Kindle for kids

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . January 18, 2012 . 6:15PM

It used to be that technological gadgets were solely for the adults who could afford them. Kids were expected to enjoy kid things and appreciate what they were offered. However, as we’ve grown with technology, we’ve figured out that we can use that technology to help our kids grown and learn in ways that may be more effective than some of the ways that we have been trying to teach them. One of the nice things about the obsolete nature of technology is that it is not only for adults anymore. When something begins to drop in price and starts to lose it’s shiny value for adults, the price drops to a point where it is a feasible option to buy for our children because we no longer stress about them destroying it any more than we do the huge remote control car we might get them as their one super gift for a holiday or birthday. The price has become reasonable and the expectation is that they may or may not like it and they may or may not take care of it, but either way, it’s their gift. Sometimes this is a massive upset and setup for failure and sometimes it turns out beautifully.

This year, for younger children, the “in” gift was the leapfrog. The leapfrog is a small mini-computer system that helps kids learn. What? This is the “IN” gift? Something that helps a child learn? Yep. It makes learning fun, it looks like the smartphones, tablets and computers the big kids and adults have and it has fun “games” for little ones. It was SO COOL this year. Parents were scrambling for these things.

I’m lucky enough that my son, AJ, has just turned 11 and I don’t feel the need to hit up the cool kid stuff. Frankly, I never have. I always assumed he’d be happy getting anything and he has always met that expectation. This year, he’s mentioned wanting plenty of things, but over the summer, I added a kindle to his wishlist knowing that he dislikes reading. He’d commented on my kindle, one of the 2nd generation ones I’d bought 3 years ago, and mentioned that he wished he had something cool like that on which to read his books. I mentioned that I’d consider buying him the kindle if he’d ever read books, considering I was begging him to read.

When October hit, it was AR season. In his school, and other public schools around the country, kids have Advanced Reader goals to hit and if they get points they get rewards. AJ was struggling to hit his minimum. He complained to me that, “I’m not like you and Daddy. I hate to read. It’s not fun for me. I don’t get why you guys like it.”

When November rolled around, I’d already decided that I was buying him the kindle mainly because he didn’t have much else on his list. If he didn’t like it, I’d give it to Leon, who’d waffled back and forth about wanting one. I’d gotten some Best Buy rewards and it had dropped my kindle price to around $50. It was a steal at that price and AJ could at least try a couple books on it.

When Christmas morning rolled around, AJ opened it up and seemed excited enough. He couldn’t wait to try out some books on it because it was shiny, it was new, and it was something that mommy had that he wanted and he never got shiny, new, technological TOYS. He seemed a little disappointed that his NeeNee, his Oma and I got him so much money on Amazon gift cards specifically for books for his kindle, but grudgingly decided he’d give it a try.

Since then, he’s read no less than 12, 300+ page books on his kindle with 4 of those being read in the last week. Almost daily he is requesting that I search for new books for him on Amazon and I mentioned to him today that he is almost out of his hefty Christmas and birthday amazon.com card stash for books. He laughed and said, “I can’t help it, Mama, I loooooooove reading. It’s so much fun!”

This kindle, it could be a game changer for kids that don’t like to read. As I write this, AJ is laying on the couch sick as can be, but he’s also calm and relaxed reading his Kindle. He used to tell me he couldn’t read more than an hour a day and now, some days, he reads up to 4 or 5 hours. His main issue with reading is that he is now reading on an 8th or 9th grade level in the 5th grade and most of the books he is reading don’t fall into his AR category so he doesn’t get points for reading them. He reads them anyway. He likes them. He likes to read. He loves to read. I love that he loves to read. Thanks, kindle. Thanks, amazon.

*note: Amazon/Kindle didn’t pay me to write this. They don’t know I’ve written this. This came totally from my heart.