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My Daughter is 12, and she keeps buying books for readers aged 6-8. She is perfectly capable of reading books for her age and over.
Is there a way to limit Amazon purchases to books for 12 years and over ?
Daughter Keeps Buying Books on Amazon for Lower Age than She Is
cameldownunder on 15/07/2022 - 22:51
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Best to talk to her. Understand why she is getting the books she is. Figure out a solution where you're both happy. You've said you'll pay for books for her, she's buying books, she's not doing anything wrong. Making her feel like she is may just make things worse.
Just try to have a conversation and explain that her reading and comprehension skills are above her age, but you've noticed she's reading books aimed at younger children. Is there something about those books she likes, or is she struggling to find more advanced books that she's interested in? Maybe explain to her that you're glad she's reading (and maybe reiterate you're happy to buy her books), but you'd prefer she were furthering her reading skills at the same time, at least some of the time. Maybe you can google popular books for 12 year olds together and see if you can find anything that interests her.
Also, no, I don't believe you can restrict her book purchases to over a certain age.
Short answer: no there's not.
I don't think this is a big deal, but you clearly do, so…
Why not do a little research into some older books she might like (in terms of subject matter or genre, based on her current interests), then have a talk with your daughter and see if she'll give them a go?
Don't frame it like you're worried about her purchases, just that you've heard about this book she might think is cool.
Good luck to all involved.
I found it weird how quickly I normalised to the fact that your kid gets to buy their own kindle books whenever they want and it wasn’t until someone pointed it out that I stopped and thought that it was drastically different to my childhood where eBooks were an adult thing and I’d just borrow physical books. So in an attempt to come up with an ideal solution for my hypothetical kid, I decided on the following.
If I was in your position I’d tell my kids that they can get 1 eBook a week or whatever and they can pick what it is but I would buy it for them. I think it would be beneficial in a few ways, first it might make them put more thought into the purchases and potentially make them either get something they are really excited about or something that will last them longer. Secondly, it’ll teach them to value books (and in general things you buy) more because it’s not just an infinite source of whatever they want.
Finally I think definitely get them a library membership, there’s something really exciting about visiting the library as a kid and getting to look through books while you’re there and checkout/return your books with your very own card.
Edit: I have no idea how to solve your actual question but if you implement the above solution you could just have a hard rule saying you won’t buy books under X age group, but they’re allowed to borrow those or something.
Look at the content of the books she is buying not the age bracket they are targeting, that will tell you more
Is there a way to limit Amazon purchases to books for 12 years and over ?
Yeah… be an adult and don't allow children to spend at will without parental guidance.
Nah. Since they've already allowed them, and they've apparently been responsible about it, there's no need to restrict them.
OP wants their daughter to read. She's buying books responsibly without overspending.
Can I have your credit card to buy whatever i want? I won't buy items marked for 6-8 years
At least she's reading something and not wasting time on tiktok
How about not letting her purchase books on their account?
Why take that away when she's been responsible about it?
I still haven't graduated from picture books.
There's no need to graduate from them. Having pictures =/= for kids only. There are also plenty of graphic novels and manga that are for adults.
Where's Wally is my favourite :)
I'd ask her what kind of books she likes and why. I'd ask her if she likes the "12+ years" books. If she hasn't tried them, encourage her to try them, if she doesn't like them, ask her why. I wouldn't force a purchase limit (for the reason you state) on the books she likes to read nor force the books I want her to read on her.
At the end of the day, she's doing what she's doing for a reason and it's important to understand why. Generally I'd let my daughter do what she enjoys rather than force my standards on her.
The worst thing you can do to her reading is restrict what she wants to read. When I was a primary school teacher, we let the kids read what they wanted, BUT they also had to pick a book that was at, or above their level. Maybe consider such a compromise to your daughter
Don't worry about it.
Let her enjoy reading whatever she likes.
I still love reading children's books and it's helped my kids experience some of the tales I grew up with!
Being an adult, I often read books for children. I can relate to some of the emotions. I am blown away that at 12yo, children are buying books themselves and reading. Well done, parent. Have you taken her to the library?
I'm not sure if it has been mentioned above, but have you chatted with her friends. Maybe a couple of them are slow readers but popular in school. If they choose lower grade books and talk about them, then maybe peer pressure is what drives your daughter's decisions.
