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| Harmful | 33% | 63 votes | Total: 190 votes | |
| Good | 67% | 127 votes |
Harmful
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Add to FavoritesI checked this Webkinz craze out to discern whether or not I would ever want my grandbabies having one of these. It is the latest Chinese made craze in our children's world of mesmerizing electronic time absorbing babysitting gizmos.
I guess for all those who don't have a clue what a Webkinz is, I should briefly explain in the hopes my comments make some sort of sense to you. It is a Chinese made stuffed toy with the usual host of additionally available accessories. The soft little animal comes with a code and your child takes the code to the "Webkinz site" and basically wastes his/her entire day being mesmerized by more of the same trash our children's lives are already full of. Chat rooms filled with other abandoned children, games, trivia, and a place they build a room for their pet, via earning money and purchasing items. Truthfully, the child becomes the pet, the pet becomes the parent, and the parent; well, the parent gets more time to do whatever it is they preferred doing before they had children.
The site boasts of how much your child will learn, how much your child will gain insight into managing money, and taking care of this illusion. Of course the usual twenty first century lies are used to sway a parent to buy these things. The first and most popular being; "Your child will learn to interact with others." No, lets be honest with ourselves, the child learns to interact with another electronic pile of junk and nothing more! For the most part, from what I am reading, the toy ends up under the bed, while the real "wasted" purchase is the code. After your child becomes addicted to the site, and a year of wasted time between parents and child goes by, his/her little dream world of html code they have built, vanishes. Never fear, you can pay for another year of time without your child or buy another pet and code to keep your child's fantasy world from disappearing.
This issue of a distraction is not just for the child. These things have been outlawed in many schools. I have found literally hours of blogs filled by lazy parents complaining about everything from the lead they found in the pet's charms, to sounding like they are going to file a law suit over missing articles in their children's online fantasy rooms. Blog after blog can be found of parents expressing their frustration, yet they always wrap up their conversations with something like, "Oh but little Billy just loves his Webkinz." Some parents have DOZENS of these things and like every electronic toy craze, I am sure we will hear of parents beating each other for the last one this Christmas. Children are fighting on the home front with neighboring friends because they exchange the codes and passwords and then the children go into the "friends" online fantasy rooms and STEAL items.
For one moment I just want to step away from the distraction of the toy itself. The obvious problem is these parents, knowingly or not, feel their children are a distraction themselves, or they would not be looking to find ways for the child to consume his/her time. Time that could have been spent teaching the child the way children NEED to be taught. Yes, I am old fashioned. But children's hearts still need parents. Parenting and the responsibilities of that wonderful blessing DO NOT change with time. Please realize, this is nothing more then another introductive method to prepare our kids for the bigger and more expensive electronic crap. Like the now famous Wii box where children can actually wire themselves onto and into your television. They take part in everything from slaughtering a person with their bare hands, to being sexually serviced by a whore in their bare butts. Yes it is a fact! All this little toy is doing is solidifying your child's mind into the false notion that these are the normal things in life. Don't tell me you have control. Once this ideal is embedded in your kids head, it is only natural they dig into every aspect of it and find out all that is available. No, your computer and TV have control, you have nothing but a house guest who deep down is dying to have you come home and be their parent.
The next time you or your child have a Webkinz craving, why don't you consider buying a baseball or a dollhouse, and sit down WITH your child and play real world, instead of fantasy. You might just find, it is a whole lot more satisfying to see your kid looking and responding to you, instead of a computer screen! Not to mention, your child will find out love is not electronic.
Learn more about this author, Chaz Z..
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Good
A menagerie of friendly animals appear and encourage you to "Come in and play". With a few simple keyboard strokes, you have logged in and thus begins an exciting adventure in Webkinz World. While there are definitely places on the web you don't want your kids to hang out, Webkinz is one of the few that you definitely do want them to frequent.
When my niece announced she had purchased a Webkinz for each of my children, I didn't understand that this stuffed toy was really an invitation to an interactive website jam-packed with fun and learning.
Webkinz offers educational games, puzzles and tasks, but more importantly, it offers a child the chance to learn real skills that will serve them for a lifetime. The purchase of a Webkinz stuffed animal affords a child entrance into a world where they learn work ethics, responsibility and social interaction.
Each Webkinz animal has its own house, which the owner must furnish. To do this, the child may visit the employment office and find out what "jobs" are available today. Completing a job earns them Kinzcash which can be used to purchase necessary items for their animals - food, clothing, furniture - and teaches them that nothing is free. There are also games and quizzes to earn extra KinzCash. Every task or game has educational value and is so much fun that your children won't know they are learning.
Additionall y, owners must remember to feed their furry wards, supply them with water and will take joy in purchasing fun items for their abodes. They can visit the houses of other Webkinz and communicate to them within Webkinz World.
The beauty of Webkinz World is its safety. No one ever learns the real name of another player unless it is a real life friend. They cannot compose messages themselves but must choose from a set of pre-written messages, so you never have to worry about your child receiving inappropriate, hateful or disturbing messages while on Webkinz. Yet, school friends and neighbors can interact on Webkinz, when they may not be able to physically play together.
Certainly, in a perfect world, children would spend much more time playing outside, getting more exercise and fresh air and enjoying that childhood freedom that we once knew. But the reality is that children cannot often play outdoors unsupervised by an adult and their friends may not live close, or may be in after-school programs. Webkinz gives children a chance to socialize that is much safer than instant messaging or social network sites.
If there is any downside to Webkinz, it is that the secret code on your adopted Webkinz pet is only good for 12 months access, and you must purchase another in order for them to continue to enjoy the multitude of activities available. However, as the smaller versions can be had for under $10, this is not too damaging to the budget, and there are no other fees required for a full year of fun.
Webkinz is a wonderful experience for kids of all ages. The quizzes can be made more challenging by choosing the appropriate age group of the child, and because of the helpful menus that include visuals as well as words, even my young son can navigate the site and play successfully with only limited reading skills.
Your children are safe from predators and inappropriate behavior, they learn important life skills and best of all have fun. Webkinz is not only not harmful, but one of the best rainy day activities you could find for an inquisitive and restless child.
Learn more about this author, A. Jacobina Poulsen.
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