Email Addresses for Kids: KidsEmail.org REVIEW
I spend quite a bit of time online between writing and emailing many friends I have met in this online space. My girls see this, and for the past year or so they have desired having their own email address. They have been okay with signing into different programs using one of many email addresses, but I have heard from the younger one many times, “Can this be MY email address?” Now, she and her sister finally have their own email addresses through KidsEmail.org.
More About KidsEmail.org
KidsEmail.org offers two types of email address formats, kidsemail.org and kmail.org. Both of the girls use the kmail.org domain because it is shorter and sounds more hip. I wasn’t aware of the domain options until I signed in to set up the account.
Setting up the email accounts for the girls was really simple. There is a parent login page. Upon signing in for the first time, I was prompted to register. This is where the payment information is taken. Since this subscription was given to us to review, I didn’t have to use any form of payment during the registration process. After registering, I was prompted to create email addresses for my children. The subscription allows for six email addresses, but we only used two because we only have two children. On the add a child page, there are only four prompts that needed filling in: desired email address, password, display name, and selecting if the child is a boy or girl. During the setting up of their accounts is also when I was given the option to select the domain which I thought was best for them. The kmail.org is considered the older kid option. Once I set up their accounts, I was able to add email addresses to their contact list. There are two options for storing email addresses; the global list and the individual list. The global list is the list of contacts that all of the kidsemail.org or kmail.org accounts can contact. The individual list is specific to the email address the contact is save under. Currently, we only use the global list.
Each account has the opportunity to change the background, font, and so on to be more customized for the user. This can be done in the parent account or from the child’s account. The girls customized their own accounts to their liking.
KidsEmail.org stands out because of its safety settings. We do not have all of them turned on, but I am taking advantage of a few options such as not allowing links in emails sent to them or bad words. Since their contact list is made only of family I have kept the receive images and attachments options on. I do not receive copies of the ingoing and outgoing emails although this is an option.
KidsEmail.org and Us
I presented each of the girls with a Post-It note with their email addresses. When they looked it and realized that they finally had their own email addresses, they were ecstatic. I had no idea that it would brighten their day so much.
They have used their email addresses as a means to build relationships with their cousins who do not live nearby. They have used their email addresses to have candid conversations with their dad and me. I like that KidsEmail.org has allowed me to give them something that they have wanted without the ads or junk email. They can sign in without worry, and I don’t have to worry about them accidently clicking on something that will lead them down a rabbit hole. I also appreciate that they will have the proper email practices and etiquette in place before venturing out to those main platforms in the future.
