If you have kids in elementary school, you have probably heard of Webkinz.

You buy the stuffed animals at specialty stores and use the attached secret code at their website. (they are not available at large chain stores but rather at smaller specialty stores - there is a store locator tool at www.webkinz.com) The secret code gives you access to the web version of the stuffed animal for one year - after this you have to pay a renewal fee if you want to continue for another year.

Once online, your web animal comes with a room, a few starter furnishings, and some virtual Kinzcash. You then play arcade style games to earn more Kinzcash, which your pet can use to buy virtual food, clothing, furnishings etc. You can play games against, chat with, and invite other Webkinz over to your room. However, the chat is limited to canned, preset phrases and only Webkinz that you have placed on your friends list can come over - you can also kick them out at any time.

There are also daily events which your pet can do once a day - among these is our favorite, the gem hunt. Every day your pet gets three chances to mine a gem. Once you acquire all of the available gems you get “the legendary crown of wonder”.

My kids each have one pet but many of their friends have several.

When toy ideas like this take off, I wonder how the project got started. Globeandmail.com has a good article on the background of Webkinz.

And families.com has a unique idea on how long distance family members can use Webkinz to keep in touch and stay involved in each others lives.

How many of your kids play Webkinz, and what are your thoughts about this virtual playground?

Recently, my fifth grader came home from school with stories of how some of his classmates had created a video and posted it on Youtube.

While I was impressed with the kids technical know-how, it also made me wonder if the popular video hosting service is a good playground for 11 year olds.

The types of home videos that people can create and post there are largely uncensored. Youtube is not the only culprit - apparently Google, Yahoo!, and MSN also have similar type sites.

CNET.com in their Living with Technology section has posted an article entitled User-generated videos challenge parental controls. It is good food for thought.

Today I attended an internet safety presentation given at my kids school. It really is a scary place out there. I had posted earlier this month on internet safety, however, I realize that what I am currently doing may not be enough.

My children have not yet ventured into the world of instant messaging and internet chatrooms. And I intend to keep it that way for as long as possible. But the oldest one has been asking because, I quote “all my friends” are instant messaging. I guess I’m from the old fashioned school where if you need to talk to someone - just pick up the phone or see them in class tomorrow.

I also want to trust my children when they are on the computer and not look over their shoulder at all times. But curiosity has gotten the best of all of us. It is human nature, after all.

I walked away from this morning’s presentation with a few more ideas and a long to-do list.

• First, there is no substitue for parental involvement. As I previously posted the location of the computer is KEY. It should be in a common area where you can always monitor what the kids are doing.
• Second, open communication is critical. Should you punish the kids if they come across offensive content? The answer is no. You should appreciate the fact that they were upfront with you. But, at the same time you need to work together to avoid a repeat.
• Third, I could use a little help from a software program - perhaps to restrict the time allowed on the internet or the sites visited.Clearly I have some homework to do.

  The following sites provide some tools and food for thought: www.isafe.org, www.netsmartz.org, and www.teenangels.org.

  This is a software program that provides parental controls on Windows based computers. Read more about it at www.mysafekeeper.com.

Do you Upromise? Here is a parenting tip that will help you save money for college.

www.upromise.com is a site that promotes college savings. Basically, you save money for college while shopping for things that you need.

Online Shopping
Creating a free account is a snap! Then you shop through their links at major retailers like Lands End, LLBean, Bed Bath & Beyond and hundreds of other places where you probably already shop.

Plus

Local Shopping
By securely registering your credit card you will also save on participating grocery products, restaurant dining and certain purchases at local businesses that you frequent.

Equals

Savings!
A percentage of your purchase will then be deposited into your account. You then link this account to a qualifying section 529 account and Upromise will transfer your savings into your 529 account several times a year.

Visit upromise for a better explanation of what they do. Every little bit helps parents save money for college and this is an easy way to put a little extra money aside for your kids education.

Internet safety is a subject that concerns all parents. I have discussed internet safety several times. So many parents will be interested to know that there is a new search engine on the block called Quintura for kids. Quintura uses a tag cloud to make searching easier and more fun for children.

I learned about this site in an entry at a blog called Weary Parent: Parenting Tweens and Teens. Char has done a nice write up on Quintura and you can learn more about it there.