Kids and Kindle Store

[kdgarris]

Okay, so I was crazy, and decided to order one of the $79 non-touch Kindles for each of my two young boys (8 and 6) to encourage reading. The kindles will be on the same account as mine and my SO's Amazon account. My question is whether or not there is a way to prevent them purchasing new books themselves from their own Kindles, without having to put them on separate Amazon account?

[HarryT]

No, there isn't.

[CRussel]

As Harry says, no there isn't. What I would suggest is that you set up an account just for them, separate from your own account. Provide it with gift cards as appropriate. If you want to have them read a book that is on your main account, move their Kindle(s) onto your main account, transfer the book, and move their Kindles back. (Or strip the DRM from the book and sideload it to their Kindles, but that's a whole different discussion.)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kdgarris

Okay, so I was crazy, and decided to order one of the $79 non-touch Kindles for each of my two young boys (8 and 6) to encourage reading. The kindles will be on the same account as mine and my SO's Amazon account. My question is whether or not there is a way to prevent them purchasing new books themselves from their own Kindles, without having to put them on separate Amazon account?

Or you could have a chat with them about trust and responsibility, and tell them not to order any books. Then monitor your account. Amazon sends you an email every time an order is placed from your account. If a book is ordered, you have 7 days from the purchase date to return it.

Returning Kindle Books

Books you purchase from the Kindle Store are eligible for return and refund if we receive your request within seven days of the date of purchase. Once a refund is issued, you will no longer have access to the book. To request a refund and return, visit Manage Your Kindle, click the actions tab for the title you’d like to return, and select “Return for refund”.

You can also click the Contact Us button on the right side of this page to reach us via phone, e-mail, or chat. Select “An order I placed” to see your recent orders and choose the Kindle book order you wish to contact us about.

[HarryT]

It is also worth bearing in mind, however, that your children will have access to all YOUR books. Depending on your tastes in reading matter, that may not be appropriate.

Might be better to use a separate account, for all sorts of reasons.

[JoeD]

I don't think there is, although I wish you could disable on click purchases on the device or at least activate an option to require a password/pin to buy.

I'd suggest making a new account just for your kids devices (put both their devices on the same account though so they can read the same books). Don't put a CC on the account and instead purchase gift cards using your account and activate the gift card on theirs. That way they can still buy books as needed, but won't run up a huge bill by mistake and you don't have to worry about them reading books you've bought that may not be suitable.

Also, you can make the account using an email address under your control, so you can keep an eye on any free book purchases made too just in case they happen to buy something you deem unsuitable.

Trust is fine, and you're still going to be trusting them to not buy inappropriate freebies (even though you can monitor the email address just in case), but sometimes it's not obvious a book isn't for them and it'd be all too easy for them to see a cover/description that looks appealing that turns out to not be suitable.

Other advantage to the 2nd account is your recommendations and their recommendations will likely be wildly different.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by JoeD

I'd suggest making a new account just for your kids devices (put both their devices on the same account though so they can read the same books). Don't put a CC on the account and instead purchase gift cards using your account and activate the gift card on theirs. That way they can still buy books as needed, but won't run up a huge bill by mistake and you don't have to worry about them reading books you've bought that may not be suitable.

Also, you can make the account using an email address under your control, so you can keep an eye on any free book purchases made too just in case they happen to buy something you deem unsuitable.

Trust is fine, and you're still going to be trusting them to not buy inappropriate freebies (even though you can monitor the email address just in case), but sometimes it's not obvious a book isn't for them and it'd be all too easy for them to see a cover/description that looks appealing that turns out to not be suitable.

Other advantage to the 2nd account is your recommendations and their recommendations will likely be wildly different.

This is sound advice. A closely monitored second account is the way to go.

[kdgarris]

Thanks, everyone. I can't say that this was the answer I was hoping to hear, but I appreciate all of the good advice!

[BeccaPrice]

having played a little bit with the Kindle NT that I'm giving my son for Christmas, it seems to me that the biggest element to keep them from ordering or downloading books is that it's a pain in the @ss to do so from the virtual keyboard. I don't know your sons, but I suspect that managing it would be beyond the 6yo's ability, and is difficult enough that it may discourage the 8yo too. I would think that it would be more technically possible when they get older, though.

[abookreader]

Question - is there something about that $79 model that you can't just keep the WiFi turned off? That's what I do with my kid's device and as long as he doesn't know the router password it works just fine.

[whoever]

I would rather give 6-8 year old real books.

[mcramer]

How about keep the wi-fi off altogether and sideload books via the computer? I'm looking at doing the same with my 8 year old and that's the approach I'm going to take.

PS: I know DRM stripping (if required) and sideloading is a whole different ballgame that you may not be comfortable with.......

[abookreader]

Originally Posted by whoever

I would rather give 6-8 year old real books.

And we're giving our kids ..... fake books?

[wvcherrybomb]

Originally Posted by abookreader

Question - is there something about that $79 model that you can't just keep the WiFi turned off? That's what I do with my kid's device and as long as he doesn't know the router password it works just fine.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. No reason the kids have to have internet access at all.

Originally Posted by whoever

I would rather give 6-8 year old real books.

I completely disagree. My 3 year old grandsons have children's ereaders and will have Kindles as soon as they are old enough, as will all my future grandchildren. It opens up a world to them that we could have never dreamed of as kids.

[ProfCrash]

I would put the kids on your account. Register the device and place the books you want on their devices for them. Deregister the account and re-register it when you have books to add.

If the device is deregistered then the kids cannot order books.