Kindle Fire and The Mysterious Parental Controls Password

I recently bought a Kindle Fire HD 7" (2014 version). When I made an app purchase a day or two ago, it asked if I wanted to turn on Parental Controls so that I would have to enter my password before completing future purchases. Since I let my kids play with it, I chose Yes. It didn't ask me to choose a password so I assumed it meant my Amazon.com password.

Today, I wanted to make another purchase. The Parental Controls password box popped up.

My Amazon.com password was not correct. The lock screen PIN was not correct. Leaving it blank was not correct.  Uh Oh.

I got on my computer to check the Amazon help files for my Fire. It said that if I forgot the Parental Controls password, I should reset my Fire to factory settings. That meant wiping out everything and starting over.

Google searching turned up a suggestion to deregister the device on Amazon, then reregister from the device. This was supposed to wipe out the parental control password.  It does not.

Other online advice was even less helpful, ranging from "Step One: Don't forget the password" to "You're too stupid to own tech."

In a fit of stubbornness, and even though I knew none would work, I started entering every password I could remember using since college. After about 10-12 wrong passwords, the heavens opened up and the Hallelujah chorus began, as a "Need to reset your password?" link appeared.

Yes, damn it, I sure do.

The lesson here is that sometimes you just have to push forward trying the improbable until things go your way.