This probably won’t be a surprise to many, but I love my kindle. I still read “real” books, but I love the convenience and selection I get on my ereader. It’s so great that I even loaded my high-school-age daughter’s summer reading books on it – the classics, like Dante’s Inferno, were free!
What I didn’t take into account was that when school started, she’d need to take her summer reading books to school.
Now, I trust my daughter. I warned her not to drop her backpack with the kindle in it, and keep it under wraps – I didn’t want prying eyes and sticky fingers to get any ideas. “YES MOM!” was her answer. But my main concern was her teacher. What if he took it? (Okay, I’m a little paranoid, but as I said, I LOVE my kindle!)
You see, the high school has strict rules about many things. No drugs. No weapons. No suggestive clothing. AND…no electronics. I knew the intention of the rule was to keep kids from playing video games or listening to their iPods during class, but would the school be discriminating enough to know the difference between an MP3 player and an electronic book? Luckily, the answer was yes.
In fact, the instructor’s response was “I was wondering when these would start showing up.” Another student also had her kindle in class, and everything was fine.
Now I’m left with a different dilemma. I know a kindle (or nook) is in both my kids’ futures. They’re avid readers, and would definitely use them. I’d also like to think their rooms might be a little cleaner without the piles of books everywhere (yeah, right). It’s just a matter of time.
My question to you today is, how do you manage a child’s ereader? Do they have their own amazon/B&N account, or do you connect them to yours? I wish amazon had a way to lock individual books or collections with a password – then I wouldn’t have to worry about my kids picking up my kindle and reading one of the hot romance novels I have on it.
If you have a nook, I’d like to hear from you, too. The library lending feature is something I think would be great for kids.
And, just so you know, Christmas is only 108 days away.
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Robin DeJarnett 
I’m not a parent but I love my Nook! 🙂
Supposedly Toys R Us is carrying Kindle now…maybe they’ll figure it out …
I’m lucky that my kids don’t snoop around my kindle – they’re still of a mind that romance is gross (thank goodness!). One of the main hurdles I have with the kindle specifically is that there isn’t even a purchase password. I did just check, and it looks like I wouldn’t have to connect a credit card to an account I create for my kids. Again, I trust my kids, but unlimited access to purchases isn’t something I’d want to give them just yet.
I guess what I really want is some parental controls for kindle. Hey, Amazon…
I don’t have an ereader yet, but I’m starting to think that I might like one. I did find it interesting that my son was required to purchase the e-books for the courses he’s taking this semester. He doesn’t have an ereader, so he’ll have to read them on his laptop, but he wasn’t too happy that it had to be the ebook. Just goes to show it’s the way schools are going though.
I’m counting on eBooks taking over on campuses to save my little schnookies’ backs (and MY money) when they get there. I’ve not got an eReader yet, but I imagine I won’t hook up my library w/ theirs other than using the awesome lending feature.
I love my Kindle so much too! I’d be so paranoid if my daughter got her hands on it. She knows to be gentle with it, but she’s only 4 1/2 yrs, so her way of being gentle is a little too rough for me. I think an ereader is great for students, especially for novels and course readers. As for managing your child’s ereader? I have no idea. I can see how it poses a problem, so I’m curious as how other moms handle it too.
A school in the west of Ireland is piloting a scheme like the one Killian describes. There are a couple of reasons. One is cost and the other is the health issues for children lugging books around. Many of the special needs schools and units use tablets and ipads for the kids. It’s the computer age! Eric has a net book which I think is studier for him although it’s still small enough to carry around and has plenty of battery life.
Wow, you’re brave to send your Kindle to school. You’re such a cool mom! I imagine that was as hard for you as it would be for me to part with my iPhone for a day! SCARY! I’m sure it’s being well taken care of.
I imagine that e readers will be common in schools in our near future. But I hope they never completely replace printed books
As I don’t own an e-reader (other than my Kindle/Nook apps on my phone) I don’t have any real advice. Sorry. But if I were a parent, I’d probably create my kid’s account and have a 2 part password. They’d know the first half, I’d know the second half. Therefore both of us would have to be present for the child to log in.
As for your kids stumbling upon your steamier selections, the possibility is HIGH! My toddler can navigate my phone with ease! So your kids are bound to accidentally (I’m SURE it would be an accident–NOT!) find the steamy books!
That is so cool about the schools!
I just got a NookColor and now my Nook is “the boys nook” – for which they are gleefully happy! I don’t worry about what’s on there, because I mostly read YA and MG and my boys are good about checking with me anyway (our two devices are linked to the same account, so we have the same books). But you could easily have your own account. For me, I’ve spent years “training” my kids to check their books in with me, so I’m not so much worried there. And I don’t see them taking them to school (yet), but if they do, they’ll have to treat it with the same care as the cell phone (which our schools allow, only on after hours). And yes, e-lending is awesome!
This is the way things are going here on campus too. Two of our professional schools have now required all students to have ereaders as all text books and course readers are issued electronically. (Of course, students can still purchase print copies from other resources). Ebook rentals also made their way to campus this term.