I have recently purchased four Kindle Fire 7" tablets for my four children, although I am sharing a Fire with my youngest. If I were to give them a broad review, I would say that we love everything about them. What really sold me on the Kindle Fire, however, (I also considered several other Android tablets before purchasing these) was the ability to set parental controls on the device and through Freetime. I've spoken to a few other parents who weren't aware of the new Kindle Freetime features, so I thought I'd write down quickly what you can do to help make your Kindle safer for your child to use. There are multiple layers of protection on the Kindle Fire -- through your Amazon account, through the device itself, and through Kindle Freetime. Please note that these steps aren't a substitute for parental supervision. They do work really, really well, though.
Through your Amazon account:
The easiest way to ensure that your child can't access or purchase your content through your Amazon account is to set up a separate account. Keep in mind, though, that if you set up a separate account you'll have to pay again for apps and content you'd also like to use on your account. So, if both you and your child have a Kindle and you both want to play "Where's My Perry," you'll have to buy it twice, once on each account. Because I am sharing a Kindle with my youngest daughter, I chose to link all of our Kindles to my account so that I would only have to pay once. If you do this, consider turning off "one click" ordering on your Amazon account. That way, if your child does somehow circumvent the Freetime and device parental controls (which is fairly difficult), he or she still won't be able to purchase anything without a credit card or paypal account (and if your child has access to a paypal account, perhaps THEY should be teaching YOU to use how to use a Kindle). ;-)
Through the device:
Your new Kindle will turn on as soon as you plug it in. While it is charging, swipe to unlock the screen. Register your Kindle to whatever Amazon account you want it connected to. When your Kindle asks if you'd like to link to a facebook or twitter account, opt out; obviously you don't want your child posting to facebook. You'll have to decide whether you want to add an email account. Because I am sharing my Kindle with my daughter, I added my gmail account so that I can check it from the device. That's not the safest bet, but I trust the device parental controls and Freetime to protect her from that. Next, when you get to the home screen, scroll on through the initial tutorial, or skip it if you already know how to use a Kindle. Now for the nitty gritty; pull down from the top to reveal the "Settings" menu. Click "More" (the plus sign icon) and then touch "Parental Controls." Touch "On." You will need to set up a password for all future parental controls on the device. Pick something you'll remember, because if you forget it, you'll have to do a hard reset to your device to get a chance to set the password again. Also, make sure you check the "Hide Password" box so no little eyes can watch what you type -- this box will stay checked in the future. Next, make sure that the Web Browser and the Email, Contacts, and Calendars are on "Blocked." Password Protect Purchases (this one is super important!) and Password Protect Video Playback should be set to "On." You can go a step further and block certain types of content by touching the "Block and Unblock Content Types." All that stuff is up to you. Next, you can Password Protect your wifi toggle and Location-Based Services (LBS) by checking "On" for both. Once you have these controls set, you can then turn them off when YOU want to use the Kindle. You will need to enter your password first to enter the Parental Controls menu and then again to change the setting to "Off." Another thing to think about if you're really worried about your child accessing inappropriate content or even seeing pictures of it on the device itself (some book covers are not exactly appropriate for little eyes) is your Carousel. Your most recent activity on the Kindle remains on your Carousel. When you turn on the Kindle -- if you don't have Freetime activated -- this will pop up as your home screen. So, if you're doing something you really don't want your kids to see on the Kindle, go ahead and press and hold on that activity's icon and remove it from the carousel. You'll have to do this EVERY time you engage in that activity, or open that book, however, so be aware. These are ways that you can set some parental controls on the device, but because of the nature of the Carousel and the way the Kindle presents purchased content that's available on the cloud even though it's not downloaded to the device, you should consider using Freetime on your Kindle.
