Today is a day I knew would come - but longed never would arrive. My daughter is now obsessed with a toy. Sure, she loved Little People and wanted to collect everyone while in preschool. And, yes we have gone through a Disney Princess and Barbie phase. But, yesterday she received her first Webkinz. (www.webkinz.com)If you don't know what a Webkinz is -- you must not have a child in elementary school. (For those with older children -- think Beanie Baby Version 2.0). Webkinz look like the Beanie Babies children craved in the 1990s and are just as hard to find. The big difference between Beanie Babies and Webkinz is that the later have their own virtual world. Manufactured by a Canadian toy company, each animal (dog, cat, tiger, frog, unicorn, etc) comes with a secret code that once activated introduces the child into Webkinz World.
Your child, once she owns a Webkinz, will want your computer; hence my problem.
(I had given my daughter my old computer, with no Internet access, to play educational games like JumpStart Animal Adventures. Now, she wants (and needs) my computer to play Webkinz.)
Once a child enters the secret code - she can name her pet, furnish its room, connect with other friends who own Webkinz online, play arcade games, and lots more.
Bella is obsessed with her new pug dog- she named shark. The pug needed a bed; so she selected a hockey-themed one (See previous post on ballet & hockey pasttimes.). She has played arcade games, searched for hidden jewels, answered trivia questions (okay, there is some educational value here), and now wants to e-mail her other WebKinz buddies - her cousins Jillian & Allie. Soon, she'll add her school friends, dance pals, and Daisy scout friends, who have a Webkinz, to her online "World."
I have limited Bella's time in Webkinz World to 30 minutes a day; but fear I'll soon hear those famous words -- "xxxxxx lets her daughter play for 60 minutes." Or "xxxxxx gets to play when she gets home from school until dinnertime."
Already, she has begun compiling a list of which Webkinz she needs to get. AGHHH!
I guess this is better than the next phases to come - cell phones, makeup, boys, dating, etc...
--Susan
5 comments:
My daughter, 8, is obessed with WebKinz. She wants to jump on the computer the minute she jumps off the bus. It is struggle to get her off for dinner or homework
Nancy
FYI, was at Finders Keepers in Putnum, CT Rt 44 they had tons of WebKinz. Check them out.
... well I konw people are obssesed with them but if you get them involved in the plush toys themselves more, rather than the site i'm sure they would start to draw away from the site, I havve the Webkinz myslef ^^ (i'm 12) and my obbession for them died down althoguh I cdo love the plush toys, get your daugther to take care of her Webkinz plush as if they were on the site, make pets for them things like that , and there was a suggestion for things like this on the webkinz site.
i think webkinz are cute and i think all you need to do is distract your child with something else, something like game night, or something offline. Although I am also obssesed with webkinz (age 12) I have learned there are limits. You shouldn't play for like 5 hours, thats WAY too long but maybe an hour or so is okay. You could make a deal with your child like "if you only play for an hour today on Webkinz, then we can play your favorite board game later." And believe me, it will work because i used to have a step mother that gave me a strict limit on everything... i hated it so take my advice, because although i am a kid, i still know how it works.
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