School and kindles

[Stripitout]

DD 9 has a kindle. Books are generally cheaper , you don’t have to wait to go to the shops or order from Amazon, she has a lot of books and finishes around 1 a week.

They have to take a book to school everyday for reading - school library is crap and she’s read most of her age and older books.

The school will not allow any electronic devices. I’ve explained she can’t take photos, message, go on the internet with it but they will not allow her to take it to school. It means I have to keep buying print copies of books for her to read just at school, if she’s really enjoying a book on her kindle she has to swap and change with a print book for school (I’m not buying duplicate copies)

it seems so short sighted of the school. AIBU?

The irony

A Kindle is not a ‘slippery slope’, it’s a collection of books. It’s perfectly easy for any teacher with a working knowledge of tech (which should be all of them) to distinguish a digital reading device from something that stores games.

and there’s no need to put it in a tray!

Hilarious, I also work full-time single mother and manage to get to library. Honestly you aren't coming across as being reasonable.

Up out to library first thing Saturday get a walk and then back to housework. It might stop the waste of Sunday you are currently having.

I find this a bit strange too @Stripitout my daughter is starting secondary school in September and on the open night the school library showed us how they actually have Kindles for the children to use. Albeit they can’t take them off site, but it’s a great idea

I feel like this is one of those threads where the OP doesn't actually want solutions, she just wants us all to agree that the school are bring ridiculous.

You do realise school is fighting to keep digital devices away from children? It is completely reasonable for the school to insist on actual books.

She either rereads books which really isn’t the end of the world or you go to a local library and borrow some. You can renew them online. Delay your Saturday cleaning by an hour every 6 weeks and go out with your daughter to the library. Borrow your own book and you read them on Sundays when you’re slumped on the sofa.

Simply have one book that is just for school reading and have the Kindle (books) for home.

I would just use World of Books or AbeBooks. Order 8-10 in one go each month, get them delivered to a safe place (ours is the porch), and take them to the charity shop once or twice a year. It will still be cheaper than replacing a lost/stolen kindle.

If you don't have time to go to the library, then buy a load cheap from a charity shop or eBay. Seriously, she can't be getting through them that quickly at school, primaries struggle to fit in everything they need to teach as it is without spending hours reading books.

@Marblesbackagain if school is fighting to keep Kindles away from children, then there is a serious problem. Kindles are nothing but collections of electronic books and any child who is excited to read on them should be encouraged, not discouraged.

I work in a field related to child literacy and think viewing Kindles in the same way as a Nintendo Switch is a pretty grave error. Fewer children are reading for pleasure than ever before, and digital reading (all reading) should be encouraged at any opportunity.

all the most avid readers I know read on Kindles and don’t want to ‘read another book’ at certain times of the day. They want a Kindle and it’s absolute Jobsworth nonsense for school to discourage this.

No, no they don't.
While you might not mind if a kindle gets broken in school, plenty of parents would mind, and complain, and demand the school pay. The amount of hassle it would cause staff when they go missing or get mixed up, or broken. It's just not worth it.

I don’t think there’s any need to be rude. The options are basically buy books or borrow them. I don’t know what else you expect people to come up with?

I can see school’s point and it’s also harder to monitor what they are reading if they are using a kindle and that it’s age appropriate

I agree with this. Mine are both big readers and having Kindles has encouraged and facilitated that. Both are the only kids in their primary who get their ‘million word’ award at school every year, and last year both were over 3 million. This wouldn’t have happened without having easy access to so many books on their Kindles. They don’t want to read a different book at school to the one they’re reading at home, it disrupts the flow. Thankfully they’re allowed to take their Kindles to school.

@MrsSchrute then anyone who wants their kid to bring a Kindle in has to write a letter saying they are responsible for it. Simples.

Honestly. My child had a non-uniform day yesterday and I watched swathes of kids walk into school wearing their Air Jordans… people are absolutely fine with kids risking them getting damaged I guess!

This approach then leads to the haves - who have parents that can afford kindles - and the have nots, who don't. How crap would it be for the child sat there while everyone else is showing off about their kindles?
It's not that simple.

A kindle is not the only option for an e-reader. Problem is it’s the only one that is just books. And it’s expensive luxury item to buy a second whole tablet device just for reading books when an iPad or other tablet can be used as an e-reader. Now the school have to police what type of tablet the child is using.

Our library allows you to borrow books electronically, so download them into a kindle then delete and get the next batch. You should check if your library does that.

You would probably have to actually visit the library to get it set up, but after that it could all be electronic.

And I get the issue, my DC will read at least a book a day (sometimes more) on holiday or if they’re really in to a series. I do, too, and the kindle makes it so much easier!

OP - libraries are open on Saturdays. Shift an hour of your cleaning time on a Saturday to your Sunday sofa time once a month and go with your dd to the library and take out 6-8 books. (Ours will let children take 20 at a time).

to make it quicker, you can reserve books online and then go in to collect them in minutes on a Saturday.

If DD loves booked she will love the library. Most have a coffee shop in too. Make an hour on a Saturday morning and do something with DD once a month.

She can get lots of books each visit to last the month.

Alternatively she can reread the school books.

Our library is open 9-4 Monday- Wednesday 🙄

As others have suggested I would buy a pile of second hand books either from an online shop or a charity shop and she takes those in to read at school. She then continues to read whatever she likes on her kindle at home. Shouldn't be a problem to read two books at once and keep track of the story. Or if you think she'd get confused, get second hand short story books for school.

The kindle shouldn't be a problem, theoretically, but in practice schools have to regulate these sorts of things.
Your daughter might not lose her Kindle, but other children might, or the Kindle might get damaged and some parents would be blaming school, possibly wanting money back and making a fuss.
Your daughter has a Kindle with books on it and no games etc, but other children might have a different device which does and mess around with games etc. instead of reading.
Your daughter might not have too much screen time each day (and yes, I count an e-reader as looking at a screen) but other children might be looking at screens far too long and that isn't good and perhaps the school is encouraging activities which don't involve screen usage.

It's easier for the school just to say no devices, printed books only, than have to deal with all of the above.

I know kindles only have books on them. No-one is arguing otherwise. However, kindles are not the only device to have electronic books. The school will forever be arguing with parents whose DC wants to bring an iPad or similar so they can read books on it. Having a clear rule doesn’t stop parents being a PITA, as proven by OP.

It’s really not hard to borrow from the library- books can be reserved online, OP can collect them (no need to spend hours every Sunday there), renew online and some libraries even have a returns box to drop books into when closed. She barely needs to set foot into the library. And it’s free unlike a lot of books on the Kindle.

If DD loves booked she will love the library. Most have a coffee shop in too. Make an hour on a Saturday morning and do something with DD once a month.

Library services have been cut to the bone where I am. Open from 10-1 on a Saturday, certainly no coffee shop - my DC do activities on a Saturday morning so no chance to visit with them. How hard can it be to understand that different areas have different levels of service and it may just not be possible to simply go to the library.

I'm an avid reader, my house has plenty of book shelves, including in DS' room. No kindles. He's just turned six and reads for pleasure, it started with comic books before he could read. The habit of picking up a book is a good one and far better than a habit of picking up a device with a screen.

As you must know a child raised in a house full of books, seeing parents who read them regularly and who read daily with the child, is far less likely to be resistant to reading.

I'm also in a book group and none of the members use a Kindle other than a lady with vision impairment as she can adjust the text size to suit. Most avid readers like books.