Through Freetime:
Freetime is an amazing application. It allows your child to essentially have his or her own Kindle, with his or her own Carousel and Favorites, and with access only to content that you specify. Freetime is a free app that is installed automatically on Version 10.2.4. However, when you get your Kindle, it might not necessarily be using that operating system. If your Kindle is new, allow it to charge to around 85%, and it will do an automatic system update. After that, you should see Freetime as an App on your device. If your Kindle is updated (to check, pull down the settings menu, touch "Device," and then "About"), but you still don't see Freetime, pull down the Settings menu and then push "Sync." Alright, once you have Freetime successfully installed, open it up. It's going to give you the option of signing up one child or multiple children for the Freetime Unlimited option. Freetime Unlimited is a good deal, but it's not for everyone. I use it with my kids, but it's up to you. Next, Freetime will prompt you to enter your child's/children's information to create profiles for them. You'll enter their name, their gender, their birthday, and pick an icon for them. You can enter all children who will be associated with your account this one time, whether they'll be using different Kindles or sharing a Kindle. This information will stay with your Amazon account, not with the device; this means that I can actually set up and control my four children's Freetime profiles that they use on THEIR Kindles from MY Kindle, since they are all registered to my account. This also means that your children can have their own individual home screens and settings even if they all share one Kindle. After you set up profiles, you are taken to a screen that has your children's Icons and options for you. This is the Parent Settings menu. From there, click the "Manage Content and Subscriptions" icon. You'll have to enter the parental controls password you set for the device earlier. From here you can add titles to your children's library -- essentially, you select what on the device your child can access when Freetime is running. Click on "Add Titles to _______'s Library," and you will be able to individually select what books, videos, and apps your child can use or even see as available. Note that when you add a new book, video, or app to your device, you will have to go through this process to allow your child to access it in Freetime. Once you've selected content, click the "Back" arrow until you're at the Parent Settings screen again. Now click on the "Daily Time Limits" icon -- it's a little alarm clock. Again, you'll have to enter your password. Now you'll see your children's profiles again. Click on one, and toggle the "Set Time Limits" option to "On." Then set your time limits. You can simply set total screen time or make the limits content-specific. When you're done, head back to the Parent Settings screen. You'll notice there's a "Manage Child Profiles" icon. By touching that, you can add or remove profiles, and you can also touch a child's name to alter their accessible content and time limits. The "More" icon does more of the same, with one exception -- it also lists "Kindle Fire Settings" as an option in its menu. By touching this, you can change the Kindle Fire device settings I mentioned above -- after entering your password, of course. Now that you've got that all set up, touch a child's icon and head into their own personal Freetime home screen. You'll notice that the top left of the Kindle (when held horizontally -- Freetime does not give the option of holding the device vertically, although some apps accessible within Freetime do) no longer says that this is your Kindle. It says that it is the child's Kindle. Cute, right? Now, one thing that I did for my children, since I do use Freetime Unlimited, was to add a few things I knew they would like to their "Favorites." Your child can access this screen by pressing the star on the lower right. They can access their home screen -- their Carousel -- by pressing the "Home" icon, just like you would to access your Carousel outside of Freetime. When your child is in Freetime, he or she cannot access anything that you didn't give them permission to access, and content that's part of your cloud account will not show up as available like it would on the Kindle outside of Freetime. Ads WILL show up in apps, however, and ads may or may not be child-appropriate, so be aware of that. However, if your child clicks on that ad, access to the browser is blocked. To exit Freetime, pull down what would be the settings menu if you weren't in Freetime, and touch "Exit." You will have to enter your password, of course. If you want Freetime to pop up when your child turns on the Kindle again, DON'T exit -- simply shut down while inside of Freetime. If you are in Freetime when you shut down, the Kindle will restart in Freetime when it is turned on again -- on the same profile it was on before. So remember, if you exit Freetime to use the Kindle yourself but would like Freetime to be open when your child picks the device up again, be sure to start Freetime once more before turning the device off.
I love our Kindles and my children love them, too, and now that Kindle Freetime is available, free, and installed on the devices, I feel like they are for the most part safe for my kids and yet tailored to them. My children honestly feel like they have their own tablets and not that they are just using mine. They can set their own favorites and control their own Carousel, and they enjoy being able to do that. If you're not already using Freetime and are uncomfortable with allowing your child to navigate a tablet without constant supervision, give it a try. In my opinion, this application and its ease of use along with the price point makes the Kindle Fire the best option for tablets for children by far.
