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?

I will surprised if there was a library service in the UK that does not have online reserve and renewal system.

You might consider a list of broken Kindle to be on DD, but plenty wouldn't. Also plenty couldn't afford one. So permitting one child is opening up a can of worms I can completely understand the school don't want to.

I also work FT, but often take the kids to the library on a Saturday. They enjoy it, it passes some time, and it's FREE! What does DD do on Saturdays?

I am an ‘avid reader’ and I love my Kindle. As do my ‘avid reader’ children. I don’t have the space in my house for all the books that our family of 5 read, and going to the library/buying them second hand/taking them to a charity shop once finished is another chore in an already busy life that can be avoided by using a Kindle.
There is a lot of bizarre snobbery around Kindles, but they’re just books in a different (easy) format.

I’m sorry but a Kindle is not a ‘luxury item’ compared to the trainers most kids wear to school, the full Arsenal or Manchester City kits they wear to football club etc. It’s cheaper and it’s a hell of a lot more worthwhile as a purchase. It’s not difficult to distinguish a Kindle from an IPad, they are completely and utterly different things. It’s like saying that kids eating chocolate cake is no different to them bringing vodka to school. They are completely different items.

Fully agree @magicalmrmistoffelees - the snobbery in relation to Kindles on this thread is notable. I’d like the people boasting about how their primary age children are devouring books to come back to me when those kids have phones and let me know how the ‘avid reading’ is going.

times change and different modes of reading need to be encouraged.

Devices don’t belong in school. I agree with this.

You need to make time for the library or buy her a secondhand book online. Lots of parents work full time with long commutes. It doesn’t stop us spending an hour with our dc browsing at the library one Saturday morning every 4-8 weeks. Much more valuable use of time than cleaning.

Perhaps not but assume a teacher says kindles can be brought in. Fine they aren’t particularly expensive, pretty robust and they only hold books.

So word gets around and little Timmy brings in his kindle. Only it’s a kindle fire. Full of games and rather more fragile. Teacher is now in a bit of a quandary but it’s a kindle.

Now Freya hasn’t got a kindle but she has a kindle app on her iPad - she should be able to bring that in, right?

And so on and so on.

Or OP could visit a library every so often.

That’s a stupid made up problem. Just say “dedicated e-readers only. parents need to sign saying school is not responsible.”

I think it's perfectly reasonable that Kindles aren't allowed in primary schools. I also think it's mad you're not using the library if she reads that much - you must be spending a fortune. The library is exactly what you need.

You can take about 12 books out on one card at a time. Get a card for yourself as well and that's 24 books. You don't need to go every week, just go once a month and get a stack of nice big books she can work through at school.

I can see your point but I can also see why the school have said no. I think you will need to make time for the library once a month. You can get enough books for the month out. I get that you are busy. I am in an identical situation but it isn't impossible to go once a month.

Do primary schools not have libraries themselves any more?

Ours does, it’s a walk in cupboard. DD1 had read every book in it by the end of KS1.

I appreciate that it’s inconvenient for you, but I can see why the school don’t want children bringing kindles in. It would potentially cause massive headaches for them if the kindles got broken or lost, and not all parents would take your view that it’s on the child if anything happened to the device.

If you have any books that your DD doesn’t mind re-reading, then I’d send those in rather than continually buying new ones when she prefers reading on a kindle.

I think you misunderstood me.

I have a kindle as do my DDs. We can't house the physical books we want and this is a brilliant solution.

However, in terms of school rules, when you have one parent wanting to shift the boundaries slightly (bring a kindle, not a book), the next parent sees that and wants a small change too (DC only has a kindle fire) it becomes a slippery slope. That is why they have one set rule e.g. physical books only.

And there will be times they have to be put in trays or bags - sometimes tables have to be completely cleared or even moved out of the classroom. They may be rules to put them away when reading time is over to make the tables less cluttered.

Thanks to years of underfunding, they are often tiny, poorly stocked, and can't dedicate a member of staff to properly organise them.

Sorry should say..

Can't dedicate time for a member of staff to organise them.

absolutely astonished at people saying ‘devices don’t belong in schools’. In 2024, really?! Presumably it’s okay for the school computers to be there. And the teachers to have their phones in too?

there is no slippery slope here. ‘Devices that contain only books are allowed. Nothing else is. Kindles are brought in at the child’s risk’. The end. This is not a difficult rule to police at all, as illustrated by the fact that lots of schools, mine included since I complained about it, have exactly this rule for kids bringing kindles in.

Look at going to the library on a Saturday morning as a normal chore in the way that shopping, the tip , watching DC at football, cleaning the bathroom etc isGenerations have and still do this. It is also a good exercise for DC to choose books from a wide range. I find kindles convenient too but I do think you are being a bit unreasonable. I used to love going to the library when I was a child and it is free !

She might be an avid reader but she’s also learning that women spend their lives working long hours and their weekends on doing housework and exhaustion.

Controversial opinion but I suggest fewer books and getting out more.

@Stripitout I know you're busy working full time but have you suggested to the school PTA to do a book fundraiser for the school library?
Parents can just donate books their children have finished with or money can be raised to purchase more books.
At my daughter's primary at the end of every half term we did a cake sale which raised around £300 each time. One cake sale could buy a lot of books if bought from the right place.
Do they not do a Christmas/Summer fayre? There was always a book stall at ours (I ran it a few times) and sold books for 50p or less.

Yes it’s made up but it’s entirely likely.

Get the children to do it. That’s what ours did with year 6s.

Absolutely not. I’m an avid reader and have a kindle and 99% of the books I read are ebooks. But there is still nothing like the magic of a library or book shop, and I would hate to have missed out on the library as a kid just because I had a kindle.

Agreed. You’re far more likely to pick up something different too because Amazons algorithm isn’t directing you down one particular route by suggesting ‘if you liked this….’

Libraries are great places and should be cherished far more than they are.

Fair enough that you aren’t prepared to go to a library.

Give your daughter a fiver and point her to a charity book shop. Reserve those books for school reading only. Job done.