The Kindle Fire 7 $29 deal - good for kids?

[ang79]

We are not a techy family. DH and I have iphone SE's (just upgraded from much older models!), and he has a Samsung Galaxy tablet and I have an older Nexus 7 tablet (that is not holding its battery life and running very slowly lately). Kids (8.5 and almost 11) both have Nooks (one is the Nook touch, the other is a first gen. e-ink nook). They do like reading ebooks on their Nooks, but also still enjoy reading paper books. DD1 will be getting a Chrome book in school this year, but I think it will be kept at school (I think next year in 6th grade they start to bring it home). My mom was wondering if she should order the $29 Kindles for them to use. Not sure I want to give them their own tablets, but they would come in handy when traveling, or if they want to play games, etc. (they sometimes like to visit the American Girl site on my tablet and play games, or games on DH's tablet that he has apps for). Can I set parent controls on these? I don't want them to have open access to internet all the time (ideally I could set which websites they could visit). They don't watch a ton of movies either, so not really needing it for that, and I'd prefer them to read on their e-ink devices, but can see how it would be handy to download kindle books when traveling. Is this a good first tablet if my mom gets them to give them for Christmas?

[azzeps]

I was looking at the Kindle Fire 8.... I'm not really sure we need another device..... or two.... figuring one for each kid. Right now, DD has an old Kindle for reading and DS uses my iPad a lot... was thinking they'd be nice for travel and limiting screen time with the controls. Your kiddos are a little older... I read somewhere that by middle school age, kids are looking for a little more power/sophistication, but who really knows. Been googling for reviews and such, to try and decide. Also, on another thread, someone said that the warranty on the kids' kindle fire is only a year, so if you wait to give it for Christmas, you have burned half the warranty period. That may or may not matter to you. Good luck with the decision. hopefully someone who actually has one of these things will weigh in! :)

[magnoliaparadise]

My mom got the kindle fire for my DD and honestly, it caused me a lot of problems. I posted about it here. But that's just me. Other parents might be fine with it.

My kid kept playing games and watching movies on it and not telling me or lying about it - and I was angry that she was not following my rules and angrier that she was lying to me about not following my rules. I set up the parental controls and she somehow got around every one of them repeatedly. I would take away the fire kindle for a period of increasing time, return it to her, and and then rinse and repeat and we would go in circles.

Finally, the kindle broke. Divine intervention. I gave it to my mother to call and get it fixed and Amazon deemed it our fault (I have no idea if it was) and so far hasn't fixed it.

I did break down and get my daughter a paper white kindle since then (I also posted about that - which one to get). It's nice, but not nearly as nice as the Fire Kindle as a product (no screen for movies, not color, not a nice cool pink cover). It's black and white and just has books (there might be more to do on it, I have no idea, but my DD hasn't figured it out yet if there is :) ).

I'm thrilled not to deal with the kindle fire screen. I was starting to become a totally distrustful crazy woman with the fire kindle, sneaking up from behind my daughter while she was using it to see if she was using the screens for games, etc. It's so nice to know she can't do that with the paper white.

[ray7694]

My ds uses his for reading only.

[azzeps]

Oh no!!! Basically the parental controls are why I'd choose the Kindle over an iPad! I want to be able to limit screen time but allow the educational stuff. Especially for my 6 year old. He loves the iPad but mostly because of You Tube kids and all the junk he watches on there. Hmmm

[azzeps]

My son has just started reading on his own a little. Are there books (picture books) for beginning readers? DD didn't get her Kindle until she started reading chapter books so I'm not familiar with what's available for the younger set.

[TwoBees]

My mom got the kindle fire for my DD and honestly, it caused me a lot of problems. I posted about it here. But that's just me. Other parents might be fine with it.

My kid kept playing games and watching movies on it and not telling me or lying about it - and I was angry that she was not following my rules and angrier that she was lying to me about not following my rules. I set up the parental controls and she somehow got around every one of them repeatedly. I would take away the fire kindle for a period of increasing time, return it to her, and and then rinse and repeat and we would go in circles.

Finally, the kindle broke. Divine intervention. I gave it to my mother to call and get it fixed and Amazon deemed it our fault (I have no idea if it was) and so far hasn't fixed it.

I did break down and get my daughter a paper white kindle since then (I also posted about that - which one to get). It's nice, but not nearly as nice as the Fire Kindle as a product (no screen for movies, not color, not a nice cool pink cover). It's black and white and just has books (there might be more to do on it, I have no idea, but my DD hasn't figured it out yet if there is :) ).

I'm thrilled not to deal with the kindle fire screen. I was starting to become a totally distrustful crazy woman with the fire kindle, sneaking up from behind my daughter while she was using it to see if she was using the screens for games, etc. It's so nice to know she can't do that with the paper white.

Interesting. I have not used FreeTime before so I am anxious to get into it and see what I can do with it. I ordered the kids bundle yesterday and I am waiting for it to arrive. I got the Fire specifically for the immersion reading feature. I have NO PROBLEM taking away the device if DD1 can't behave or use it appropriately.

[doberbrat]

there are picture books - our library has more and more books for younger readers and you can always buy books of course.

Parental controls are different than free time. I dont pay for free time but am still pretty happy with parental controls. I have web services completely blocked for my kids. If they want to surf the web or watch youtube, I want it done on a computer. But on trips I sometimes unblock web access for them. I also require all purchases to have a separate pw so they cant buy stuff on games.

Of course, ymmv - your mileage may vary. My kids havent tried (yet) to get around the parental controls so I dont know how easily defeated they are. ;) Hope I didnt just jinx myself!!! I own the devices in our house and the kids must ask for permission to use so I keep a handle on it that way as well.