The things we do for our kids

I've had a very interesting afternoon, to say the least - looking after a lion, a cute little brown monkey named Coco, an adorable elephant, a fussy poodle, a fluffy white kitten, and amazingly enough, a unicorn! (and you thought unicorns didn't exist! Ha!)

It has been rather challenging and time-consuming, but I do believe I've been somewhat successful. Several of the animals have been quite ill, even near death, and it has been my responsibility to revive them. I don't have a lot of expertise in this area, but as a mother, I find that I am often given tasks to accomplish where my expertise is significantly lacking. But yet, I must take on such tasks simply because I am a mother, and because my children need me, and it is up to me to rise to the occasion.

The story begins this morning when I came downstairs to find Lacey on the computer. I quickly reminded her that she had lost her computer privileges for a couple of days and needed to get off. She did not meet my reminder with rebellion or anger, but she looked up at me with deep sadness as she pleaded with me, "But mom, I have to feed my pets or they're going to die," and almost immediately, the tears welled up in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. I knew this was genuine concern, and not a manipulative response to get her way. So, you can imagine my reply, can't you? Was I going to kick her off the computer and knowingly allow the deaths of Lacey's beloved virtual pets? Certainly not!

Here are the pets who have been, I must brag, very well-behaved today.

They may look fine to you, but I assure you that a few of them were hovering near death this very morning. These dear pets are of the Webkinz breed, and not only do they live in our home, but they live in a virtual world where Lacey cares for them, feeds them, dresses them, makes cute rooms for them, and more. It costs virtual money to do all these virtual activities, and the money is earned by playing games on the Webkinz web site. If you neglect your pets for a prolonged period of time, their well-being is severely jeopardized.

In early February, Lacey changed her password on the Webkinz site, sadly forgot the new password, and consequently, could not take care of her pets! This has been both a worry and concern for her for the past several weeks. The only way to get back on the site is to find one of the secret codes that comes with each pet, and not only could Lacey not remember her password, but she could not find any of their secret codes. As luck would have it, one of the codes was finally discovered yesterday, and Lacey was checking in on her pets this morning when I scolded her for being on the computer. You can imagine the scene in the virtual world since it's been over a month since Lacey last fed her 6 pets. It was not pretty! She bought up all the food she could and started feeding pets, but 3 of the pets were without food when she ran out of money and time because she had to go to school.

So what does a girl do when her pets are dying and she's out of money to feed them? she instructs her mother to play some Webkinz games, earn some money, and feed the dang pets and bring them back to life! So, as we drove to school, I was educated on the ins and outs of buying food and feeding Webkinz pets. "Now the lion loves Zebra hot dogs, and the the monkey likes banana shakes. Buy this special cereal for the cat - she is picky." And so it went, as I was schooled in negotiating the Webkinz site. I have played a few of the games before to earn money, but never have actually taken care of a pet! But - I am happy to report that at this time, all the pets are revived and well on their way to recovery. So glad I was up to the task, and now I have mastered a few skills that I did not have this morning! I guess that's just one more job to add to the never-ending list of things a mother will do for her kids!