Amazon's New Echo Dot for Kids and Manners

I am guessing that it will be love at first sight when Amazon starts shipping the new Echo Dot Kids Edition for 5-to-12-year-olds. Although it hasn’t been released yet, we’re told it will be similar to the traditional Echo that many of us have in our families, but it will reply differently and offer child-friendly content. 

Why Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids Edition Probably Won’t Talk Back 

What is super exciting to me, a Manners expert, is that Amazon has added a "positive reinforcement" feature for politeness. If your child says "please" or "thank you" to the Echo Dot Kids, the device will thank them for being polite. 

Technology has impeded with our manners in this digital age. We’ve lost the ability for both children and adults to interact with acceptable manners and respect. The Echo Dot could be a practical solution to reinforcing good etiquette. 

Children get tired of being nagged by their parents. What better way for kids to get reminders from a neutral source than the Echo Dot! Hopefully there’s a homework reminder on this version! Did someone say “homework?”

One of the best features of this new gadget is the parental controls. With the Alexa app, parents can track requests that their children have made of Alexa content! Parents can set time limits on when and how much the Echo Dot Kids can be used in a day. You’ll even be able to pause access for periods of time if desired. 

Another helpful feature called FreeTime on Alexa will block out certain Alexa features, such as news, shopping and making actual purchases. 

The Echo Dot Kids is a win-win for parents and kids. It encourages politeness, while giving kids what they really want: music, jokes, and more. The best way to teach children manners is to subtly integrate reminders into the things that kids love. There’s good reason to think that the Echo Dot Kids can do just that.

Having the opportunity to develop good habits at an early age is priceless.  The kids with a solid core of manners allows them to stand apart more than ever. This device must just be the first everyday product to finally promote politeness in kids.

Users of the Echo Dot Kids may give more commands to the small gadget than they do to their pet dogs. But if the new device can help to encourage good manners and increased learning, there’s a good reason to think that parents might know their child’s next birthday gift.