's mature enough to handle it, which creating secret Snapchat accounts and giving out passwords indicates she is not.

You can access the internet via a browser on the kindle. It’s slow but if she’s the same 11yo who is online dating and being inappropriate with strangers she’ll probably figure out how to bypass the controls and do something inappropriate. You need to wean her off screens.