Maybe the school/class/teacher caters for the lowest readers when talking about material to read.
But giving a 12 year old open buying would not be my choice.
This post has to be taking the mickey
My younger brother is also 12. He's capable of reading and comprehending some of my uni textbooks so I assume he can read novels intended for older kids too. But you know what he prefers reading? Dog Man graphic novels which are apparently intended for 6 - 8 year olds. Why? Because to him it's the most hilarious series ever. Let your daughter read what she enjoys.
Can you tell us which books she's purchasing? We can try recommending books with similar themes or style that are intended for her age group.
I only read lego instruction books these days so who am I to judge
OzParentingAdvice
Maybe she's reeling from the loss of her sandpit and trying to capture a lost part of her youth
As you said, she's capable of reading at her age and higher, then she's just buying books she likes. What's the problem?
The issue I am seeing is that you think there's a problem but is there really a problem?
Also, be thankful that she's buying books and not materialistic things.
I just think, you think there's a problem when there isn't from what I read.
Wired flex . But ok.
Have you tried contacting Amazon regarding this yet?
you probably need to have a long hard think about what you're getting out stopping your daughter from reading books below her age group. She's doing it most likely out of leisure and enjoyment.
Have you thought about the confrontation if somehow you did restrict the purchase of books below 12 years without telling her? She's at an age where kids can start rebelling, this can make her want to stop reading altogether.
Shes either already in high school or starting next year so she's going to be assigned books and texts she may or may not want to read (Shakespeare) and definitely at or above her age group. If you really can't help it, you can always suggest specific books of a high age group just be sure to not force it.
tldr: your daughter has something good going, don't ruin it.As long as she is reading, that is all that matters.
My mum started me out on comics when she noticed i didn't read. Before long i had moved onto Russian literature.
My son is the same. He is reading tons of minecraft trash but what they read right now isn't important. It's the ability sit down and read/learn for long periods.
Once they have that, it can be applied to whatever interests them in the future.
Read what you love until you love to read. - Naval Ravikant
Goodness, the girl is reading. Let her read. I really can't understand what the issue is. They are probably a happy escape. Life is difficult and if those books are giving her joy, let her read them.
Gee when I was that age I was reading both Lord of the Rings, other fantasty type books aswell as yearly re-reading Enid Blyton books (farway tree, wishing chair etc). All books provided joy!!
One way to get her to read material more suitable for her age is the technique of shaming. When you see her reading something you disapprove of, make remarks about how kids her age don't read that stuff any more, and that it's only for little children. I've seen this technique work and it got the child to stop watching cartoons and reading books with pictures.
But be careful, it may cause a feeling of resentment in her if she's not willing to move forward.
I read this in Steven He's failure management voice (the emotional damage meme guy).
You're buying books on amazon????? you aint heard of libby??? you get the same books but for free. get a library card instead.
your kids reading books, and likes to read books? encourage the kid. dont discourage them by taking away the books they like to read.
I don't understand why people post these questions. You obviously care for your kid and want to put in an effort to parent. So…
1. Why are you letting a child use your credit card without getting permission every time?
2. Why isn't it obvious that you should provide incentives for her to read something you help her pick out that's more appropriate?
3. Why are you trying to stop her from reading something she actually wants to read?My daughter is 11 and reads the same. She reads them before bed when she is tired. She has little interest in her age or reading level books.
Her teacher says “the baby sitters club is the McDonald’s of books”. They are junk, full of short basic words with no literacy value and a lot of word repetition. It’s as valuable as eating fast food. I don’t think they have any character development and the storyline’s are very basic.
They do feel comfortable and relaxing, like meditating and like when you binge watch tv you feel you have made a friend with the main character.I counteract by playing podcasts in the car and higher level audio books, usually classics.
Be happy she’s reading instead of playing video games. Let her enjoy reading younger kids books, why not? Kids grow very quickly especially nowadays. Childhood is a magic moment that doesn’t last that long.
Books for like teens are about ISSUES like sex and death anyways. Would OP let her read FANTASY books?
Yes, why not
O yummy tiger parents . We all know how those types of kids raised by tigers turn out lol
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What age bracket would you put on typical Ozbargain comments. Serious question for an avid reader of this site.