Kindle Fire Question - Kids Account?

962 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by CrystalStarr, Dec 28, 2012

Sancho Villa

Discussion Starter · Dec 27, 2012

Folks,
Apologies in advance if this has already been discussed, I did a search but couldn't find what I was looking for.
Anyhoo, the Grandparents bought our two kids (6 & 9yo) KF HD's for Christmas this year. Our family has never owned a tablet of any kind before so we're total noobs. My main question is - should I create their own individual Amazon accounts or should they use my account? The kids are trustworthy for the most part but them having access to my card doesn't give me that warm fuzzy feeling. Pro's & cons? Parental controls? Also, I plan to swipe one to use when I travel. Can one KF be switched easily between multiple Amazon accounts? If so, do apps, books, music etc downloaded on one acct appear when logged in as another? Any advice is welcome and appreciated!
-SV

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sebat

· #2 · Dec 27, 2012

You need to decide what works best for you and your family. If the account is shared they can use all the same apps, watch the same movies and read the same book, etc. If there are separate accounts, everything will have to be purchased twice.

While it's not difficult to switch between different accounts, it's not something I would want to do all the time. I have 2 accounts, one for my husband and one for myself, with the exception of just a couple of books everything is in my husbands account because changing back and forth is more than I care to deal with.

I know that on the older Kindles the books stay when you change accounts but I've heard that's no longer the case with the Fires (new to Fire too so I'm not sure).

Have you looked at Kindle Free Time yet? It looks like the perfect thing for the age of your children! https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kin_dp_ftu?docId=1000863021

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RavenclawPrefect

· #3 · Dec 27, 2012

My three kids (7, 9, 11) each got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and they are all on my account. Between parental controls, Kindle FreeTime and Kids Place (free app), they are not able to purchase items without me putting in a code. It also allows me to put in time limits for things like the internet and apps but allow unlimited time for books. If I wanted to take one of the Kindles on a trip, I can still easily access my content since we are on the same account but they can't access my content (again, it needs a code to get out of Kids Place)

We had considered ipod touches but the parental controls and the incredible support Amazon has made us decide on the Fire instead.

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~joanna~

· #4 · Dec 27, 2012

We are using freetime to restrict their access to any of our content. It is working great and they are happily playing with the apps, movies, and books that I have set up for them. Freetime doesn't allow purchases without a password.

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Ann in Arlington

· #5 · Dec 27, 2012

Listen to Ravenclaw and joanna. . .there are some pretty good parental controls available. If you anticipate they'll be doing more than just reading, then sharing an account is probably the best thing at this point. Realize, though, that once you do that, you're kind of locked in. If one later wants to have a separate account, none of the books or apps will be available to them.

The installed parental controls basically prevent them from doing certain things without you putting in a Password.

The Free Time app allows you to set separate log ins for each kid -- if they're sharing a Kindle -- and with each profile specify how much of each sort of activity they can do. So maybe limit games to an hour, videos to 2, and leave reading unlimited. Since you hope to borrow one when you travel, this will help you keep any of YOUR content behind a digital wall so they can't access it.

But, honestly, I think you'll just want to get your own.

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CrystalStarr

· #6 · Dec 28, 2012

I have a separate account for my kiddos (5 & 7). They share the account. They've had their own eink kindles now for 7 or 8 months and now they both have Fires. I did it this way for several reasons. At the time Kindle Freetime for the Fire and the amazing parental controls didn't exist so even if we started with the Fire they would have had access to ALL of MY stuff and THEIR stuff would have been cluttering up MY Kindles.

But really the biggest reason I did it this way was because I want them to be able to take their books with them as they grow up. Sure they might not care much about Boxcar Children and Magic Tree House when they are 20, but they'll have them either way.

As an aside. I'm really excited as their sister gets older (plus any other children that we add may or may not add to the family) and starts reading she'll have a vast library right at her finger tips waiting for her. No need to store everything. No over flowing bookshelves (oh wait, we still have those). No books get destroyed.

Maybe all 3 of them will always share an account even as they grow up. That'd be pretty cool.

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