No Matter, There

In response to my question, this 8 year old’s face becomes so animated it transforms into a different person than I’m used to seeing, and I can’t help but return his grin as he answers, “As soon as I’m 30 days old!” I’ve come to think of this particular friend of my son’s as preferring to play independently of adult interactions whenever possible. It’s thrilling to see how open and enthusiastic he is about this.

Will Richardson’s timely post about setting up an account at “Club Penguin” for his children helped me realize that I had recently heard some fifth graders mention it. Then, my husband heard a public radio story about it and thought he had heard about 3^rd party ads aimed at the kids (there are none!). Having a child with a birthday this weekend…I took a free penguin for a test spin, and learned enough to decide to give my 3^rd grader a club penguin account as a gift.

Test driving a penguin

So, my first “avatar” was a penguin, and he waddled about in a virtual world. He collected coins with which to buy and feed pets, or update his igloo, by playing games or doing good deeds. The games remind me a lot of the arcade games of my youth–I spent hours playing “pong” at a local soda shop. This game world, complete with 70’s style arcade games, reminded me of the old t.v. series, Happy Days.

• I wonder if anyone’s named their penguin The Fonz? I hope they bought him a black leather jacket and a motorcycle.

So, the games are goal oriented, not necessarily an educational goal (no math fact drills, here), but, still, penguins have a motivating rationale for playing the games. Get coins, feed their pets (called puffles).

As I began to discuss the possibility of getting my son an account with him, we worked out how many of his friends and classmates already had a penguin.

• I was surprised to learn that a fourth of our Intermediate students –3^rd through 5^th grade–already had penguin avatars! Many of their older siblings did, too.

Obviously, our students will explore social possibilities online. In fact, my son’s friend has two older siblings who have penguins, and the three siblings have been known to talk with each other using their penguins, despite the fact that they are all in the same house and could talk face to face. We must assume that many students, especially when they are not in the same locale, will want to chat with their friends online, so why not steer them into this safe area to chat and hang out in? If we don’t steer these early experiments into safe arenas, would they be finding spaces meant for older people (like MySpace) or general IM-ing? Would I, as a teen in the 70s, have gone to a seedier shop to play my video games if that was the only choice? Yep. I’d be sure I’d be fine.

And for those worried about the demise of other skills, since we had a daily time limit on the game, my son and his friend wound up drawing their penguins and puffles, and even making a comic strip of an adventure, today. On his birthday…

Parental controls allow us to set up “ultimate safe chat” or “safe chat” — and each family should gauge the maturity of their children in making that choice. Just as some 8 year olds will need rules, such as “no going online before your homework is done”, or “only for x minutes per day,” some 8 year olds will not need those strictures. Some kids will enjoy trying to push the limits of the rules. Thus, ultimate safe chat can guide a child in communicating in prescribed phrases, and some kids are motivated to behave so that they can become secret agents and find hidden places in the world. Still other children will find ways to pretend they are stealing items by going up to and touching them, but penguins who play at crime and get caught are banned from becoming secret agents…

So now, I’m a mom who knows about how to feed and care for a puffle and where to earn a lot of coins most easily. I taught my son “leet speak” for “got to go” (gtg)—and he promised to teach me any new ones he learns. We’re partners exploring this world together.

So, are you gonna be a secret agent? What a cool mom I am, to ask that question!

I better go explore Second Life, soon, so I can keep that “cool mom” status.

So, it is time to talk of many things… of Penguins, and Puffles, of avatars and safe-chat, of what is personal identity information, and what the moderators do…

Waaay before third grade!

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