Webkinz...What are we doing?

On Saturday, I stopped by a local gift shop to pick up a few items. As I entered the store I saw a sign announcing they had Webkinz. I had seen the sign in a few other stores so I guessed this must be a popular item, much like the Beanie Babies had been many years earlier. When I checked out I thought I would ask what they were. The clerk was excited to tell me they were small stuffed animals and each one comes with a secret code that you use to log into the Webkinz web site. The stuffed animals, or pets as they are referred to, need to be taken care of. The secret code entitles you to play games so you can earn virtual money to buy virtual food, clothing and other things for your pet.

Well...I just started to laugh almost hysterically at how absurd it was. I was quickly told that the pets teach children to be responsible since they have to be fed and taken care of daily. In one instance a girl became concerned about how she would care for her pet while on vacation because she may not have access to a computer. I knew better than to keep on laughing at the absurdity of it, but I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I simply said, what are we doing and what are we teaching our children? The look on the clerk's face told me I had said enough as she reminded me that they taught kids to be responsible.

I got in my car and as I drove home I could not get this out of my head. We buy children a stuffed animal by which they get a code to play computer games so they can buy fake food to feed a fake pet? What are we doing and what are we teaching our children?

Surely I must have missed the point of this. I logged unto the Webkinz site to check it out and sure enough that is what it is. They even address questions like can my pet die? They assure you that a pet can only get sick from not enough food or attention. If that happens you log on, play more games to earn money to buy food for your pet.

I will stop carrying on about this but I did stop to wonder about some things. What happened to parents teaching their children responsibility? How can we teach caring, love and respect for things when our model isn't even real? Today in our culture we are losing our ability to connect to one another in ways that are meaningful. If we believe certain things are important to teach our children we can't let someone or something else do that for us. I'm wondering if we care for others in a way that is compassionate and loving. There is no substitute or anything more powerful than teaching our children the values we hold dear...that is a sacred task and it belongs to each of us. I understand we can get lost in the craziness if life and lose sight of things but we have to step back and get some perspective. It is important to to ask if our actions are matching what we think is important. So today, take a step back and get some perspective on your life.

Blessings,
Sandy