Anybody Bought Into This Webkinz Yet?
 

After having to listen to it for over 3 weeks now, I broke down and let the Kids each buy a Webkinz with their Christmas money. If any of you do not know what they are, Webkinz are sold at Hallmark for $11. Small stuffed animals with a tag which keeps their code number. You go onto the website and registar. You now have a virtual pet with its own room.

You have to feed it, take cae of it and if you wish you can buy it virtual stuff and even decorate its room and get it toys and so forth. It doesn't cost any real money but the food and stuff you buy costs virtual money which the kid earns by, get this, applying for and doing a job (the actually have an employeement office where you can choose but the trick is you actually have to perform the tasks to get money - you just don't slide!), playing various academic games (you can choose the age level) and also arcade games (which are actually pretty tough and have a low pay out).

The interesting thing is, there is a happiness, health and hunger meter which allows you to determine the general welfare of your pet.

I'm not sure I have found a fault in this yet except that Our lil 4yr old Girl hates leaving the 'com-pewter'.

I have a client whose son has been into Webkinz since X-mas. He really loves being online and taking care of his virtual pet. His parents think that it is really beneficial for him as well. I believe that because of Webkinz, they decided to buy a real puppy as well a couple of months later. Looks like a goos program.

Dave

My elder daughter got one for Christmas and she's decided to give my younger daughter one. As far as computer games go, it seems pretty innocuous, but it still falls under the "1 hour of screen time" limit.

My 10 yo daughter has been doing it for a few months now. I agree that it seems harmless.

Other than time limits on the net I forbid her to give any personal info out or join any IM/Chat/forums. She was on SantaClause.com and I was very upset when I saw the PMs she was getting from other "Kids". I can say with much certainty they weren't children.

My 7 year old has been doing this Webkinz since last summer. All of her friends have this as well and they trade stuff or whatever they do on that site and it seems pretty fun for her. Even my 4 year old has one and is getting some fun out of it. It does seem harmless for now, but we're watching it...

Our little one wanted to check hers today. She wanted to buy some food for it. Being low on money she wanted to do a job. She has good keyboard skills but the time limit to do the job is a little much for a 4 year old. She didn;t earn any money. She can try again in 8 hours. She looked up at me and said "Daddy, can you earn me some money?" So it begins...

Ha! My wife is a computer techie and she's always on Webkinz beating some poor 10 year old at bowling or whatever to win our kids points... But, these darn kids are smart and will cancel games right at the last second so my wife can't win and then earn points. Kids these days...

I can't remember the Website, but my Nieces were involved in something like, oh 6 years ago. They did all sorts of stuff to earn points. Then one day a Troll came by and stole all of their points. If I remember correctly it was a British website.

My 7 yr old daughter is hooked on it. She has 4 or 5 of them now. It gets her into trouble.

If she is grounded for something it usually means no Webkinz for a couple of days. She tends to get up really early and will go downstairs and log on. I come down and catch her which adds a couple more days to the grounding.

Wife says I should put the computer out of her reach but I'm of the opinion that she will not learn to resist temptation that way.

She will be exposed to so many things in the next few years I want her to learn that she is in control of her decisions and can reap the benefits of choosing wisely and also that she will suffer the consequences of choosing poorly.

What are you trying to do, be a parent or something?