8 Reasons to Bring a Kindle for your Kids on your next Vacation

We’re traveling through South East Asia with the kids and with the exception of maybe mosquito repellent, the Kindle has been the best item we packed.

We made a conscious decision to not bring iPads or any other devices with screens with games or social media. But the Kindle isn’t in the same category as “device with a screen” even through it is, technically, a device with a screen.

I’m sure you could add even more reasons to bring a Kindle for your kids (and yourself for that matter) on your next vacation, but here are several that were maybe less obvious.

1. Lighted screen. Some of the places we’ve stayed in barely have electricity and when they do, it’s often an awful Chinese-restaurant-style florescent blue-ish bulb from the ceiling. Kindle’s built-in lighted screen solves all of that–and doesn’t bug your sleeping neighbors (unless he’s your big brother who says he can’t sleep with any light whatsoever).
2. Last page doesn’t get stolen by macaque monkey. The macaques monkey are thieves and scoundrels! They’ll grab anything that looks like food–or at least looks like something fun to play with. If the last page of your book tears out (which oddly seems to happen with young boys … ), the monkeys could very well grab it and then only they will know how the story ends.
3. 1,000’s of books. We have carry-on-size luggage. We can take either clothes and a Kindle or lots of books. You choose.
4. Library to buy more. If you occasionally get to that lodge that has the dial-up-speed-intermittent-satellite Internet connection, it might be just enough to order the next book in the series. For example, say, the Li & Lu series (very hot in S. E. Asia right now!). 😉 Try that at the local bookstore. Oh wait, there is no local bookstore in the jungle.
5. No games. Kids: sorry, you deem this a bad thing. Parents: this is a good thing. Potential friends or anyone wanted to get the attention of said kid: this is a good thing.
6. Battery lasts weeks. Chances are that the battery won’t die on the 6-hour bus ride from Mulu to Kota Kinabalu.
7. Doesn’t get wet. Books on boats have pages that get wet and then stuck to each other and then it looks like a roti chenai. I doubt Kindles are waterproof, but they at least can handle a few drops from the beginning of a rain storm.
8. Share with friends on the bus. Li was reading Alex Ryder and a Belgian girl was reading over his shoulder. I eventually turned the whole thing into an English language lesson and, by increasing the font size, she practiced her English as Li helped her with pronunciation and meaning.

I think #8 is enough of a reason right there: try making that font larger on your paper books. Try grabbing a book you’d like to share with a friend from your luggage when, oops, you didn’t bring that book.

I could probably make this “80 Reasons … ” but I’ll stop here and save more for later.

What are your favorite reasons to bring a Kindle on a trip?