Ereader options for kids: a missed opportunity

I’ve fielded some questions lately on the options people have for an ebook reader intended for children. Now that they have come down in price so much, many people seem to be contemplating rounding out the family library with an ebook reader or two for the kids. But nobody has made this easy for them! Why do none of the major ebook vendors have special kid accounts? I think they would be so useful because parents want their kids reading, and they want their kids reading independently, but they also want to control (to an extent) what they read and what they spend.

Let’s say I am a person who wants to screen the books my child reads. The simple solution would be to keep their reader registered to my own account. That way, I could buy the books for them, read them myself on my own device, then share them with the child since 5 or whatever number of devices can access the same account without a problem.

Great! But my own account comes with my own credit card. How can I turn off the one-click ordering (or, indeed, ALL on-device ordering) on a Kindle or Nook to prevent them from using it? And how do I prevent them from accessing books I bought for myself, which are not intended for them to read?

And when I do want to loosen the leash a little later, how can I set things up so they can have their own little credit limit—and not have that waver every time I buy a book for me? And how can I set things up so that, as I can with television, I can have the age-inappropriate material be filtered out for me? 

And—when the child does grow up enough to manage things for themselves a little more—wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to transfer all those Magic School Bus books over so the kids can access them if they wish without it cluttering up my archived items screen until the end of time?

Here’s what we need: we need a ‘children’s account’ option from all the major ebook retailers. Here’s how the child account would be different from the adult’s account:

– The credit card associated with it would belong to the adult, who can, of course, purchase books for the child at will. But the child would not have access to the credit card at all and could only ‘spend’ on their own using the gift card balance. If parents want their child to have their own spending money, they must use the credit card to fill the gift card balance, or the child can receive gift cards to use as gifts from others.

– If an adult purchases a book and their account has a child account associated with it, they would be prompted to specify whether the book is for the child’s account or their own. If they specify that it’s for their own account, the child will not have access to it through the ‘five device limit’ or any other sort of sharing between devices that normally would be allowed within one account. If the adult specifies that the book is for the child’s account, both they and the child will be able to access it. However, if the child’s account is later ’emancipated’ from its parent, those books will go into the child’s permanent account and their parent would not be able to access them anymore.

– If the parent wishes, they should have options available to filter out certain genres, ratings or specific titles so that the child cannot see those items in searches. It’s fine to say ‘supervise your child’ but in the case of a skill so vital as reading, and a passion which will hopefully be with the child for life, I can see how parents would want the child to learn to use the device independently. Therefore, parents would appreciate the option for ‘safer surfing’ even if it does mean a little restriction when the child is younger.

– The child’s account should have a wishlist option so that the child can mark items he or she wishes the parent to purchase for them later. A private review system would also be a nice perk. The child would be able to provide feedback for their parent on whether a book was, for instance, too difficult—and not have to worry that they are broadcasting their feelings to the whole world.

So, ebook retailers of the world, how about it? Let’s get kids reading, and let’s make it as easy as possible for them!