How I Used Webkinz to Connect with My Kids

What is Webkinz? If you don't know the answer to that question where have you been living as of lately? The Webkinz world is a youth based web site/Portal that allows kids to virtually take care of a selected animal. It starts by buying a Webkinz animal doll which provides your child with a code to enter the website. Inside the website the child gets access to a virtual pet that matches their real doll. They get to start taking care of it and have the excitement of doing many things while on this website.

At first I was concerned as I was watching my daughter one day after numerous times surfing the Webkinz site. I got interested because my daughter had never been interested in our computer before. Suddenly, my daughter wanted to learn as much about using the computer and the Internet as she could. My daughter is nine years old and into Hannah Montanna and that sort of thing so it was very interesting to watch her quickly develop a genuine love for using the computer. I asked her to explain to me what she was doing.

My daughter had figured out how to play online games, how to enter chat rooms, how to earn money doing jobs so that she could buy food for her animal and decorate her animal's room. She understood that she must feed it every day, she must go to work everyday so that she could continue to take care of her animal. I got somewhat nervous about my nine year old daughter having been in chat rooms and taking online jobs so I asked her to show me what she was doing as she was doing it.

Any parents reading this article may relax. My daughter entered the chat room and started chatting. The children using the chat room are allowed to pick from pre-designated questions and answers. As an example my daughter may ask you, "How are you today?". and the other child might respond, "You are so cool." But that is the extent of their chatting ability. No predators in these chat rooms. And if there were they have no access to your child to speak freely.

Webkinz allows your child to take on a job such as helping chose a treatment for animals that are sick. They may check the job board daily to take on part time jobs that may earn them credits that they can spend at the Webkinz store. For this Holiday season my wife and I were surprised as my daughter showed us the blinking Christmas tree that she had bought for her pink poodle, Snow Pea.

My son got into his own online pet and has been decorating his animal's room practically every day. It has given my wife and I a chance to talk to our children about the safety of being online, learning about responsibilities such as taking care of animals and working at a job to earn money. We have talked about saving money and checking accounts and how a basic economy works. We talked about the value of money and belongings (material goods). We talked about the value of their time for the value of money earned.

Webkinz is a great tool for any parent to use in growing closer to their children as well as an educational tool. The best thing about Webkinz is it is a safe environment for your kids to learn, have hours of fun, and it's FREE.