Web Addictions

Do you remember Cabbage Patch Kids? I think they even still make them, and I think that my daughters even have a couple. But I remember Cabbage Patch Kids when I was in fifth grade--teetering on the edge of being too old to play with dolls. When everyone wanted one. When people would yank them out of other people's hands in the stores, and you had to be on a waiting list to get one. I remember asking for one for my birthday, and not getting it until a month later, because my grandmother was on a "waiting list." Well, the cool thing about Cabbage Patch Kids, besides the fact that they were so ugly that they were kind of cute, was that they were "one of a kind" which really meant that they mass produced about 50 different doll styles, but gave them different clothes or a different name. And you could adopt them. They came with birth certificates and adoption papers, and you could even change their names if you wanted to, and you usually wanted to, with names like Vanessa Alyssa and Ermengarde Louise. You sent all of that "stuff" back in to somewhere and they sent you official new birth certificates, certificates of adoption, and I think I even got birthday cards when my dolls turned a year old--which I finally threw away after my freshman year of college, but my OCD is a topic for another blog. But this was a pretty cool concept for the mid 80's. I'm trying to think if my elementary school even had Apple IIe's, yet.

Then in the 90's Beanie Babies had their craze. I don't know much about that one--I was in college and dirt poor with no money for Ramen Noodles, let alone stuffed animals--but my sisters-in-law, who are considerably younger than I am, had dresser tops and shelves FULL of these cute little stuffed animals: everything from Teddy Bears to three-toed sloths. That craze must be over, because you can now buy Beanies at garage sales for about a quarter a piece.

It is now 2007, and my children have just been introduced to a new "toy mania." Please be patient with me if this craze has been around for 2 years. We home school, so it takes a little while for new "fads" to hit our little world.

WEBKINZ have entered our household.

As far as I can tell, this toy is a cross between a Cabbage Patch Kid, a Beanie Baby, and a Giga Pet. It is a stuffed animal that comes with a secret code that links it to a website. You can go online and adopt it and name it. It also gets a virtual house in cyber space and you get WEBKINZ money to buy it stuff and feed it. You earn more money by doing "jobs" on the website, or playing games in the arcade. It took me about an hour to set up two children with user names and passwords for this virtual animal world. We are now proud owners of a white Yorkie named Princess and a Black Lab puppy named Cody.

I now never get to use my computer. Someone is always on it interacting with these virtual pets. For the last few days, it was just my two youngest children, who acquired these little toys because I was feeling guilty that the older two were living it up at summer camp, and the younger ones had to stay at home with "fuddy duddy" mom. But now, the older two are at home, and they have commandeered the computer to "help" they younger ones take care of their animals by playing games, doing jobs, and dressing and feeding them. They now want their own.

My youngest daughter, who can only read short vowel words at this point, can "hunt and peck" her entire user name and password into the computer by herself, and can play some of these games better than her siblings can. And I would be lying if I didn't say that I know firsthand how addicting it can be. I wasted a good hour, yesterday, trying to get to Level 5 on a game that closely resembles Jawbreaker. I didn't make it. But in all my attempts, I think I earned a kid about $50 in WEBKINZ money, so it wasn't all in vain.

My husband and I suspected the potential for web addiction from this little toy right away, and we experienced our first sign that a child had a problem this morning. My husband got up to get a drink at about 5:30 this morning, and a child was ALREADY logged on and taking care of his puppy. Now, when we had a REAL puppy, NO ONE got up at 5:30 to take care of it, except yours truly and my life partner.

So, it appears we are going to need to set some ground rules. Otherwise, I am going to be selling some cute stuffed animals, complete with computers for very cheap. Keep posted!