This site is a complete waste of time. If your kids are going to play a game, get them a real one. This game will eat your money away, because it forces you to buy more and more webkinz in order to keep you account. Don't let your kids get addicted, because it will happen very easily.

As in my kids LOVE it...and I hate it. I first bought a webkinz toy as a b-day gift for my daughter. My kids love stuffed animals to death, so stuffed animal gifts are pretty common around here. I did not even REALIZE the whole online aspect of the toy when I first bought it, though it does help explain the price of such a small stuffed animal, lol. So my daughter gets it, falls in love with it, shows me the tag with the online code etc. that I totally failed to notice when I purchased it. (this is when I think, "Oh cool! Bonus! She can play online games with this thing too!") So feeling pretty good about my purchase I get her set up online, and she goes to town. At first I did not mind it so much, the music is a little annoying but I thought it was pretty cool that you have to buy things to take care of your pet (like you would in real life!)...but the consumerism of the game really drives me nuts at times. I almost feel like they are tyring to brainwash kids into spending, spending, spending! Creating the NEXT generation of people who spend beyond their means and live in massive debt. On one hand, this can be a GREAT learning tool. As in how NOT to live real life, how to SAVE money, etc. (though I see no incentive in this game TO save...ONLY to BUY that really super expensive "exclusive" item. Yep that is right, they are teaching exclusivity too!) On the other hand, how many parents are using it as a teaching tool? Another thing I don't like about it is how EASY it is for them to get this kinz cash. Go work a job for like ten seconds and you have a full paycheck??? Or go play a game to earn cash? (not just a little cash, but like thousands of dollars for a quick game!) Better yet, buy something and resell it for a super high price? All so these kids can earn obnoxious amounts of money to buy obnoxiously priced goods! (lets get them used to seeing a $95 price tag on a dress and buying it??? So what? So when WE go shopping in the real world this looks like a reasonable price to my daughter??? Or so they have no appreciation for how hard most people have to work for that kind of money???) THIS is not how the real world works. You have to WORK for your money (well, for most people anyway, unless you have managed to have others work for your money or have your money work for your money!) playing games to win money is a form of gambling and if you buy something you do not get to resell it for loads of cash (you can try, but no one in their right mind will BUY it from you in the REAL world, lol) Add all these things to the annoying nature of the music ect. (if I hear that "I wanna run, run, run , run..." horse song one more time...) it makes it REALLY hard for me to want to sit and teach my kids anything with this game. (though I fully admit there are some really good life lessons here to be learned) My daughter has 2 cousins and 1 real life friend she chats with on this game. I let her do it, because they all love it and its a time for them to chat and have fun. (and as my head is splitting from annoyance, I smile and pretend its all good while I try to teach her the lessons to be learned from this game...because, sigh, she is my daughter...and she loves this annoying game.) Now I make it a point to monitor this game with super vigilance, because quite honestly, I think this game unmonitored can be more harmful in the long run to a kid than other games that look far less innocent. (and I am not even getting into the whole buy more stuffed animals or deluxe membership etc. consumerism) But I actually heard an exchange between my daugher and her cousin (they were on speaker phone while both playing online, because like I said, this game needs monitoring) talking about, "Sell your pets MEDICINE AND CAN OF SOUP to buy me that video game." And my daugher was going to do it, because you can! Can you imagine what this game could do to kids if left to play unmonitored???? I think it is horrible. I understand that these are just kids playing, but I do not think you are doing your kid any favors by encouraging them to play things that allow them to earn "easy money" (hence giving little appreciation for how hard most people actually DO work...especially in this economy!) so they can spend, spend, spend. Go "play games to earn money" (umm, prelude to gambling?) so they can spend some more. Oh and lets not forget, go to fashion shows where other kids online can tell them how great or how ugly their clothing choices are...ugh. For me, the cons outweigh the pros. I think there are more constructive ways (that I find FAR less irritating) for my kids to spend their time learning these lessons. If they need some mind numbing down time, I think there are better ways to do this too without all the potentially negative influance.

As long as you use the chat settings to prevent direct chatting, it is perfectly safe. They can accept friends and only chat with preset messages. Almost all their content is made to be educational. It's fun, exciting, can keep them playing for extended periods without needing help (giving you time to have some peace and quiet!). You DO need to purchase an animal to get a code, but you can buy a Lil' Kinz for under $7 and even on sale.

The games an ok game for the younger kids. If your kids are getting bored i suggest Adventure Quest. Anyways back to subject, this game has no drugs,smoking or anything bad. Its very secure and is perfect for kids who can use the computer.

This site started out as an adorable kids' site. It pretended to be educational, which was laughable, but it was so stinkin' cute you almost didn't care. Ganz has expanded the Webkinz brand so much the site is now more discouraging than entertaining. To get the coolest, most appealing items you need to win tons of kinzcash playing games (impossible for young children) or you need to constantly buy more Ganz stuff: plushies, lip gloss, jewelry, makeup, ornaments, school supplies, bags, etc. The website constantly pushes kids to buy the newest items and makes them feel like they are missing out by keeping features locked unless kids spend more money. While there are many games, most are impossibly hard for young children to do well enough to make enough kinzcash to purchase virtual items for their pets. Prizes are often given out at random in games and events and many are rare (my children now think gambling & the lottery are stupid because they see how rarely Webkinz pays out so that's a plus). The kids still think it's cute but aren't as enthusiastic because of the marketing. Prepare to either constantly open your wallet or explain the value of a dollar.

I like this website but I think that the pets that you buy are on the expensive side.I'm a mother of two and my kids love it so much that they are addicted to it.So be aware that when your kids get on that it will be about three hours before they get off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like the site and think it's safe for my 7 year old son. The only issue I have about it is the consumerism - that you have to buy a pet before you can play online, one of the major activities in the game is shopping, and there are parts of the website where people are invited to "upgrade" to a deluxe membership and have more features.

Webkinz is wonderful, I don't see why any mothers wouldn't like it. I make buying and playing Webkinz a reward for my kids. It works!